Cozy Tomatoes/Chessy McChessface Matchday 3

Match start:

The time control is 45+15, so we expect to be here for at least 90 minutes.

Cozy Tomatoes 0-0 Charlton Cobras C
Chessy McChessface 0-0 Dundee City H

50 minutes after the match started:

Cozy Tomatoes

Cozy Tomatoes' match had an early scare when LOF77 went wrong on move 6 with 6. c4? (6. Bc4 is better). Luckily for us, their opponent didn't capitalise:

LOF77's opponent had 6... Bb4+! which is very unpleasant for LOF77, for example 7. Bd2 Ne3 8. Qc1 Bxd2+ 9. Nbxd2 Qe7 is almost winning for Black. The relief I felt was palapable when LOF77's opponent played 6... Ne3 allowing the monster knight to be exchanged off. I hope LOF77 has a chance to look at their openings sometime.

Later on, oopsieday then initiated some tactics with 16. axb6!? (16. Bxb6 would be the safe move):

The point is that after 16... Nxe3, if oopsieday simply plays 17. fxe3, oopsieday's doubled and isolated pawns are very weak, and in fact they will immediately start dropping after 17... Bc5. So instead oopsieday plays 17. b7 Rb8 18. Rxa6!?. Here oopsieday's opponent started thinking. And thinking. Whilst oopsieday's opponent was thinking, it dawned upon me that Black can actually take the rook with 18... Nxf1 19. Ra8 Bd6!! 20. exd6 O-O, leaving Black an exchange up. Time ticked on, and oopsieday's opponent played 18... Bc5. One knockout blow avoided, but oopsieday is still worse due to the weak pawns.

The other two games are still roughly equal, with me (Gigantobear) transposing into the black side of a French, and Lordb0rn on the black side of an English. All four games look like they have many adventures to come.

Cozy Tomatoes 0-0 Charlton Cobras C

Chessy McChessFace

In contrast to the Cozy Tomatoes games, some of these games moved at a decidedly faster pace.

First to finish was OnOff15. After just over 10 minutes, OnOff15's opponent tried a creative sacrifice 12... Qg6 (12... bxa6 is more advised):

OnOff15 was probably afraid that the attack was strong after 13. Bc4 Bh3, but 14. Ne1! (or 14. Nh4 Qg5 15. Qf3) is a cold shower and Black is simply a piece down. Note that OnOff15 could have still gone back to the line after 13. Nh4 Qg5 14. Nf3, but the opportunity was missed and Black recaptured the bishop.

However, later, OnOff15's opponent strangely did not recapture the pawn on c5 with 22... dxc5 and instead plays 22... Kd7:

OnOff15's pawns thereby started rolling down the board, winning a bishop, and then a rook, and then their opponent resigned after 25 minutes.

Next to finish was PeregrinRook. After just over 10 minutes, PeregrinRook mouseslipped on move 12, gifting a pawn to their opponent. Even then, the position was still fine. However, the psychological effect was that PeregrinRook was always looking for ways to capture the pawn back. Just under 10 minutes later, PeregrinRook captured the poisoned pawn on a2 with 17... Bxa2:

PeregrinRook's bishop was thus trapped after 18. b3, thus losing the bishop and soon after, the game in 35 minutes. This is reminiscent of Fischer's blunder against Spassky in Round 1 of the World Championship, shown below. PeregrinRook is not the first, nor will be the last person to make this mistake.

UsernameTaken96 had an interesting choice at move 15:

UsernameTaken96's opponent seems to be inviting White to sacrifice a piece with either 15. Bxg5 or 15. Nxg5. They both have merit, the former putting a lot of pressure on f7, and the latter keeping the two bishops. The idea would be then trying to open the position to get the Rooks in, for example, by playing Kh1 then f4. There is definitely compensation for the piece, and practically speaking it might be unpleasant for both sides to play.

UsernameTaken96 chooses to play 15. Nf5 and after 15... Bxf5 16. exf5 Qxf5 faces another crossroads:

UsernameTaken96 played 17. Qxb7 and their opponent could have played the nasty 17... Ne7 exploiting UsernameTaken96's offside Queen. The massive threat is to trap the queen, for example, 18. Ba2 Bb6 (shutting the b-file) 19 Nh2 (opening the f3 square) d5 (closing the f3 square) and 20... Rfb8 traps the queen. Note that 18. Qxc7 Ra7 and the queen is trapped anyway. So her majesty's last hope is to escape via 18. Qb3, but now the White bishop's unfortunate position is exploited with 18.... d5 19. Bb5 c6. The bishop can actually escape after 20. d4 e4 21. Nh2 Bd6 22. Be2, but 22... h5 is a start of a wicked attack against the White King. So Stockfish says anyway, and it thinks the final position is -2.5, and I'm not liable to contradict Stockfish.... (Also note that I'm simplifying because White could also try 18. Be3 which Stockfish refutes in a mindboggling way...)

Anyway, when I'm struggling to explain the variations after the game with Stockfish, there's no shame in neither player thinking like Stockfish in the game. But UsernameTaken96's opponent actually blundered with 17... Qd7, and UsernameTaken96 found 18. Bb5 which wins a full piece.

sparkierjonesz's game started strangely quietly - not sure what 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bd2 Be7 was about - but the game seemed equal at 50 minutes. This is good since we probably only need a draw because UsernameTaken96 is likely to win.

Chessy McChessface 1-1 Dundee City H

70 minutes after the match started:

Cozy Tomatoes

First to finish was Lordb0rn. The game started was level when we last saw it. Their opponent then decided to sacrifice a piece with 23. Nxf6+ gxf6 24. Qxf6:

Lordb0rn found a great rejoinder in 24... Bf5 which allows Black to keep the h7 pawn. This meant that Lordb0rn's opponent had the option of perpetual check by repeating after 26. Qg7+ Ke8 27. Qg8+ Ke7 with 28. Qg7+:

Lordb0rn's opponent however bravely tried to play on for the win with Bc1 threatening Bg5#. There are only two defences to not lose on the spot, Qe6 and Qe8, and Lordb0rn found one of them! Lordb0rn then repeated once, inviting their opponent to repeat with Kd7:

Lordb0rn's opponent could have repeated with 32. Qd8+ Kc6 33. Qa8+, giving Lordb0rn a second chance to get out of the repetition. However, seduced by the hanging bishop, Lordb0rn's opponent took with 32. Qxa7, which loses to 32... Qe1+ 33. Kg2 Qe4+. Now Lordb0rn's opponent could have tried to repeat with 34. Kg1, but that loses to 34... Bh3. Instead 34. f3 was played but 34... Qe2+ and 35.... Bh3 is again decisive, and Lordb0rn converted this into a win.

Last we saw oopsieday's game, they were in a spot of bother with weak pawns. After imprecise play by their opponent, they managed to reach a position where they were just one pawn down:

It's not easy for oopsieday's opponent to entangle. The two knights are better than the two bishops when the position is closed. However, oopsieday plays 25. e4, which is a disastrous opening of the position. The bishops came out and ruled the day, and it was somewhat dramatic how fast the position went down.

My (Gigantobear's) game followed theory for a while, and was even. At move 17 I came up with the plan to play 17... Ra7 and 18... Qa8, which I'm still not completely sure about:

Then my opponent had inspiration and also sacrificed a piece with 20. Bxh6:

But immediately went wrong with 21. Qxe1, because the queen needs to stay put to take on h6. I'm actually not sure what the result of the game would be after 21. Nxe1 gxh6 22. Qxh6 Ne4 which is what I had planned to play in the game. But after 21. Qxe1 gxh6 22. Qe3 Kg7 (Qf8 is cleaner) 23. Nh4 Be4 24. Bc2 (Bf3 is more worrying, see the lines in the diagram) Bxc2 25. Rxc2 Qd5... I seem to have everything under control. I'm up a piece, and hopefully I will be able to convert this into a win.

And this might be a win i will need because LOF77 was down a clean pawn after blundering it with 20. Bh5:

20... Nxe5 21. dxe5 Qg5 is a simple fork. The resultant position is not by any means lost, but it makes it a lot harder to play for a win, so I might have to win to win this match.

Cozy Tomatoes 1-1 Charlton Cobras C

Chessy McChessFace

Last we saw, UsernameTaken96 was a piece up. There were a few more quick adventures - UsernameTaken96 decided to give back the piece for two pawns at move 20 (which is not needed because 20... Rb6 was not a threat), and then won another piece or exchange with 23. Bc6 at which point Black threw in the towel.

The final game of this match was by sparkierjonesz. They seemingly gave their opponents two nice centre pawns on e4 and d4 with 18... Bxe4:

But it actually turns out that fine as they seem, they are actually really weak, and sparkierjonesz showed it with 19... Qg6. sparkierjonesz has a simple plan of doubling on the d-file to gang up on the d-pawn, and it's somewhat curious that 20... Rd7 is a good answer to any of 20. e5, 20. d5 or 20 Qf2. sparkierjonesz's opponent played 20. Qc2 which drops the pawn to 20... Nxd4. Since we only need a draw, we're looking rosy for this match.

Chessy McChessface 2-1 Dundee City H

90 minutes after the match started:

Cozy Tomatoes

When we last saw my (Gigantobear's) game, I was a piece up with a slightly exposed king. My opponent then made a good practical try with 26. g4:

But with some "precise-enough" defence I repelled the initiative, and once the queens were off, I simply created a passed pawn with my superior forces, and my opponent saw the writing on the wall and resigned.

Finally, we last saw LOF77's game, they were a pawn down. They then activated their pieces creatively and powerfully, and Black under pressure blundered a pawn with 27.... g4:

This compounded into a blunder of an exchange, and desperate attempts to complicate it with threats of ... f2+ failed to perturb LOF77 from winning easily.

Cozy Tomatoes 3-1 Charlton Cobras C

Chessy McChessFace

sparkierjonesz was never in danger. A move which demonstrates the control was 25... R8d7:

Everything is protected. sparkierjonesz then increased the pressure, winning a second pawn at move 33, and in the end threatened mate with 40... Qxh4+ and 41... Rh3#. With no defense and also no time, sparkierjonesz's opponent put up the white flag.

Chessy McChessface 3-1 Dundee City H

Final Results and Thoughts

Cozy Tomatoes 3-1 Charlton Cobras C
Chessy McChessface 3-1 Dundee City H

Captain's pick for most exciting game: curvedsoup - Lordb0rn

Every player played well. I look forward to the Matchday 4 with confidence.

One takeaway we can get from the analysis of these games is that material is not the be-all and end-all. Positions where you are a pawn down could easily turn when you play sensible moves and not panic. Also, sacrificing pieces can be fun, and we saw many instances here!