Chess Tournament 2025- Black Crowes and Nick Vermeil co-champions! (1 Viewer)

[scoobus]

Scoobus defeats AAA

I think you pushed your kingside pawns too far early which got you into some trouble, but then battled really well after that. Forced me to just grind you down with trades instead of finding a mate. GG

 

[Psychopav]

Pav beats nysfl2.

My 2 blunders beist his 1 because of timing and position. He had me in a tough spot until an unfortunate move on his part opened up a tactic that turned the tide.

The moral of the story is it's perhaps better to blunder early than late, at least at our skill level.

 

[nysfl2]

Pav beats nysfl2.

My 2 blunders beist his 1 because of timing and position. He had me in a tough spot until an unfortunate move on his part opened up a tactic that turned the tide.

The moral of the story is it's perhaps better to blunder early than late, at least at our skill level.

Ya - I thought I was in good position until pav organized a strong attack that gave me lots of opportunities to make a mistake. It was a good game.

 

[Sand]

Sand defeats Juxt in a very well played game. I managed to pry open the b file and used it to good effect.

 

[timschochet]

Two games left in the round:

@shuke vs @Murph

@AAABatteries vs @scoobus

Any updates?

 

[scoobus]

Two games left in the round:

@shuke vs @Murph

@AAABatteries vs @scoobus

Any updates?

Look 5 posts up haha.

 

[Murph]

Two games left in the round:

@shuke vs @Murph

@AAABatteries vs @scoobus

Any updates?

We should be wrapping up soon

 

[Murph]

Murph beats Shuke 0-1.

 

[timschochet]

ROUND FOUR

@Nick Vermeil vs @Captain Cranks
timschochet vs @Zow
@BlackCrowes vs @Sand
@Chaz McNulty vs @Psychopav
@Murph vs @Dezbelief
@nysfl2 vs @scoobus
@shuke vs @tri-man 47
@AAABatteries vs @Juxtatarot
@Brownsfan vs @ragincajun

 

[tri-man 47]

Round Four.

@shuke , I’m Wally68, to save you digging back through the first page.

 

[Dezbelief]

Murph schooled me, good game!

 

[timschochet]

Zow vs tim draw.

Tough Queen and rook endgame. I wish my endgame tactics were better. I’m really awful at it and sure to blow it. So a draw is a good result.

 

[Zow]

Tim and I drew. My third game in a row as black against the Queen's pawn game.

 

[Zow]

Zow vs tim draw.

Tough Queen and rook endgame. I wish my endgame tactics were better. I’m really awful at it and sure to blow it. So a draw is a good result.

I frankly thought your tactics were fine.

I followed up with you a bit in the chat. Still didn't see an obvious line for either of us. If you load up on the b file than I think I could get an attack going eventually since the pressure would be off the e file. Game may have opened but assuming no blunders I see nothing immediate or obvious.

 

[Sand]

Tim and I drew. My third game in a row as black against the Queen's pawn game.

Glad I gave you something different!

 

[tri-man 47]

Tri-man defeats @shuke. I was positioning to attack along his king side, and when he castled to that side, I was able to put him on the defensive and he didn't get a chance to recover.

 

[Sand]

Tri-man defeats @shuke. I was positioning to attack along his king side, and when he castled to that side, I was able to put him on the defensive and he didn't get a chance to recover.

You'd have been a good Russian commander in WWII - you have the human wave strategy on the chessboard down. It's a terrifying spectacle.
----
On my end BlackCrowes and I are well into the game. I'm sure slow due to being slammed at work, but hopefully will finish this weekend. He's tooling me so far. I feel like Southampton playing Liverpool - bunker, bunker, bunker!

 

[Chaz McNulty]

Chaz McNulty defeats Psychopav.

Good game.

Very even start (e4 e5). His dark square bishop got blocked in and it allowed me to put my knight on a very good square. Neither of us castled and I was breaking through on the King side. He had the numbers on the Queen side, but didn't have the time to pawn storm. Even with the numbers and pressure, I couldn't figure out a check mating strategy (my end game needs work), until he hung his Queen.

 

[ragincajun]

Chaz McNulty defeats Psychopav.

Good game.

Very even start (e4 e5). His dark square bishop got blocked in and it allowed me to put my knight on a very good square. Neither of us castled and I was breaking through on the King side. He had the numbers on the Queen side, but didn't have the time to pawn storm. Even with the numbers and pressure, I couldn't figure out a check mating strategy (my end game needs work), until he hung his Queen.

Ragincajun defeats brownsfan.

 

[AAABatteries]

AAA beats Juxt

 

[scoobus]

Scoobus defeats nysfl

I blundered bad early, got back to even with major pressure on his king. We traded down at the end and I was able to scrape out a passed pawn.

 

[timschochet]

@Nick Vermeil vs @Captain Cranks
@Sand vs @BlackCrowes

Any updates?

 

[Captain Cranks]

@Nick Vermeil vs @Captain Cranks
@Sand vs @BlackCrowes

Any updates?

Nick is dealing with some personal stuff so progress has slowed a bit. We're in the end game though.

 

[Sand]

@Nick Vermeil vs @Captain Cranks
@Sand vs @BlackCrowes

Any updates?

Crows is still tooling me. We're at move 40 and hopefully should wrap soon.

 

[nysfl2]

Scoobus defeats nysfl

I blundered bad early, got back to even with major pressure on his king. We traded down at the end and I was able to scrape out a passed pawn.

I felt very fortunate to not lose more material than I did during your blitz on my king, but it still left my pawns in terrible condition for the end game. Good game.

 

[Nick Vermeil]

@Nick Vermeil vs @Captain Cranks
@Sand vs @BlackCrowes

Any updates?

Nick is dealing with some personal stuff so progress has slowed a bit. We're in the end game though.

Yeah sorry guys. Work was a dumpster fire last week then I've been dealing with my folks. I think we'll wrap this up today.

 

[BlackCrowes]

BlackCrowes beats Sand 0-1. really no big mistakes either way. came down to one pawn, as most good games do. well played!

 

[Sand]

BlackCrowes beats Sand 0-1. really no big mistakes either way. came down to one pawn, as most good games do. well played!

Lichess says one decent mistake for you (that I didn't see to take advantage of), but I had a couple more mistakes in crucial spots. On the whole you consistently ground me down and the mistake was past where it mattered. But, really, I felt totally outclassed from the start as your development ended up light years ahead of mine - swimming uphill the whole way. It was a GG!

That's five games, count them - five - without a blunder. This is totally unprecedented.

 

[Zow]

BlackCrowes beats Sand 0-1. really no big mistakes either way. came down to one pawn, as most good games do. well played!

Lichess says one decent mistake for you (that I didn't see it take advantage of), but I had a couple more mistakes in crucial spots. On the whole you consistently ground me down and the mistake was past where it mattered. But, really, I felt totally outclassed from the start as your development ended up light years ahead of mine - swimming uphill the whole way. It was a GG!

That's five games, count them - five - without a blunder. This is totally unprecedented.

That's a moral victory if I've ever heard of one.

 

[Sand]

BlackCrowes beats Sand 0-1. really no big mistakes either way. came down to one pawn, as most good games do. well played!

Lichess says one decent mistake for you (that I didn't see it take advantage of), but I had a couple more mistakes in crucial spots. On the whole you consistently ground me down and the mistake was past where it mattered. But, really, I felt totally outclassed from the start as your development ended up light years ahead of mine - swimming uphill the whole way. It was a GG!

That's five games, count them - five - without a blunder. This is totally unprecedented.

That's a moral victory if I've ever heard of one.

And I'm 3-2. I've been doing about 30 average centipawn loss per game, which tells you how high the level is here. I think I'm playing pretty decent and still barely above water.

Not that I'm complaining. I am pretty happy with my quality of play thus far.

 

[BlackCrowes]

BlackCrowes beats Sand 0-1. really no big mistakes either way. came down to one pawn, as most good games do. well played!

Lichess says one decent mistake for you (that I didn't see to take advantage of), but I had a couple more mistakes in crucial spots. On the whole you consistently ground me down and the mistake was past where it mattered. But, really, I felt totally outclassed from the start as your development ended up light years ahead of mine - swimming uphill the whole way. It was a GG!

That's five games, count them - five - without a blunder. This is totally unprecedented.

i sacrificed that early pawn for rapid development, but you held off the early attack pretty well. i'd say your only real mistake was move 13 which lead to the backwards C pawn i was able to exploit.

 

[Zow]

BlackCrowes beats Sand 0-1. really no big mistakes either way. came down to one pawn, as most good games do. well played!

Lichess says one decent mistake for you (that I didn't see it take advantage of), but I had a couple more mistakes in crucial spots. On the whole you consistently ground me down and the mistake was past where it mattered. But, really, I felt totally outclassed from the start as your development ended up light years ahead of mine - swimming uphill the whole way. It was a GG!

That's five games, count them - five - without a blunder. This is totally unprecedented.

That's a moral victory if I've ever heard of one.

And I'm 3-2. I've been doing about 30 average centipawn loss per game, which tells you how high the level is here. I think I'm playing pretty decent and still barely above water.

Not that I'm complaining. I am pretty happy with my quality of play thus far.

Who is this mystery person you've played? I believe we've only done 4 rounds...

 

[Sand]

Who is this mystery person you've played? I believe we've only done 4 rounds...

Ok, so there is my first blunder...

 

[Captain Cranks]

Nick Vermeil defeats Cranks.

 

[timschochet]

OK I will post pairings for round 5 in a few hours. In the meantime, the standings are listed in the OP. Kudos to @Nick Vermeil who has always participated in this tournament but never performed this well- 4-0 is outstanding!

 

[Sand]

BlackCrowes beats Sand 0-1. really no big mistakes either way. came down to one pawn, as most good games do. well played!

Lichess says one decent mistake for you (that I didn't see to take advantage of), but I had a couple more mistakes in crucial spots. On the whole you consistently ground me down and the mistake was past where it mattered. But, really, I felt totally outclassed from the start as your development ended up light years ahead of mine - swimming uphill the whole way. It was a GG!

That's five games, count them - five - without a blunder. This is totally unprecedented.

i sacrificed that early pawn for rapid development, but you held off the early attack pretty well. i'd say your only real mistake was move 13 which lead to the backwards C pawn i was able to exploit.

I will say I'm surprised you're at 1275. I'd put you realistically way higher. At least that's the impression I got playing you.

I'm definitely going to study that game tonight. I had about two minutes this morning to check if my game was a swath of red or not.

 

[Nick Vermeil]

OK I will post pairings for round 5 in a few hours. In the meantime, the standings are listed in the OP. Kudos to @Nick Vermeil who has always participated in this tournament but never performed this well- 4-0 is outstanding!

Thanks! It feels like a fever dream. It helps immensely that I’ve been white all but once and 3 opponents have resigned saving me from closing, which I suck at.

 

[BlackCrowes]

BlackCrowes beats Sand 0-1. really no big mistakes either way. came down to one pawn, as most good games do. well played!

Lichess says one decent mistake for you (that I didn't see to take advantage of), but I had a couple more mistakes in crucial spots. On the whole you consistently ground me down and the mistake was past where it mattered. But, really, I felt totally outclassed from the start as your development ended up light years ahead of mine - swimming uphill the whole way. It was a GG!

That's five games, count them - five - without a blunder. This is totally unprecedented.

i sacrificed that early pawn for rapid development, but you held off the early attack pretty well. i'd say your only real mistake was move 13 which lead to the backwards C pawn i was able to exploit.

I will say I'm surprised you're at 1275. I'd put you realistically way higher. At least that's the impression I got playing you.

I'm definitely going to study that game tonight. I had about two minutes this morning to check if my game was a swath of red or not.

i created a new account for this. i'm about 1700 on lichess, but that's meanly 3 and 5 minute games

 

[Sand]

i created a new account for this. i'm about 1700 on lichess, but that's meanly 3 and 5 minute games

Ok, that explains a lot. I definitely got the impression with the opening you knew exactly where you were going with it.

 

[Zow]

OK I will post pairings for round 5 in a few hours. In the meantime, the standings are listed in the OP. Kudos to @Nick Vermeil who has always participated in this tournament but never performed this well- 4-0 is outstanding!

Thanks! It feels like a fever dream. It helps immensely that I’ve been white all but once and 3 opponents have resigned saving me from closing, which I suck at.

Noted...

 

[timschochet]

ROUND 5

@BlackCrowes vs @Nick Vermeil
@Chaz McNulty vs timschochet
@Zow vs @Murph
@Captain Cranks vs @Psychopav
@Sand vs @scoobus
@AAABatteries vs @tri-man 47
@Dezbelief vs @Juxtatarot
@nysfl2 vs @ragincajun
@Brownsfan vs @shuke

 

[Nick Vermeil]

Hey guys and @BlackCrowes. Sorry to say my father passed away this morning. It was a long time coming unfortunately. I won't be able to start until tomorrow. Sorry for the delay.

 

[Psychopav]

Hey guys and @BlackCrowes. Sorry to say my father passed away this morning. It was a long time coming unfortunately. I won't be able to start until tomorrow. Sorry for the delay.

Sorry to hear that, my condolences.

 

[BlackCrowes]

Hey guys and @BlackCrowes. Sorry to say my father passed away this morning. It was a long time coming unfortunately. I won't be able to start until tomorrow. Sorry for the delay.

Very sorry for your loss. No hurry.

 

[Psychopav]

@Captain Cranks I tried to invite you but Chesstime doesn't seem to know you by "Captain Cranks". I'll wait for your invite.

 

[Sand]

Hey guys and @BlackCrowes. Sorry to say my father passed away this morning. It was a long time coming unfortunately. I won't be able to start until tomorrow. Sorry for the delay.

Sincerest condolences, Nick.

----

Scoobus and I are well into it. I'm a pawn up, but he has mangled my pawn structure. So pretty even thus far.

 

[timschochet]

Best wishes @Nick Vermeil !

 

[Zow]

@M

Hey guys and @BlackCrowes. Sorry to say my father passed away this morning. It was a long time coming unfortunately. I won't be able to start until tomorrow. Sorry for the delay.

My condolences.

 

[Juxtatarot]

Hey guys and @BlackCrowes. Sorry to say my father passed away this morning. It was a long time coming unfortunately. I won't be able to start until tomorrow. Sorry for the delay.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Captain Cranks]

@Captain Cranks I tried to invite you but Chesstime doesn't seem to know you by "Captain Cranks". I'll wait for your invite.

I'm Cranks on ChessTime. I think you're still a friend from our last game. Let me get it set up.