Atlas Chess Tournament - Congratulations, General MacArthur!
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  Atlas Chess Tournament - Congratulations, General MacArthur!
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Author Topic: Atlas Chess Tournament - Congratulations, General MacArthur!  (Read 3177 times)
muon2
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« Reply #100 on: November 19, 2020, 11:41:06 PM »


I've following since the start, and it's a pretty good game that seems to be going back and forth more than I would have anticipated.
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GeneralMacArthur
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« Reply #101 on: November 21, 2020, 08:58:22 PM »

gg Statilius.  Very narrow escape for me.  I was in big big trouble around move 30.  Curious to get your thoughts on different points in the game.

Playing Bd3 before a3 or c3 was a huge mistake, I just completely forgot about Nb4.  I was so obsessed with the idea of the knight coming to c5 (after either ...c5 or g5+f5, when the d4 pawn is pinned to the Qxb2 threat) that I completely forgot it could also go to b4.

b3 was also a terrible move, I realized after giving up light-square control that I had thrown away the advantage, but underestimated just how constrained my bishop would get after ...f4.  I wasn't afraid of f4 because Nh3-f2-g4 is pretty strong, but with the bishop stuck on f2 with nowhere to go, the knight can't do that maneuver.  And the bishop going back to e1 is even worse, since rooks on the e-file were my main hope for counterplay.  I should've just played Be5, which at least gets rid of the two bishops and leaves some practical chances down a pawn.  Instead, I got worried about the two-bishops attack on the king and wasted a move making luft... oops.

After the next few moves, where I accomplished very little, I realized I was in huge trouble and was going to lose unless I could generate some tactical chances.  The Nh3-xg5 idea doesn't quite work on move 31, because Black can pull the rook back to f8.  The key line is 31. Nxg5 Bxg5 32. Qd5 Rff8 33. Reg1 Qf6 and White doesn't have anything.  So I played Reg1, hoping for Rg7, the point being that from the g-file the rook can't go to g8 to protect the h8-rook after Qd5.  But actually, Reg1 is just an enormous blunder because after Rfxh7, White simply loses the now-pinned knight for nothing.  It's too nice to even call this a bluff because after spending a lot of time calculating 31. Nxg5 variations, I got frustrated that they didn't work, and just impulsively played 31. Reg1?? without thinking at all about the consequences of it.

But 32. Nxg5 I'm pretty sure just works.  There are a couple ways Black can get a pawn-up endgame out of it, but I was confident I could draw a pawn-up rook ending.  The best chance I calculated for Black was 32...Re7 33. Qd2 Qb5 34. c4 dxc4 35. Ne4 and things can get pretty messy for both sides.

The pawn-up endgame comes after 32...Rxg5 33. Rxg5 Bxg5 34. Qe5 Qf6 35. Rh5 (the key move) Rxh7 36. Qxf6 Bxf6 37. Rxf5 Rh2 38. Rxf6 Rxf2+ 39. Kc1 Rxf3 40. Kc2 Kd7 41. Rf7+ Kd6.  The plan here was to get all my pawns up to the 4th rank so your king couldn't advance and your rook couldn't go after them, then bully your rook away from the f-file, trade the passed f-pawn for one of the others, and draw a 3-v-2 R endgame with pawns on one side of the board.

The early game was a pretty aggressive (and unsound) form of the Veresov Attack.  I've had some nice sacrificial miniatures in tournaments over the years against players below 1800 who simply can't handle the pressure of such a direct, early kingside attack.

I missed the idea of Black sacrificing the d5 pawn for initiative.  Frankly, I was mainly playing for a quick tactical finish early on because of your low chess.com rating (which you played well above), and I thought you had just missed that d5 was hanging on move 16 and took it without much thought..  That's what I get for underestimating people.  The move I was expecting was 15...c6, when I was hoping to win a pawn with the zwischenzug tactic 16. Kb1 Nf6 17. a3 Qa5 18. Nxd5 Qxd2 19. Nxf6+, or even dream of the same line but with 0-0-0 instead of Nf6, when Nxd5 wins the queen with the threat of Ne7#.  Qb6 defuses all those lines, of course, but also rules out the very-natural best plan for counterplay, pushing the b-pawn against the a3 hook.

The only other tactical idea I kept trying to make work was this idea of, when my pawn was on h6, playing Ne2-c3 or Ne2-g3 and then Bxa6 connects the rooks with tempo to let me take your bishop.  I couldn't find a way to make the knight actually do anything useful though and got worried that I was just wasting moves and giving you time to play ...c5 and attack b2.  So I just pushed h7 and hoped I'd figured out some use for it later.
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muon2
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« Reply #102 on: November 21, 2020, 09:24:03 PM »

gg Statilius.  Very narrow escape for me.  I was in big big trouble around move 30.  Curious to get your thoughts on different points in the game.

Playing Bd3 before a3 or c3 was a huge mistake, I just completely forgot about Nb4.  I was so obsessed with the idea of the knight coming to c5 (after either ...c5 or g5+f5, when the d4 pawn is pinned to the Qxb2 threat) that I completely forgot it could also go to b4.

...

After the next few moves, where I accomplished very little, I realized I was in huge trouble and was going to lose unless I could generate some tactical chances.  The Nh3-xg5 idea doesn't quite work on move 31, because Black can pull the rook back to f8.  The key line is 31. Nxg5 Bxg5 32. Qd5 Rff8 33. Reg1 Qf6 and White doesn't have anything.  So I played Reg1, hoping for Rg7, the point being that from the g-file the rook can't go to g8 to protect the h8-rook after Qd5.  But actually, Reg1 is just an enormous blunder because after Rfxh7, White simply loses the now-pinned knight for nothing.  It's too nice to even call this a bluff because after spending a lot of time calculating 31. Nxg5 variations, I got frustrated that they didn't work, and just impulsively played 31. Reg1?? without thinking at all about the consequences of it.


I very much enjoyed watching your play. I appreciate your thoughts at move 31, since your calculations seemed pretty good to that point. Before Bd3, I was surprised at the push to h7 on the previous move. I thought you would have maintained more pressure leaving it on h6 and developing something like your knight to e2 and c3.
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NewYorkExpress
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« Reply #103 on: November 21, 2020, 09:27:31 PM »

I'm no chess expert, so I'm not going to comment on the game itself.

I will say that I hope we can do this again in the future.
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muon2
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« Reply #104 on: November 21, 2020, 09:37:12 PM »
« Edited: November 21, 2020, 09:44:26 PM by muon2 »

I'm no chess expert, so I'm not going to comment on the game itself.

I will say that I hope we can do this again in the future.

As I replied earlier, I'm willing to set up an Atlas-centric club at chess.com if enough people are interested. Tournaments could be run through the club.
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NewYorkExpress
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« Reply #105 on: November 21, 2020, 09:42:23 PM »

I'm no chess expert, so I'm not going to comment on the game itself.

I will say that I hope we can do this again in the future.

As I replied earlier, I'm willing to set up an Atlas-centric club at chess.com if enough people are interested. Tournaments could be tun through the club.

I'm interested.
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The world will shine with light in our nightmare
Just Passion Through
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« Reply #106 on: November 21, 2020, 10:14:12 PM »

I'm no chess expert, so I'm not going to comment on the game itself.

I will say that I hope we can do this again in the future.

As I replied earlier, I'm willing to set up an Atlas-centric club at chess.com if enough people are interested. Tournaments could be run through the club.

There is also an Atlas Discord for players, but sadly it's inactive.
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The world will shine with light in our nightmare
Just Passion Through
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« Reply #107 on: November 21, 2020, 10:16:15 PM »

Congratulations to General MacArthur for winning the first annual Atlas tournament!

(technically not the first, but I do plan on hosting future tournaments)
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AGA
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« Reply #108 on: November 22, 2020, 12:49:35 AM »

I first saw this thread a few days after the tournament started, so I missed it. Hopefully there is another one soon.
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President Punxsutawney Phil
TimTurner
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« Reply #109 on: November 22, 2020, 12:52:12 AM »

congrats, General Macarthur!
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NOVA Green
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« Reply #110 on: November 22, 2020, 01:26:58 AM »

Congrats General MacArthur!!!

Throw me in on the next Chess Tournament...

Used to play in HS and ended up being Board #3 when we went to the Statewide Championship, and was running 1750 on the USCF numbers.

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muon2
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« Reply #111 on: November 22, 2020, 09:47:37 AM »

I have created a club on chess.com called Election Atlas and Scott joins me as an admin. I will be inviting all the participants in Scott's just completed tournament. If you didn't play in the tournamnet, but want to be in the club I need your name on chess.com to send you an invite. You'll see me listed in the club as count-Y.
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AGA
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Junior Chimp
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« Reply #112 on: November 22, 2020, 10:24:10 PM »

I have created a club on chess.com called Election Atlas and Scott joins me as an admin. I will be inviting all the participants in Scott's just completed tournament. If you didn't play in the tournamnet, but want to be in the club I need your name on chess.com to send you an invite. You'll see me listed in the club as count-Y.

I'm A_G_A
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NOVA Green
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« Reply #113 on: November 22, 2020, 10:44:32 PM »

I have created a club on chess.com called Election Atlas and Scott joins me as an admin. I will be inviting all the participants in Scott's just completed tournament. If you didn't play in the tournamnet, but want to be in the club I need your name on chess.com to send you an invite. You'll see me listed in the club as count-Y.

Just joined chess.com and sent an invite for Election Atlas.

User Name= NOVA_GREEN_2008

Also, since I haven't seen you around the Forum in awhile, how about another game of Diplomacy.   Wink
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