November 16th's Round Robin
Blair187 vs. Phoetux
MA vs. Oddey
GGP vs. Vexen!
As always, I am allocating a maximum of a fortnight to play these games. And again, should games fail to be played within this time, the match will be called a draw. Remember to put a link to your chess game in the Discord set up in conjunction with the OWF Discord server.
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The scores so far:
Still in the lead, Oddey and Blair, each with eight points.
Overtaking both Camhed and Phoetux, Goodguyplayer with four points.
Some ways back now, Camhed and Phoetux with two points each.
And keeping an eye on the back rank, Vexen with zero.
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Last fortnight's games:
Phoetux vs. Goodguyplayer:
Game 1
Game 2
In game 1, we see a very early knight sacrifice from Phoetux, gaining an open white queen. However, Phoetux's exciting gambit does not pay off and Goodguyplayer is able to use his queen to slice into the back rank and close the game.
In game 2, we are treated to, what else, another early knight sacrifice, once again, playing for an open queen. Rather than play out an attack on the queen, Phoetux then chooses to make waves with his pawns. Goodguyplayer, however, pushes Phoetux further and further into a corner before sealing the game with a checkmate left open by Phoetux's queen.
Vexen vs. Oddey:
Game 1
Game 2
In game 1, we see some careless early moves from myself that Vexen attempts to capitalize on, gaining an early pawn advantage. However, Vexen's greed gets the better of him and he loses his queen very early. After that, I seal the game with a very fast checkmate on move 12.
For game 2, embarrassment from both sides. Vexen plays a very unusual opening for white, in that it allows a one-move checkmate sequence for black. I play a very unusual response, which is to say, I don't see this checkmate until long after the game. Instead, Vexen and I play a somewhat tricky game with a very active black queen that slowly picks up pieces before checkmating with the help of a trusty knight.
Blair vs. Camhed:
Game 1
Game 2
Game 1 between Blair and Camhed features the Alekhine defense from Camhed, responded to rather unusually by Blair. However, Camhed opts to sacrifice his knight, as seems to be a trend for this tournament and quickly sacrifice his second to match. Blair is then able to swiftly make a crushing attack that ends the game very forcibly.
Game 2, on the other hand, is begun with almost an inverse of Anderssen's Opening, with h4 being played by white, with MA hoping for an early rooklift, cut short by Blair's all-seeing bishop. After this, a notable encounter comes when MA's second rook faces off with Blair's queen, causing some serious consternation from Blair, as he searches for the right move. Eventually, Blair finds a way to imprison this rook and eventually execute it at his leisure and from there, Blair crushes through the last of Camhed's defense for another win.
Thank you everyone for participating in this round robin and finding time to get all your games played! Best of luck to everyone in this round robin too!