GWJ Chess Club/Tourno?

Great games with Mini. Both of the very back and forth.

I really feel like my game has come a long way this year. I suppose my 'aw shucks', rope-a-dope routine has run its course. Because, yeah, that was totally intentional. Totally.

Great getting games in with goodjers.

Looks like our second round bracket is a few moves from being over. Just one game left to finish between il dottore and liquid.

I had some great games with both liquid and il dottore this round. I was frankly a bit surprised that I was able to beat il dottore in both games. Up to this point, I consider him the best goodjer I have played against so far. I constantly felt that if I made even one small mistake the game would be lost. I suspect that perhaps he was a bit distracted because he made two obvious end game blunders that cost him both games.

Oh man, I really didn't deserve to advance over il dottore. Now I'm dangerous waters.

Whoah, third round started! Everybody remember to start checking things again before you get das boot.

I am a little surprised at how the second bracket shook out. I was watching most of those games periodically, and they were all very close. So kudos to everyone for putting forth your best effort.

Final round now, though. Don't screw up!

Final round now, though. Don't screw up!

I can haz ur rooks again, plz?

Elysium wrote:
Final round now, though. Don't screw up!

I can haz ur rooks again, plz?

I sure hope not. At least, I hope if you do, you win them through a brilliant tactical maneuver, not a "??" blunder on my part.

Minarchist wrote:

I am a little surprised at how the second bracket shook out.

Just curious if you would feel inclined to expand on this statement?

Copingsaw wrote:
Minarchist wrote:

I am a little surprised at how the second bracket shook out.

Just curious if you would feel inclined to expand on this statement?

There's not a lot to say, just that a few of the games, when tracked around move 15, looked like they would swing the opposite direction from the way they did. The thing is, none of us are good enough tactically (myself included, as Sean can attest) to not make huge, game-swinging blunders. So what looks solid one direction can completely flip 5 moves later.

I commend you for your pawn push and awesome en passant capture in one of your games against il dottore, though. And my sequence of the tourney so far (I've only looked through maybe 30% of the games) goes to Datin, for dropping a totally awesome textbook Philodor's Mate on Baron of Hell in the first round. I look forward to playing through all the games when I get time to do so, and encourage everyone else to do the same.

Copingsaw wrote:

I was frankly a bit surprised that I was able to beat il dottore in both games. Up to this point, I consider him the best goodjer I have played against so far. I constantly felt that if I made even one small mistake the game would be lost. I suspect that perhaps he was a bit distracted because he made two obvious end game blunders that cost him both games.

Thank you sir, and likewise!
It really feels like we were pretty even until I threw them away like a fool (And the computer analysis agrees; have any of you tried that? Pretty awesome feature). Expect a rematch soon!
I guess I got a bit cocky when my rating went over 1600 after winning this game. But I'm back where I started now, so my superpowers should be back

Minarchist wrote:

The thing is, none of us are good enough tactically (myself included, as Sean can attest) to not make huge, game-swinging blunders. So what looks solid one direction can completely flip 5 moves later.

So true. I feel like I can never be sure I'm not missing some obvious move that will destroy any semblance of strategy I'm trying to build. Most of my games have flipped back and forth more than once because of tactical blunders. Guess the only medicine is play, play, play! And maybe the tactical workout on chess.com (another awesome feature that I use far too little).

Ratings can inflate the ego a bit. I felt awesome when I went over 1800 after beating a guy rated over 2100, then quickly dropped back down to 1700 due to a combination of time-outs (the vacation feature is totally borked if you try to alter it from an iPhone — it will screw you over) and bad play. Then I started the goodjer tournament where ratings mean nothing, because so many of us haven't played enough against other people to get a more solid rating. I once played — and was completely destroyed by — a guy rated at a mere 1300. Turns out I was only his third game, so his rating hadn't settled at all yet. By the end of the tourney he was over 1900, and I think he's well into the 2000s now.

So tl;dr version...don't read anything into ratings.

Yes, I also learned the hard way not to trust other people's ratings. I just guess I'm far too vain not to think about my own
Good luck to all remaining players, it will be fun to see how it plays out!
BTW copingsaw, if you think I'm any good wait until you play against Minarchist!

Things are starting to happen...

Minarchist wrote:

Things are starting to happen...

Should I just resign now?

Hi all, just saw this thread! I am interested in playing. Are you guys setup on a specific site?

Copingsaw wrote:
Minarchist wrote:

Things are starting to happen...

Should I just resign now? :)

Eh, you're doing just fine with black. But maybe the game where you're white, you might want to.

I always love getting to the point (usually around move 15 or so) where the board starts to really take shape. I know masters can see where the board is headed from move 5 or so, but I do not possess that ability or that encyclopedic knowledge of openings. It's fun to see the unique characteristics of every game...even though I'm sometimes very disappointed with the direction things are headed.

jadefire21 wrote:

Hi all, just saw this thread! I am interested in playing. Are you guys setup on a specific site?

Hey Soda, we're all on the chess.com website. Here's a link to the Gamers with Jobs group. Set up an account and ask to join and one of the admins can approve you (likely me, since I'm currently the most active one over there). This is the second tournament we've done, but we're always good for pick-up games. There's roughly 10-15 of us regularly active, but I'm always happy to see that number grow!

Minarchist wrote:
jadefire21 wrote:

Hi all, just saw this thread! I am interested in playing. Are you guys setup on a specific site?

Hey Soda, we're all on the chess.com website. Here's a link to the Gamers with Jobs group. Set up an account and ask to join and one of the admins can approve you (likely me, since I'm currently the most active one over there). This is the second tournament we've done, but we're always good for pick-up games. There's roughly 10-15 of us regularly active, but I'm always happy to see that number grow!

Signed up and requested. I assume it is too late to get into the tourney.

Wow, are these ratings ELO ratings? If so, we have some real chess players here!!!

I was about a 1550 when I stopped playing in college and have sense been playing again. Computer and friends.

I am a little excited about getting trounced by a few of you.

jadefire21 wrote:

Wow, are these ratings ELO ratings? If so, we have some real chess players here!!!

I was about a 1550 when I stopped playing in college and have sense been playing again. Computer and friends.

I am a little excited about getting trounced by a few of you.

Uh, no.

Ratings are somewhat inflated on chess.com; probably due to the system not set up quite right to accomodate an ever-growing membership. Although some GMs and IMs work and play on the site (usually creating content like videos and articles), the ratings don't correlate well. There are guys rated over 2700 on chess.com that I'm sure couldn't hold a candle to Anand or Carlsen.

jadefire21 wrote:

Wow, are these ratings ELO ratings? If so, we have some real chess players here!!!

I was about a 1550 when I stopped playing in college and have sense been playing again. Computer and friends.

I am a little excited about getting trounced by a few of you.

Yah, I've never played chess seriously and find myself with a near 1600 rating. There are probably multiple reasons for this. Lots of people time out and you get free wins. Lots of people are just starting or haven't played many games so you get a lot of wins against near-1200 players who probably aren't that good. Its a vicious circle and pretty much everyone likely has a rating that is much better than it should be.

One thing I will say ... chess.com gets major props for putting together a system that makes it very easy to play to your hearts content.

Agreed, chess.com is probably the best online site I've found. (Redhotpawn wins for best name, though.) The chess.com applications for iphone and android are well made, convenient, and best of all free!

I was just reading an article on chess.com that mentions they roughly equate ELOs of 1200 to 1400 chess.com score. I would assume that 200-point gap gets bigger as you go up the chain, but it's possible that it could hold steady.

I do think that playing in a bunch of tournaments on the site this past year has inspired me to play more in meat space. I found a chess club in Nashville and I'm thinking about calming my fears and joining up to get beaten to a pulp by 12-year-olds. Should build character, anyway. Over-the-board is such a vastly different experience than correspondence that I need to get back into it. College was a long time ago at this point. Heck, maybe I'll even learn something.

Indeed, I always liked playing over the board. But I also really enjoy the move by move (via email or chess.com). They can be very interesting and gives you hours to think about each move sometimes. Minarchist and I just started a move by move. I can't wait to see how this goes.

BTW, it's your move

I got my first two losses of this round taken care of now. Who's next?

LiquidMantis wrote:

I got my first two losses of this round taken care of now. Who's next?

Aw, they were good games. In particular the one where you were white was pretty tough. It took me more than 30 moves just to win a pawn! Things did progress quickly after that, though.

I'd like to continue to encourage everyone — including those already out of the tournament — to watch the final-round games. You can make comments on the game that everyone except for the people playing can see (they'll be able to see them once the game has concluded). There's some great stuff going on between the final-round participants. I've already made a few comments myself.

EDIT: I even popped my first analysis board into a comment on a game between Copingsaw and Elysium. Comments are fun!

Minarchist wrote:

EDIT: I even popped my first analysis board into a comment on a game between Copingsaw and Elysium. Comments are fun! :D

Jeez, both games with Elysium have been kinda sloppy. We each made a fairly obvious blunder that cost us a pawn and, more importantly, the initiative.

On a side note, I recently picked up Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition on Steam for $20 and have been very impressed. The Josh Waitzkin academy is fantastic and provides many hours of interactive tutorials on all phases of the game. I have found his evaluation of personal and historic games especially interesting.

Copingsaw wrote:
Minarchist wrote:

EDIT: I even popped my first analysis board into a comment on a game between Copingsaw and Elysium. Comments are fun! :D

Jeez, both games with Elysium have been kinda sloppy. We each made a fairly obvious blunder that cost us a pawn and, more importantly, the initiative.

On a side note, I recently picked up Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition on Steam for $20 and have been very impressed. The Josh Waitzkin academy is fantastic and provides many hours of interactive tutorials on all phases of the game. I have found his evaluation of personal and historic games especially interesting.

Agreed, I got it when I started to get back into Chess. I particularly like his game that ended in Zugzwang. chess goodness!

Copingsaw wrote:

The Josh Waitzkin academy is fantastic and provides many hours of interactive tutorials on all phases of the game. I have found his evaluation of personal and historic games especially interesting.

"That's not the best move, try again!"

I hear those words in my nightmares... Really excellent program, makes chess theory engaging and easy to grasp. Anyone try the other academies included in the program?

As an aside, I love how creepy the stock text on a friend invite is at chess.com. "Hey, let's be friends so we can stay in touch..."

The ellipsis just really adds that stalker-ish uncertainty.

ok, well I got two games started with Minarchist, both I think are following classic opening lines so far. But I am not sure about the first game, I always mess up the line at some point.

Anyone else wanna start a goodjer game with the newest chess whipping boy on the block? Send requests to SodaGremlin if you want to, I wouldn't mind having about 4-5 games going.