On the way to redemption

09.11.2024

The day starts in a typical SISSA3 fashion:

-A brunch where Wouter is also present

-Justin forgetting to bring a pen

-Someone with more grams of alcohol in his blood than hours of sleep since yesterday

-Half the players not knowing the color they’re playing

In my experience, that is usually the recipe for a good day. And we need it, our loss against our fourth team last time was soul crushing.

Today, it’s a home game again, this time in DSC. The 4 SISSA teams are playing, and we’re taking the entire floor. 32 boards being set up later, we’re ready to start. Well, kind of. While all the other teams are busy playing their first few moves, half our opponents is missing, because of some traffic issues.

Being the grand generous people that we are, our half decide to wait for 5 minutes before we would start the clocks. Luckily, the 4 of them arrive before that. We’re a bit surprised, because they turn out to be one player – that we know to be very good; and 3 kids – that we know to be kids.

I am about to start my own game, when Justin asks where he can find pieces, as a black pawn is missing. How did he not realize that sooner, despite sitting in front of his board for a few minutes already, you’d ask? I’m asking myself the same.

To be perfectly honest, one of my hypothesis is that Justin is actually the black bishop thief [1,2], and that he now added a pawn to his collection. Another 29 home games and he’ll have a complete chess set. 

Anyway.

We finally start. I am quite happy with our line-up:

1. Writser
2. Tije
3. David
4. Freerk
5. Lieuwe
6. Justin 
7. Aurore
8. Thijs

We have Writser, last minute replacing Remco on board 1, who was himself replacing Timmer on that board. While accepting to play for us, he warned me that he was a bit rusty. Being the grand generous people that we are, we reassured him that we were just happy to have 8 players for our home game. But of course, I get particularly curious to see him play, as I believe it’s my first time ever seeing him. He plays against a london, and he goes for a line quite similar to what I play actually, which makes it easier to get a feeling for the position. For now, it all feels pretty normal to me. 

Will he get into the same kind of troubles that I usually encounter?

My teammates are still early in their opening, and by now I can recognize that most of them are just playing in their own style, and I don’t see anything particularly striking out yet, except maybe for David’s zombie eyes.

On my own board, my opponent plays h3 on move 5, which feels a bit passive to me, quickly followed by d3, which also feels a bit passive. I think I like that. I tend to panick when more agressive moves are being played. But also, I just tend to panick when moves are being played. Maybe let’s not get ahead of ourselves then.

A bit more than one hour in, I really like Thijs’ position next to me. He seems to have quite some activity, and he also told me that he feels happy about his game. That’s good. I initially didn’t know what to think about his opponent wearing her headphones during the game, but maybe it’s just about fashion. I think I’m more into the fashion style of Justin’s opponent, who’s wearing a hoodie with black&white squares, a pattern weirdly familiar, that we can also find on Writser’s socks. Speaking of chess socks, @SISSANS, don’t forget to order yours (check the newsletter!). 

~ end of the commercial break ~

On 2, Tije has a position that I can’t describe differently than « it’s a Tije’s position ». He’s deep in his thoughts, his head disappearing and popping out of his hood from time to time. I have no idea what’s exactly going on but I’m pretty sure there’re some cool tactics in the making.

Next to him, Writser is actually encountering a very quick attack on his castle. Oooh. Been there, done that. And I start losing hope that we’ll get points from the first board. Maybe he can make it out, and if so, I definitely need to learn from him how he managed that. Fingers crossed.

Lieuwe is also running into complications. His opponent didn’t sack a knight, he’s actually just winning a pawn. No bueno.

I don’t understand Freerk’s position much more than Tije’s. Freerk later on commented « I did everything I could to get a terrible position out of the opening. Giving away a pawn, making sure his pieces get good squares and that I have a bad pawn structure ». Maybe it’s good that I didn’t spend more time trying to make sense of his board then.

To his left, David still has all his pieces on the board, so does his opponent. Damn. I don’t see him often having long and slow positional games. And I especially wouldn’t have bet on him having such a game today. I keep looking for a bit, but everything seems a bit stuck. How is any of them gonna make progress? 

I go back to my board, less headache there. I’m getting the bishop pair, and I’m quite happy with my position. My opponent’s knight is basically stuck doing nothing, and I have some nice options for a queen side attack. But also, it has been a decent game so far and he seems like a good kid, so I offer him a biscuit, hoping to not come off as a creepy stranger. 

I think about playing Rc8, but decide to wait for it. Who needs great killing moves when you have good decent ones? There’s no way he’ll be able to keep defending his pawns anyway. But at least, he got a biscuit.

Justin, to my right, also has the bishop pair, and entered an endgame already. I see that he can immediately win a pawn, and I wonder why he doesn’t go for it. Turns out that my co-captain knows better than to blunder checkmate. 

Half of the SISSA1 players are already done, while everything seems undecided for us. I have little hopes in Lieuwe’s and Writser’s positions, but I have a good feeling about mine and Freerk’s games, especially since he’s now up a piece.

There doesn’t seem to have much counter play for his opponent, and Freerk is having his « I’m-calculating-all-the-fancy-sacks-to-win-in-style-rather-than-going-for-the-slow&steady-boring-way » look. Somehow that’s a look that I see regularly on many fellow sissans. So long as it works. And it does. 1-0 for us.

I have some good hopes for Tije’s game too, especially after he wins a queen. Shortly after that, his opponent resigns. 2-0, almost immediately followed by our first loss of the day: Writser’s opponent’s attack was just too strong. 2-1.

Back to my board, life is good, I won a pawn, I pinned a knight, I’m gonna promote, or win more material or whatever, there’s not much that my opponent can do, and not much that I can blunder. He resigns, and I get my first victory in a long game since mid-August. Damn, am I back to liking playing chess? 3-1.

I do a quick check of the situation before going to analyze my game:

-Lieuwe is now 2 pawns behind. I can tell that he’s using all of his ressources to counter-attack, but it looks tough.

-it looks quite good for Thijs. He seems to have space, initiative, and pawns. Good hopes there.

-Justin’s game looks like none of the players is gonna make a breakthrough. Mistakes can still happen, but I’d expect a halfje.

-David has finally traded a couple of pieces. But everything is still so close and so stuck. How long can he keep manoeuvring it? I have honestly no idea how to evaluate this.

So, overall, I’m quite hopeful the team is not gonna lose, but with a 4 or a 4.5, we’ll definitely not restore the order in this world (ie, being ahead of SISSA4). 

I go downstairs for some analysis, and Thijs follows shortly after: 4-1.

Not as fancy as the current 7-0 of our first team, but hey, we’re trying. 

Going back up, Justin tells me the most reassuring thing: « Hey, so he won’t take the draw, and also I have no time. I’m pretty sure I’ve played enough moves to get the extra 30minutes, but also I’m not sure. Anyway, I’m going outside, just can you watch my clock please. ». Well, okay then.

Seeing 41 moves written down on his notation sheet, I’m reassured. Seeing his opponent getting a huge smile when Justin’s clock only has 10 seconds left and Justin remaining AFC, I’m slightly less reassured.

4, 3, 2, 1… bonus time is added. I relax a bit. The way these clocks work is stupid.

 

So, what’s that endgame actually? One rook each, 3 pawns each, the f, g and h pawns for each. In my books, that’s a draw. But also, I could read more books. 

David’s position is still stuck. Lieuwe is still 2 pawns behind, though he now has nicely aligned his two rooks and his queen on the open f file, while his opponent seems a bit less coordinated. Is there hope? 

Back to Justin’s game, pawns have been traded: f&h remains for Justin, h&g for his opponent. Probably a draw still?

That’s until Justin capitalizes on the g pawn that his opponent blundered. f&h vs h, and a rook each. What do the books say?

Lieuwe keep giving checks. And his opponent uses a rook and his queen to defend. Lieuwe gets a pawn back, but it seems like he won’t make much more progress.

David’s is still a headache.

Justin’s opponent accepted the rook trade!

Should he take back with the king or with the pawn? Does it matter? My gut says, take with the pawn. He does it with the king. Oh well. He wins so I guess he was right. 5-1.

Not much people watching Lieuwe’s game. I am. Partly because David’s is frying my brain, but mostly because I am curious to see what’s gonna happen. Not very hopeful, granted, but I know that should the opportunity arises, he’ll seize the chance. An opportunity arises, and Lieuwe seizes it! Well, more precisely, a queen blunder arises, but hey, we’ll take it.

6-1. 

Oh no. Now there’s not much options besides getting into the nightmare that is David’s position. When I ask my teammates if anyone has an input on it, I get told « Boontje komt om zijn loontje ». Okay then.

Luckily, there’s way less pieces than before – a queen and two minor pieces each, with the bishop pair for David’s opponent – hidden in an intertwined sea of pawns. 

I start to like David’s position, as it seems like his king is safe and it doesn’t seem like his opponent can make much progress.

Can he make progress himself? Well, probably not, but neither of them seems to be willing to consider a draw.

Then I see something that I would never imagined happening: David refuses the beer offered by Justin. Justin is equally shocked. But maybe the extra gallon of water that David drinks is what allows him to make the breakthrough: his knight goes behind the enemy lines, and the pawn chain is gonna fall, with David’s queen coming in. The last standing player of Assen3 resigns. 7-1.

The grand generous people that we are let them have a point, @SISSA1, that’s being classy. 

The day finishes in a typical sissa3 fashion:

-No draws

-2 people blundering their queens

-Beers being drunk before the games are over

-And a very happy team, who made up for their previous game. 

Until next time.

Report by Aurore.

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