A Draw?

Selenium Ready To Go

DreamCatcher joins Selenium for T48. Here's a nice game of his.

Fire on Board

Milesotoole brought this game to my attention. He's very proud of it. And he should be. A very good game.

Solution to White Mates in Three

A Future GM?

futureGM joins Tellurium for T48. Here's a very impressive game he played.

A Key Game

Rhenium Playoff Round 3. For the championship. This was the second game played. The first and third games were uneventful draws. In this game it looked like AreYouSerious and Rhenium may lose and have an almost impossible chance of winning the match. But AreYouSerious fought back and got a draw. He even had a chance to win.

White Mates in 3

All is Well Now

Don't Let this Happen

One of our key players has not updated his profile yet.

Ben622 Joins the Element Teams

Ben622 will be playing for both Rhenium and Tellurium in T48. Here is a nice win of his.

Wbanks Slays the Dragon

wbanks joins Selenium for T48. His league rating is much higher than his ICC. Here's a good game of his from T44.

New Element Team

For T48 we have a new Element team in the U1400 section. Rubidium. Here's a nice game from the last tournament from one of our new players Elalfer.

GOTW Round 10

They made me Game of the Week guru for Rounds 5-6, then through the playoffs. For Round 10 (Playoff Round 3) my choice was Maartenkoning for his win that got Rhenium the championship in the U2200 section. I hope nobody thinks I played favorites by selecting a teammate for this honor. But it was clearly the best game. Other "Element" players also won the award for earlier rounds. Paulkov, for Rhenium, got the award for Round 1. Campagnolo, also for Rhenium, got the award for Round 2. This is an awesome game that has not yet appeared on this blog. Watch for it soon. In Round 4 Ivio playing for Niobium got the award. The Element players know how to play some good Chess.

The Final Game

Rhenium Playoff round 3. The score is tied 1.5-1.5 The final game to decide the U2200 section winner. Take a look.

And so Rhenium is the champion.

Rhenium Champion in T47 U2200

Rhenium scored a 2.5 - 1.5 victory in the final match to claim the championship. A great last game victory my MaartenKoning clinched it after three earlier draws. Congratulations to Paulkov, MaartenKoning, Campagnolo, and AreYouSerious. Nicely done. In T48 I want to be congratulating the other Element teams here, Tellurium, Selenium, and Niobium.

Key Game in Playoff Round 2

Rhenium Playoff Rd 1. The victory got us a drawn match, and another round to decide the champion.

Solution to Mate in 8

The Rook works like a herding dog, forcing the Black King into a pen, and mating him.

Playoff games are tough!

Rhenium Playoff round 2. Here's two real good players slugging it out.

White mates in 8 moves

Rhenium Draws in Championship Match, Will play Again

Rhenium U2200. The final match was drawn 2-2. Therefore we play another match with colors reversed. A Champion will be decided in this match.

Amber Tournament

Have you seen the lineup for the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament? Really incredible. Anand, Carlsen, Aronian, Kramnik, Karjakin, Topalov, Grischuk, Ivanchuk, Nakamura, Gelfand, Gashimov, and Giri. Rating wise that's numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 14, 16, and 52. Gelfand at #14 has been as high as #5. Gashimov at #16 has been as high as #6. Giri at #52, (2686) has added 98 rating points in the last year. Looks like an interesting tournament.

Dog's New Toys

Selenium Eliminated from the Playoffs

Selenium, in their very first season, made the playoffs. Very noteworthy. Great job by everyone. Great job by their Captain, Salvatore. This is a team of destiny.

Tellurium Out of the Playoffs.

Tellurium had a great run in the tournament, losing for just the first time in the first playoff round. Congratulations to all the players for a fine season.

Paulkov wins

Rhenium Playoff Rd 1. I didn't do much, then all of a sudden I was winning.