ROUNDS:  01-04 - 05-09 - 10-14 - 15-18 - WINNER

ROUNDS:  15 - 18

The nine contestants in Group A played against each opponent twice. One game with white pieces and one game with black pieces. Due to the odd number competing, one contestant had to sit out in every round. Eighteen rounds with a total of seventy-two games were played.

Estimated Elo values were given to all the contestants marked with a *. The rest of the Elo values come from Wiki. Fidelity Chess Challenger 1 does not have the ability to play white, therefore all Fidelity Chess Challenger 1 games were played with black pieces.

ROUND 15

MATCH SCHEDULE

057 Saitek Alchemist 1 - 0 Fidelity Chess Challenger 1 058 Fidelity Mini C C 1/2 - 1/2 Fidelity C C Sensory Voice 059 Excalibur E-chess 1 - 0 SciSys Rapier 060 Excalibur Saber IV 1 - 0 Saitek Mk 12 Trainer B Y E  -  Fidelity Marauder

MATCH REPORTS

Game 57:

CC 1 made it’s first mistake on move 6 in this Ruy Lopez game. After this Alchemist quickly destroyed CC 1’s king side and checkmates on move 26.

  

ALCHEMIST ABOUT TO CHECK MATE CC 1

With this win Alchemist now had a more respectable looking 4 points in Group A with 3 games left to play.

Game 58:

After working its way into a 3 pawn advantage, Sensory Voice again ran out of ideas in the end game and settles for a draw by repetition.

  

SENSORY VOICE FAILS TO WIN AGAIN

It is unbelievable how many points Sensory Voice wasted from not being able to win a winning endgame in this tournament.

Game 59:

 Rapier lost it’s Knight on move 6 of this Danish Gambit and shortly after the game.

 

RAPIER LOSES KNIGHT AFTER 5. ... Nxf2?

This win kept E-chess a half point clear at the top ahead of Excalibur rival Saber IV.

Game 60:

Mk 12 mistakenly castles queen-side in this Sicilian game which allowed Saver IV to quickly build up a dangerous queen-side attack that was quickly followed with a nice checkmate.

 

LOTS OF WHITE PRESSURE ON BLACK’S QUEEN SIDE

Despite the defeat, Mk 12 was almost assured of promotion requiring just 1 point from it’s last 3 games.

ROUND 15 TABLE

POS CONTESTANT GAMES POINTS 1 Excalibur E-chess 14 12.5 2 Excalibur Saber IV 14 12.0 3 Saitek Mk 12 Trainer 13 8.0 4 Fidelity Marauder 13 6.5 5 Fidelity C C Sensory Voice 13 6.5 6 Fidelity Mini C C 13 4.5 7 SciSys Rapier 13 4.5 8 Saitek Alchemist 13 4.0 9 Fidelity Chess Challenger 1 14 1.5

Who will get promoted in 4th place?

ROUND 16

MATCH SCHEDULE

061 Saitek Mk 12 Trainer 1 - 0 Excalibur E-chess 062 SciSys Rapier 1 - 0 Fidelity Mini C C 063 Fidelity C C Sensory Voice 1 - 0 Saitek Alchemist 064 Fidelity Marauder 1 - 0 Fidelity Chess Challenger 1 B Y E  -  Excalibur Saber IV

MATCH REPORTS

Game 61:

E-chess foolishly allowed it’s King to be stranded in the center which gave Mk 12 a target to aim for. After a nice pawn advance to d5 on move 19 which completely opened up the center, Mk 12 then orchestrated a nice attack on Black’s king.

 

E-CHESS IN TROUBLE AFTER 12. Bc6

This surprising defeat made the battle for first place between E’chess and Saber IV very interesting.

Game 62:

Rapier successfully converts a 3 pawn advantage in to a nice endgame win.

 

RAPIER AHEAD BY 3 PAWNS

 Rapier now 6th switched places with Mini CC in the table.

Game 63:

Sensory Voice easily beats Alchemist.

 

SENSORY VOICE CLOSE TO WINNING

Sensory Voice narrowly stays ahead of Marauder in 4th place due to a slightly better performance evaluation.

Game 64:

Marauder takes care of business beating CC 1 in 26 moves and keeps it’s promotion chances very much alive with this win.

 

25. Qf6+ CC1 ABOUT TO LOSE AGAIN

Level on points, Marauder had to hope that Sensory Voice would slip up in it’s last 2 games.

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ROUND 16 TABLE

POS CONTESTANT GAMES POINTS 1 Excalibur E-chess 15 12.5 2 Excalibur Saber IV 14 12.0 3 Saitek Mk 12 Trainer 14 9.0 4 Fidelity C C Sensory Voice 14 7.5 5 Fidelity Marauder 14 7.5 6 SciSys Rapier 14 5.5 7 Fidelity Mini C C 14 4.5 8 Saitek Alchemist 14 4.0 9 Fidelity Chess Challenger 1 15 1.5

It’s close at the top!

ROUND 17

MATCH SCHEDULE

065 Fidelity Marauder 1/2 - 1/2 Fidelity C C Sensory Voice 066 Saitek Alchemist 0 - 1 SciSys Rapier 067 Fidelity Mini C C 0 - 1 Saitek Mk 12 Trainer 068 Excalibur E-chess 1 - 0 Excalibur Saber IV B Y E  -  Fidelity Chess Challenger 1

MATCH REPORTS

Game 65:

This was an important game. Both level on points, whoever wins virtually assures itself the 4th promotion place. Neither contestant could afford to lose this game. You could almost imagine that the pressure of failure was too much for both contestants as both machines settled for a safe draw by repetition after only 15 moves.

  

MATCH DRAWN BY REPETITION

Could either of the two contestants really afford a draw in this situation? The evaluations were that close at this stage that if both machines won their last game, Marauder would finish 4th and qualify for stage 2. However, if both machines drew their last game, then Sensory Voice would finish 4th and qualify instead.

Game 66:

Rapier made a mistake that loses a Knight on move 16 in this Queen’s Gambit. But then on move 24 Alchemist blunders and lost a rook which gave Rapier material advantage and an open b-pawn.

 

RAPIER CLOSE TO WINNING

Rapier eventually managed to promote the pawn and win the game.

Game 67:

Mini CC made a fatal mistake on move 24 which gave Mk 12 an easy checkmate in 3 moves opportunity.

 

MINI CC PLAYS 24. Qd3? NEXT AND LOSES

After holding a promotion spot for a while in earlier rounds, Mini CC slipped down the table and is in 7th place with 1 game left to play.

Game 68:

This match surely decided who became Group A Champion. E-chess needed to win this game whereas a draw was likely sufficient for Saber IV.  Saber IV lost a Knight for 2 pawns on move 3 thereby falling immediately behind in this match.

SABER IV DOWN A KNIGHT AFTER 16. cxd3

There were several opportunities in the middle game where Saber IV might have equalized and salvaged the draw that it needed.

SABER IV MISSES CHANCE TO PLAY 23. ... Bxd3+!

But unfortunately on each occasion Saber IV missed playing the best move and allowed any advantage to slip away. Eventually E-chess took total command of this game and after 73 moves checkmated Saber IV and became Group A Champion!

ROUND 17 TABLE

POS CONTESTANT GAMES POINTS 1 Excalibur E-chess 16 13.5 2 Excalibur Saber IV 15 12.0 3 Saitek Mk 12 Trainer 15 10.0 4 Fidelity C C Sensory Voice 15 8.0 5 Fidelity Marauder 15 8.0 6 SciSys Rapier 15 6.5 7 Fidelity Mini C C 15 4.5 8 Saitek Alchemist 15 4.0 9 Fidelity Chess Challenger 1 15 1.5

E-chess wins Group A!!

ROUND 18

MATCH SCHEDULE

069 Excalibur Saber IV 1 - 0 Fidelity Mini C C 070 Saitek Mk 12 Trainer 1 - 0 Saitek Alchemist 071 SciSys Rapier 1/2 - 1/2 Fidelity Marauder 072 Fidelity C C Sensory Voice 1/2 - 1/2 Fidelity Chess Challenger 1 B Y E  -  Excalibur E-chess

MATCH REPORTS

Game 69:

Mini CC played a weak move on move 12 and was punished by Saber IV.

WHITE ADVANTAGE AFTER 12. ... b5?

With this win Saber IV finished 2nd, only a 1/2 point behind the Group A Champion!

Game 70:

MK 12 amazingly required 3 Queens to beat Alchemist after 53 moves!

MK 12 WITH 3 QUEENS AFTER 48. c8Q

This was a very good 3rd place finish for Mk 12 considering it’s handicap of playing each move in 15 seconds compared to the 30 seconds allowed and used by the rest of the contestants.

Game 71:

Only a win was sufficient based on the performance evaluations for Marauder to finish 4th and move on stage 2 of this tournament. Marauder’s destiny was in it’s own hands in this game and it failed miserably. Instead of fighting to the death in a position which was slightly better for Marauder, it instead lamely accepted a draw by repetition against Rapier. The evaluations were that close between Marauder and Sensory Voice that even if Sensory Voice also played a draw in it’s match against CC 1, Sensory Voice would qualify.

MARAUDER SLIGHTLY AHEAD BUT PLAYS FOR DRAW

This very unfortunate result meant that Marauder would finish 5th in Group A and miss qualifying for Stage 2 by the narrowest of evaluations.

Game 72:

A very fortunate Sensory Voice started this game. Even a win would not have been sufficient for Sensory Voice had Marauder beaten Rapier in the previous game. The evaluations were that close. Surprisingly as if sensing that a draw was enough, Sensory Voice accepted a draw by repetition against CC 1 and finished 4th in Group A which qualified it for Stage 2.

SENSORY VOICE AHEAD BUT ACCEPTS DRAW

It was fitting that a CC 1 game started the U1400 Blue Championship and that a CC 1 ended the Group A Tournament. Although finishing last in this group, it was very pleasing to see CC 1 finish with 4 draws and 2 points. Who would have expected any points at all for CC 1 before the tournament started?

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ROUND 18 TABLE

POS CONTESTANT GAMES POINTS 1 Excalibur E-chess 16 13.5 2 Excalibur Saber IV 16 13.0 3 Saitek Mk 12 Trainer 16 11.0 4 Fidelity C C Sensory Voice 16 8.5 5 Fidelity Marauder 16 8.5 6 SciSys Rapier 16 7.0 7 Fidelity Mini C C 16 4.5 8 Saitek Alchemist 16 4.0 9 Fidelity Chess Challenger 1 16 2.0

Lucky Sensory Voice gets 4th spot!

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ROUNDS:  01-04 - 05-09 - 10-14 - 15-18 - WINNER