EvC Chess Tournament

The games are linked back around post 120. My game with riverrat/antslake was totally awesome. I sac'd an exchange that I was confident I'd recoup in a couple pawns and I was hoping I'd get some initiative and not pay for it, but he blundered a rook away, so unless I play really stupid, I should end up on top in that game. That was sad, because it was a great game. I really couldn't tell if I was behind or not. Once it's over, I'll pop it into Fritz and have Fritz tell me who was winning after the sac, or whether it was really even like I was hoping at the time.

Here's some info.On Nye: Kuresu, you are the final say on this, it seems, but my vote would be to give bluegenes the 1st round win and let Nye take her bye for the 2nd round, then play Tusko for the 3rd round in the loser's bracket. Can we do that, or do you want bluegenes/Nye to really replay the 1st game, despite Nye's unwillingness to do the challenge?On games to play, there are still 2nd round games going on, including mine, so I don't think we should start 3rd round games.zawi-anglagard are playing hereI'm playing riverrat hereNemesis Juggernaut and Tudwell are supposed to be playing, but they're not. NJ's gone for 3 months, so I'm for knocking him out and sending Tudwell on to play the loser of Zawi/anglagard in the 3rd round. Is that the right thing to do?If I do those things, we're waiting for 2 games to finish in the 2nd round, listed above. The 3rd round will look like this:

P.S.It is true that if we can get the Nye bluegenes game back to where it was, it wouldn't really hold things up. The zawi/anglagard game is not close to done, and even if I play correctly and don't blow my huge advantage, it may take a while to get pawns & kings moved to end my game with riverrat. There's no reason Nye-bluegenes couldn't get finished.My suggestion would be for them to put in conditional moves to get their game back where they were, so they don't have to wait for each other to log on and see moves that are simply to be repeated.Actually, my strongest suggestion is that we give bluegenes the win and move them on to the 3rd round, but again, that's not my call. Life is life and things happen. In most tournaments, they'd not wait around for repeats like that. It's not impossible if it's worth it to someone to get to a library or to someone else's house to finish a tournament game that's ongoing, and to expect the rest of the tournament to go on hold for one person's computer problem is not a normal thing to do.In an over the board tournament, if I got sick and had to go home, I'd get losses in my games. It wouldn't affect my rating, but it would allow my opponents to go on in the tournament. That just seems normal to me, not harsh.

Since I'm assuming we're playing this chess tournament because we think chess is fun, here are some comments I have on chess recently.I don't have a lot of time for chess, so gameknot is great. I keep three or four games going, and once or twice a day I check to see if it's my move in any of the games. It rarely takes more than a minute or two to take care of those. Fits in my schedule great.The problem I'm finding is that taking any longer than a minute or two is painful. I have a game here where I would really liked to have calculated whether I have the resources between my Q, 2 B's, and one mobile R to go after his king side. I'd like to know in advance at least a good idea of what the results would be. So around move 12, I really started thinking it through. Ouch! It was like lifting weights after years of inactivity. It hurt, it was tiring, and it was not pleasant.In the end, I doubt I have the resources, especially since I'll have to cut off my d3 bishop with p to e4 in order to block his B and get my R to h3 or g3. But I figured getting my pieces coordinate and lined up on the K side would be the best places for them, anyway.I've found my most pleasant results come from a compromise. I think enough to play at a level that makes me feel good about the games I play, but not enough to make the whole process painfully unpleasant. In the end, I won't be playing at the best I could, but I will be exercising my brain, enjoying my games, and feeling satisfied with the challenge.That's long enough for this post. I want to post one more chess story, maybe inspiring others to do so as well.

I live in a house with two other families. That means we have 15 children and six adults in our house. (I live in a Christian community.)I'm the best chess player in the house. One of the other men plays chess a bit, too, but his 13-year-old has rapidly advanced in skill and beats him regularly. My 13-year-old is at about the same level, and usually I can beat either of them without much effort.Last week, I saw a book on amazon.com called How to Beat Your Dad at Chess, and I ordered it for the two boys. That night, my son challenged me to a game of chess, and I pulled a couple of tricks in the game and ended up something like a rook ahead. However, in my overconfidence, as I was busy stacking up my pieces on the queenside, he found a 3-move checkmate that I had overlooked.When he jumped up and shouted, "I won," the ladies were in the kitchen cooking something or other (cookies, I think), and my wife looked over and said, "What?" He said, "I beat dad." My wife had a stunned look on her face, even though it's not the first time he's beaten me (though it may only be the 2nd), and she wandered to the table. Soon, there were about a dozen people gathered around as he showed them the moves he made to get the win.There was an atmosphere of awe, like it was some extremely prestigious, virtually impossible accomplishment to beat me in chess. Children and adults would glance over from the explanations going on at the table to look at me, then back at the board to marvel. It was almost surreal, and I laughed every time someone looked at me.You probably had to be there to appreciate it, but it was a fun experience, and it was funny that it happened the day I ordered How to Beat Your Dad at Chess. I gave it to the two boys a couple days later when it arrived, and they were thrilled. They've been excitedly memorizing the checkmate patterns in the book, so maybe that scene will be repeated more in the future.

Ok, Nye's not replaying her game, and my game with riverrat is done.Here's current 3rd round alignments, but they're not done, because zawi is still playing anglagard:Winner's bracket
-----------------
1. Kuresu vs. the winner of zawi & anglagard2. truthlover/shammahbn vs. bluegenesLoser's bracket
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1. Phat gets a bye2. Omni vs. riverrat/antslake3. Tudwell vs. loser of zawi & anglagard4. Nye vs. Tusko

Well, I'm sorry to hear about zawi. I hope everything's alright, too.I guess we can move on to the next round. Checking on white/black...Winner's bracket
----------------Kuresu/k_himagachi (white)
anglagard (black)bluegenes/eratic (white)
truthlover/shammahbn (black)Loser's bracket
----------------
Phat (bye)Omnivorous (white)
riVeRrat/antslake (black)Tudwell (white)
Zawinul/zawievc (black)Tusko (white)
Nyeusigrube (black)You can issue your challenges. Bluegenes, I'll be traveling the next few days, so it may take me 2 or 3 days to accept your challenge. In fact, I better get to bed, because I have to get up in 3 1/2 hours. I may have internet at the campground tomorrow night, but after that, I'll probably have to do internet cafes for the next couple weeks.Sorry for the bye, Phat. It had to happen to someone. Tudwell, I hope zawi shows.Good luck, everyone. Round 3 is happening. It's a semifinal for the winner's bracket.

Hi, NJ.You, Jon, & Catholic Scientist have been eliminated.Kuresu, Anglagard, bluegenes, and myself are in the winner's bracket.Phat, Omnivorous, Riverrat, Tudwell, Zawinul, Tusko, and Nyeusigrube are still alive in the loser's bracket.3rd round games are being played.

Mine's going awful, but I think it will be a while before complete collapse, so don't get in too much of a hurry.

Bluegenes, I think the end is more in sight than you might think. I'm going on a trip the rest of the day, but I'll be moving regularly tomorrow, too. We're not going that slow. We started a tournament on some long time frames between moves. We can all be a little patient. It's not moving fast, but our tourney is moving along.

I went to check on the other games going on, and omni/riverrat is still going on, as is my game with bluegenes. However, the tusko-Nyeusigrube game never happened.Do you have a suggestion on what to do with those two, Kuresu? They're both in the losers' bracket, but I hate to just count them out. I didn't realize it never happened.

It was tusko.So...

Ok, here's the current "how we're doing":Winner's bracket:Anglagard vs. the winner of bluegenes/truthlover
(assuming bluegenes pulls this out, as is likely, anglagard will be white)Loser's bracket:Phat (white) vs. the winner of omni/riverratKuresu (white) vs. tudwelltusko vs. loser of bluegenes/truthlover
(probably TL, and I'll be white vs. tusko)That's it, just 4 games next round.The round after that, the winner of the winner's bracket game will have to sit out 2 rounds as a loser's bracket winner is determined to play him.You know, next tournament, we should do a 5-game round robin, like most tournaments are played. There's less sitting out then. It still happens, but nothing like the winner waiting for the loser's bracket to finish.

For those who are waiting, sorry things are slow, but the two games going on are really pretty good games if you want to check in on them.There's no real possibility of me winning my game unless bluegenes really makes a bad move, which he's shown no signs of yet, but a draw can't possibly be out of the picture.It may be a while until we're done (I refuse to go down easy), though we move every day. I have to make a trip to New England again Thursday, but I'm flying this time, so I won't be on the road two days like last time.

It was a good game, bluegenes. Thanks for the game.I got back from a trip Thursday. The trip was not too busy, and I had occasion to check the internet and move some. But when I got back, ouch! What a last few days it's been.So, I'm just entering the results of my game. It looks like Omni & Riverrat may be at it for a while.There's only two games that can happen right now. I'll challenge tusko in the loser's bracket and play white. Anglagard should challenge bluegenes (eratic on gameknot) and play white.Phat has to wait for the winner of omni-rat. Tudwell is indeed a round ahead and has to wait for the winner of my game.The winner of the anglagard vs. bluegenes game will be punished for his triumphs by having to wait for the loser's bracket to eliminate all the contenders but one.