What's Your Move for Black?

See If You Can Do It

This was Game of the week for round 5. Two Knights can't win versus a lone King. But if that King has a pawn, a mate is possible. Block the pawn, drive the King to a corner, stalemate the King but let the pawn move, the other Knight comes over and mates.

Two Teams in the Playoffs

Selenium, in U1800, plays The Chess Addicts. Rubidium, in U1400, plays Chesstidigitators. Cheer our teams on. Good luck.

Solution to White to Play

Yes White can win! After you realize that moving the King leads to a perpetual you need to look for another move. The only other move is the shocking Qh3. Then calculate this.

An Attacking Game

Rhenium Round 6. I won with a really nice attack in this game.

White to Play

You've played 85 moves and are up a whole Queen. But can you win the game?

bshribharath Wins Game Of The Week.

The league awarded bshribharath GOTW for Round 6. Congratulations. You can see the game a few posts back under "Playoff Clincher".

jorobo Annotates His Win

Tellurium Round 6. A really nice win got us the match win. Jorobo provides us with his own notes on the game.

A Clutch Draw

Tellurium Round 6. The situation: Tellurium leads in the match 2-1. ben622 is going against pestka 2336 who has an over 300 point rating advantage. But ben622 gets a draw and with it a match victory.

No Forfeits For Element Teams

5 Teams, 6 Rounds, 120 games, and not one forfeit. We received 5 forfeits. The league percentage for forfeits is something like 8%. Thanks everybody for your dedication.

Krysto Wins

Rubidium Round 6. In the final game of the round Krysto's victory clinched a playoff berth for Rubidium.

Rubidium In The Playoffs!

Thanks to a clutch last round victory Rubidium has qualified for the playoffs. It looks like they're seeded 8th, getting the last wildcard. Nice going Rubidium.

A Faulty Combination

Rhenium Round 6. MaartenKoning masterfully refuted his opponent's combination.

Ivio in Battle Again

Niobium Round 6. Ivio won an interesting game.

Playoff Clincher

Selenium Round 6. bshribharath played a good game. Selenium in the playoffs.

Solving the Problem of the Position

Selenium Round 6. A second draw for Selenium. Ivio had the worse position but solved the problem and got a draw.

Dreamcatcher13 With a Draw

Selenium Round 6. The first game to be played in Selenium's quest for the playoffs.

Selenium in the Playoffs

Selenium has clinched at least a draw in their final round match. This gives them the division title and a berth in the playoffs. Congratulations! A really good job. Some of the games will appear here shortly.

Claymation Chess Video

Here's a famous game put into Claymation. Roesch - Schlage, Hamburg Hauptturnier B 1910. It's also the game that the computer HAL wins in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey http://www.openculture.com/2011/03/chess_history_in_claymation.html

FutureGM wins

Tellurium Round 6. This is kind of a mismatch having to do with the makeup of our opponent's team. futureGM destroyed his opponent. tourettes forfeited a key game in the U1600 section which virtually destroyed Niobium's playoff chances.

Round 6 Games

Rubidium Round 6. Rubidium is in the thick of things in their playoff hopes. Berke gets them off to an excellent start.

Another Interesting Draw

Tellurium Round 5. azbycx got hit by a tactic and lost a pawn. But he recovered and almost got an advantage.

Interesting Draw

Rhenium Round 5. A draw against a very good player by ben622.

Pouring It On

Selenium Round 5. Selenium had already won the match putting themselves back in first place in the division. Ivio then won to make it a convincing 3.5 to .5 .

Krysto plays an Endgame

Niobium Round 5. In the last game of round 5 for Niobium, Krysto played a nice game which clinched a match victory.

A Cure For The Fast Play Virus?

Not yet. But I'm working with a team of scientists and neurologists. So far progress has been slow, it's a difficult problem. But we seem to have found something that does help a little. Play this song during your game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIjZE4kcg_Q

DreamCatcher13 Wins Yet Again

Selenium Round 5. A very excellent game by DreamCatcher13. This gave a match win to Selenium in Round 5. Also the answer to the last "Black to Win" is in this game.

Black to Move and Win

Here black played ..Nxe3 and won. You are asked to find to find a more spectacular win.

Turn Noescape Off

Some players have noescape on. For league games it should be turned off. hcube gets a win here because of it but was not happy. He just wanted to play and offered to re-start but it's not allowed. The statutes say 11.E. i. Games are to be played with noescape turned off. Should a game be played with noescape on, and a player disconnect and forfeit, the result of the game will be a loss to that player, as shown by the pgn score. E.g. “{Black got disconnected and forfeits} 1-0” and no further penalty will be applied. ¶ SC 24-25 ii. If a player who is on the server's Disconnectors List disconnects and forfeits, the result of the game will be a loss to that player, as shown by the pgn score. E.g. “{White got disconnected and forfeits} 0-1” and no further penalty will be applied. ¶ SC 24-25

Round 5 Games

Selenium Round 5. bshribharath had a good position, then had some problems, but was able to force a draw.

A Tough Battle

Rhenium Round 4. Some missed opportunities for each player but overall a really good game.

Solution to Black to play and win

Black to Move and Win

Selenium Round 4. Can you spot the win?

Dreamcatcher13 Gets The Win

Selenium Round 4. Apparently the play too fast virus does not only effect Element players. It almost an epidemic in the league. I working on a vaccine to solve this disease. Here Dreamcatcher13 plays a good game.

A Ringer

Niobium Round 4. Berke on board 3 has to play an almost 1800 player in the U1600 section. What's up with that? The guys league rating was set at 1594 somehow. Doesn't seem fair. But Berke rose to the occasion and played a fine game. Again we look at a R+P endgame that should be drawn.

A Trajedy

Round 4. Continuing on the endgame theme. People say endgames are boring. But it is the truth in Chess. And some proficiency there can really help your rating. And your team.

hcube Gets a Draw

Selenium Round 3. Some instructive end game moments.

A Good Game By az2112

Tellurium Round 4. Some nice tactics.

A Video

Here's a video of what I do when I see a player playing too fast in a league game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5rJ4g9EMUk&feature=related

Exciting Game

Rhenium Round 4. ben622 got into some terrible time pressure but still came up with some good moves to win this battle.

FutureGM Wins

Tellurium Round 4. FutureGM grinds out a win. Very interesting.

Round 4 Games. Another Self Mate

Rubidium Round 4. Tamky70 was again on the pleasant side of this odd happening. So Rubidium won the match 2.5 to 1.5 and are in first place in their division. No bad for a new team in the league. Keep it going.

Everybody is Afraid of Krysto

Krysto got two no show forfeit wins in round 3. Then in round 4 he gets an "administrative forfeit" win before his scheduled game. Cue in the sinister background music. What could it be?

Nervous Time

Niobium Round 3. Miles got the draw to clinch the match. It was a real slugfest of a game.

Campagnolo Draws

Rhenium Round 3. Campagnolo goes up a player over 200 points above him. Good defense in a crazy game resulted in a draw.