Originally posted by DOlivier2004Tournament 533
Just a reminder that the Lost Bobbys tournaments are still going strong. I'll post group by group updates in the near future, but the 1800 to 2500 tournament still looks up for grabs!
http://www.chessatwork.com/tournament/view.php?tid=533
edit: lets see if it works this time!
Originally posted by schakuhrRight. Tournament 533
Finally they start finishing some games. My group was done very fast, while the others were still in the opening..
We've got 5 groups of 6 players each in all the banded LB tournaments. This one I would consider a Masters tournament because there are so many high rated players in the first round!
Anyhoo, Group 1:
(all data accurate as of 17072005 1035 GMT - since I know that the data will change at any moment....)
meman at the moment is the favourite with a 2312 rating (ranked 4th in the Player Table). Followed by Yozzer, 2241 and 10th and Northern Lad 2230 and 15th. It's a pity that these guys are in the same group, but it does make for some interesting chess.
Northern Lad still has to finish 4 games - 2 meman, 1 Yozzer, 1 sealion. Simply put, Northern Lad has to be Yozzer to stand a chance of going through, otherwise he can't finish ahead of Yozzer on points from his remaining three games (Yozzer is on 23 points, Northern Lad on 15.) Yozzer only the game against Northern Lad outstanding.
meman still has two games outstanding against Northern Lad. He must win both games and hope Yozzer loses against Northern Lad just to TIE with Yozzer on points to go through. Meman is paying the price of losing to Yozzer as black, dropping two points. The other game was a draw.
Group 2
fernando j p vasquez, 2230, 14th and ThePO, 2184, 23rd are the favourites here. They are still playing each other, and they haven't dropped any of the games they finished to other players. Joop 506, 1984, 76th could be a dark horse. He hasn't lost a game yet and lies quietly in 4th with 9 points. Xanthos NZ, 1988, 75th is out of the running with only one game left at 12 points.
In short, this group is up for grabs.
Group 3
Ironman31, 2483, 1st. With only two losses EVER, he is the overwhelming favourite in this group. But then he could take one too many draws and fail to go through. At least, that's what his rivals are hoping for (kaff, meman, kaff). Oh wait, meman is in another group. Ah well.
Breslaw 2163, 31st and Quirine 2087, 43rd, could trouble him. Well Breslaw has already lost to Ironman and Quirine has lost to Breslaw. I'd say that Ironman should go through to the next round. Maybe.
Group 4
Four players are making a mess out of this group:
webreaper 2189 21st
Gatecrasher 2167 27th
kwgoodwin 2074 45th
Exy 1885 123rd
Exy looks to be playing giantkiller in this group. He's already taken points from kwgoodwin (a draw and a win), but lost both games to webreaper. His two games against gatecrasher are still to be finished.
In fact, webreaper and gatecrasher control the destiny of this group. Gatecrasher has a draw with kwgoodwin as his only blemish. Otherwise these two have won all the games they've completed.
So, this group is up for grabs.
Group 5
David Tebb, 2291, 5th. Only one player needed as this group is virtually finished. Mr Tebb has won every game bar one (a draw with schakuhr 2026 62nd), otherwise nobody troubled him. His only other rival was Nibbles Bignuts 2164 29th, and he was beaten black and white.
David Tebb through.
Analysis of other tournaments in the near future.
Cheers,
D'Olivier
Originally posted by DOlivier2004I don't think I was ever in the running in this group, even sans Duhian. I enjoyed my games against top level players however and would enter again in a heart beat.
Group 2
fernando j p vasquez, 2230, 14th and ThePO, 2184, 23rd are the favourites here. They are still playing each other, and they haven't dropped any of the games they finished to other players. Joop 506, 1984, 76th could be a dark horse. He hasn't lost a game yet and lies quietly in 4th with 9 points. Xanthos NZ, 1988, 75th is out of the running with only one game left at 12 points.
In short, this group is up for grabs.
Next time however I wouldn't experiment with the BDG against 2200 players. They make you pay.
Originally posted by XanthosNZCan you explain the BDG to those who don't know these obscure openings and would like to know? Me being one of them, I'm curious.
I don't think I was ever in the running in this group, even sans Duhian. I enjoyed my games against top level players however and would enter again in a heart beat.
Next time however I wouldn't experiment with the BDG against 2200 players. They make you pay.
Commentary on the second banded tournament 1500 to 1799
Data correct as of 2135 GMT. I won't be putting players rankings with the ratings, because it's not interesting (I think) to see how the 1023rd player on the site is doing if 15 players are on the same ranking for a brief moment in time. But I digress...
Group 1
This group is over and done with. kwgoodwin, 2067, and Jira, 2049, have won all their games excpt with each other, and they split their games by winning as white. So these two go through. No one else had a chance.
Personally, I'm not happy with this. Jira entered this tournament in one of his troughs (his graph is more like waves crashing onto the beach than a normal graph) and he looks to be a regular 2000 player. More than what this banded group stipulates. Unethical, but rules are rules. kwgoodwin has entered this tournament and the higher-banded tourney. And in the other one, he has a good chance of going through. Looking at his graph, I suspect that he didn't know he could hit 2000 at the time he entered the tourney. I think he should have entered one tourney and one only. Again, rules are rules, but at least when the Lost Bobbys organise the next tournament, I'll make sure this doesn't happen again.
Rant over. next group!
Group 2
mannie, 1730, wins this group with ease. A maximum 30 points and no one was even close! So he's through.
Group 3
alik66, 1957, wins this group with ease. Everyone destoyed. Quite impressive when you look at this graph and see that he has only played 71 rated games and lost 2! So he's through.
Group 4
This one is slightly more complex. ohfreak, 1487, is the only player with a lot of his games still outstanding. tng and seraphimvulture, 1885 and 1702 respectively, are tied with 21 points. ohfreak could conceivably win all his games and go through with seraphimvulture and tng to the next round. Based on hislow rating, however, I don't see that happening.
tng has the edge - has two games with ohfreak and seraphimvulture one. SV's loss to one of my clanmembers, Loki74, 1523, may have cost him the chance to go though. SV must win his game and hope tng drops one to ohfreak so that both he and tng go through.
All to play for, then.
Group 5
It went down to the wire between futureman, 1751 and Deep Thought, 1714. futureman's blemishes came with two draws to hughes, 1569. Hard-fought draws, it looks like. Deep Thought had only 1 loss (to ouroboros,1625), so going into their head to head matches, Deep Thought had the edge with only 1 pont. Futureman beat Deep Thought as white and drew as black, effectively stealing the group from him.
Futureman goes through.
This tourney looks almost ready to go into the second round. Updates as thay come (when I come back from holiday, or before if I can find a computer in the mountains).
D'Olivier
Originally posted by DOlivier2004The Blackmar Diemer Gambit (BDG to it's friends) is:
Can you explain the BDG to those who don't know these obscure openings and would like to know? Me being one of them, I'm curious.
1. d4 d5 2. e4?!
It scores well in my database (57% ) but that is mainly to numerous people falling into the traps. ThePO and fernando j p vasquez obviously won't be doing that. I had a couple of new ideas for later in the opening but they both sidestepped them as they chose different lines.
Originally posted by DOlivier2004Ugh, don't rub that blundered game in my face. 😳 It's such a lame excuse but I was on the phone at the time when I made the big blunder against Loki that gave him mate in one. Cost me the bloody tourney most likely, bleh.
Commentary on the second banded tournament 1500 to 1799
Data correct as of 2135 GMT. I won't be putting players rankings with the ratings, because it's not interesting (I think) to see how the 1023rd player on the site is doing if 15 players are on the same ranking for a brief moment in time. But I digress...
Group 1
This group is over and ...[text shortened]... en I come back from holiday, or before if I can find a computer in the mountains).
D'Olivier
Nice job with the analysis, anyway. 🙂
-Kev
Originally posted by seraphimvultureCheers for that. I didn't really look at any of the games when I did my analysis, I just looked at the tables. Since some games are in progress, there's no way I was going to analsye them. Also, my chess rating isn't strong enough to justify any game analysis.
Ugh, don't rub that blundered game in my face. 😳 It's such a lame excuse but I was on the phone at the time when I made the big blunder against Loki that gave him mate in one. Cost me the bloody tourney most likely, bleh.
Nice job with the analysis, anyway. 🙂
-Kev
Originally posted by DOlivier2004Webreaper just resigned all his remaining games in the group.... Why do people do that?!?
In fact, webreaper and gatecrasher control the destiny of this group. Gatecrasher has a draw with kwgoodwin as his only blemish. Otherwise these two have won all the games they've completed. So, this group is up for grabs.
Originally posted by DOlivier2004Considering that Yozzer and Ironman31 have been outed as cheats, this changes the complexion of the LB Tourney for 1800+ players.
Right. Tournament 533
We've got 5 groups of 6 players each in all the banded LB tournaments. This one I would consider a Masters tournament because there are so many high rated players in the first round!
Anyhoo, Group 1:
(all data accurate as of 17072005 1035 GMT - since I know that the data will change at any moment....)
meman at the mo ...[text shortened]... avid Tebb through.
Analysis of other tournaments in the near future.
Cheers,
D'Olivier
To wit: in Group 1, meman has no chance of getting through, but if Northern Lad wins 1 game against him, he's through. Hell, he could draw twice and go through, knowing that Yozzer will never start his games.
Group 3 - Breslaw is through, he has a game outstanding against IM. That's a definite win now for Breslaw.
Tournament 531
After a month of hiking in the mountains and some pressing acommodation issues I had to deal with, I can continue with the LB tourney updates, this time with the 1200 - 1499 band.
This should be easy, it's already into the second and final round, so let's have a recap of the 5 groups:
Group 1
davefish (1342) and pateman (1413) are the surprise winners of this group. peakite (1514), based on ratings would have been the favourite. What happened? Losses to davefish and two lesser players caused his downfall. Snakeye was also in contention, but his record was all over the place: he won all his games as black (save davefish) and lost all his games as white to higher rated players, and one lower rated player.
davefish looked very strong, winning most of his games except with Snakeye (as black) and dropped points against patemen with a draw and a loss. pateman won all his games as black but drew against davefish and lost to peakite and Snakeye.
Based on the head-to-head record, I'd say pateman has an edge in the next round over davefish
Group 2
rhb (1457) is through. 28 points, the only blemish is a draw against TDR1. No one else came close.
Group 3
jayaitch (1459) is through with 28 points. His only blemish was a draw against LJ. Pretty surprising, that, but ultimately inconsequential. No one came close to him.
Group 4
Mike OConnor (1447) won all his games. Steamrolled the competition. The 2nd place player had only 16 points.
Group 5
Alcra (1659) won all his games, but it came down to him and alwaysup (1353). With 24 points, his only losses were to Alcra. So, a competitive group.
Alcra's rating looks high, but taking a quick look at his graph, it looks like he's improving his rating in bits and bobs. Surely the favourite to grab the DVD.
We'll see what round 2 brings.
Originally posted by DOlivier2004I think I might have been the lowest ranked player in the group when the tournament kicked off. Felt I should have beaten pateman in the second game, or at least done better through not thorwing a knight away. Davefish outplayed me though. Maybe I should have taken a point off him. Also the ratings of both seem to have tumbled since then (as mine looks like it might).
Tournament 531
Group 1
davefish (1342) and pateman (1413) are the surprise winners of this group. peakite (1514), based on ratings would have been the favourite. What happened? Losses to davefish and two lesser players caused his downfall. Snakeye was also in contention, but his record was all over the place: he won all his games as black (save d ...[text shortened]... Based on the head-to-head record, I'd say pateman has an edge in the next round over davefish
Enjoyed the group, to be one of four reasonably evenly matched players fighting for the top was good. Sadly I couldn't quite make it.
Tournament 530
The final tourney. The under 1200s, where there are some crazy things going on. Like watching a game of Nationwide 2nd division football in the UK, the quality of chess may not be at a high standard, but you never know what may happen next in this shootout tourney. On to the groups:
Group 1
Julian Teni (1123) wins all his games, beating two higher- ranked players in the procss (angie88 at 1129 and aardvarkhome at 1283)
<These ratings are taken at 2215 GMT Sep 5 2005.>
Group 2
How the heck do I approach this group? How do I explain that Debi (992) edges out the other four players? Debi goes through at 21 points, with 2 players tied at 19 and 2 tied at 15. If we were in the WC Finals, this would be the Group of Death. Debi managed to lose only 3 times to different players, and swept RynSchp and thwaiters. No one else managed to do this. The key game was DRUMdaBASS (1060) and jclark02 (1107). That draw ended up killing both their chances of going to the next round with Debi.
I don't see Debi winning this, but you never know!
Group 3
rambo71 (1282) goes through with 27 points. His only blemish was a loss to flipdizzys (1107), who finished with 21 points and 2 less wins.
Full disclosure: rambo71 is a clan member of the Lost Bobbys. If he wins this tournament: 1) I'll never hear the end of it...even though I've beaten him every single time on the board 😀, and 2) the Clan will give the DVD prize to the second-placed player.
Group 4
adramforall (1225) gets through on 25 points, despite a draw against someone 400 points below him and a loss against 300 points against him. Against tougher opposition, no problem. richiemcd (1108) came close at 21 points, but couldn't get any points off the eventual winner.
Group 5
NicloaiS (1521) wins all his games, no problem. The closest person, LA Woman (1287), had 24 points, which made this group a 2-person race.
Actually, given NicolaiS' rating graph, he is not a natural below-1200 player. As I said when commenting on players in the very first tournament, this is unethical, and I don't like it. Again, something I'll have to monitor when the LB does another tournament. If this person does win, the trophy will be as hollow as his Delta Banded 4x4 1000-1199 win.
Gripes aside, this tourney only has one more game to run (hurry up, Tim!) before we get to the next round. We'll see how that unfolds.