Lichess4545 Ledger 092

Lichess4545 Ledger

Issue #092 - March 20, 2019

State of the 4545 League

by @kostasvl

We're halfway through Season 16 in the 4545 team league and things have started to get on their way. After round 4 "Lichess Lovers" and "Barely Légal" lead the league undefeated with only a draw per team. There are 4 teams behind them with only 1 match point less. Also these 2 leading teams are paired together so it's interesting to see if one of these teams can get the clear advantage.

The 14th season of LoneWolf has successfully started and the first pairings were released on Tuesday 00:00 UTC. For those that are confused pairings will be released right away with the beginning of Tuesday (in UTC) and not the beginning of Wednesday.

Registrations for the big blitz battle event are open and the battle will start this Sunday 24th of March at 11:00 UTC. Players will have to confirm that they'll be online for the battle 1-2 hours before the battle starts. For further information join the #blitz-battle channel.

The March simul was successfully completed with 14 participants. Congratulations to @Somethingpretentious for scoring 8 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses. You can see full details of the simul clicking here.

The 2nd correspondence tournament started successfully with 18 participants. You can follow the games of the tournament in #correspondence-games-. For the complete sheet of the tournament join the #correspondence channel.

Interview

by @adande1 and @kostasvl with @Hoikka

Our featured player this week is Hoikka, winner of Lonewolf #13 (U1800). This is Hoikka’s first win and top three finish in the Lonewolf League.

Tell us a little something about yourself. How long have you been playing chess and what has been your history/ participation with the different leagues in the community?

I began playing club chess in 2006 when I was 12, but it only lasted for about 6 months. Then I started playing again after the World Championship in 2016. The year after I began playing tournaments, but there are no tournaments or clubs where I live, so I have to travel quite far to attend them. That’s the main reason I participate in Lichess tournaments, as it is the best substitute for on the board games. This was my second LoneWolf tournament, and I have also competed twice in the Lichess4545.

Please answer some fun facts below

Favorite opening as White: I always go for the Queens Gambit, preferably the exchange variation, Carlsbad structure in QGD.

Favorite opening as Black against 1.e4: As black I always play the French defence. I feel like it is easier for me to only focus on one opening, to restrict the amount of theory I have to study.

Favorite opening as Black against 1.d4: I play the Semi-Slav whenever I can. I try to aim for the Meran variation. Round 4 against izzie26 (Gamelink) was my first time in tournament play where we achieved the Meran on the board. It can get really sharp really quick. Just look at round 3 and 5 of the Kramnik vs Anand match in 2008.

Favorite chess icon/ inspiration: Magnus Carlsen

Most memorable achievement (preferably chess related): Winning this League is my most memorable chess achievement. I have played great games against higher rated opponents, but performing weeks after weeks like this is definitely my proudest.

Most memorable failure (preferably chess related): Probably when I lost a game against the London system in six moves as black. That one hurts even today.

Most memorable game and/ or opponent (preferably from Season #13): One of my most memorable game is the one against Isachess on round 8 this season (Gamelink). I found a nice forced mate that started with a rook sacrifice.

What role does chess play in your life?

I probably spends a little to much time during the day thinking about chess. I continuously have daily chess games going on and there aren’t many hours between each time I do a tactic or two, or play a move in one of the games I have going.

Do you have any goals with respect to chess?

My goal is to get a FIDE rating of 2000. I currently have a rating of 1456 after 21 FIDE games. To achieve my goal I have to play more competitive on the board tournaments, which requires some traveling.

What influenced your decision to play in the U1800 vs. the Open Section? How does it feel to be #1 among 112 players who’d registered in U1800 section?

The U1800 was my first season this year, and considering I was within the limit here I saw an opportunity to get good results.

As stated above, this is one of my proudest moment in my chess career.

What are your thoughts on having multiple sections in the Lonewolf League? Will you be playing the Open section in Season 14 now that your lichess classical rating is above 1800?

I really like the multiple sections in the Lonewolf League as this gives normal players like me an opportunity to win the league.

I will play in the open section during Season 14.

Talk about your recent performance and the biggest factors behind your success.

A few weeks before this tournament I started solving more tactics and tried to use more time solving them, so I felt that I could see the position easier. That had an immediate effect in classical chess. This also helped me with seeing tactics I would not have recognized earlier, as I usually become impatient and wants to solve them faster. I won quite a few games this season due to my efforts with tactics.

Describe your chess regimen. What chess resources (books, applications, websites etc.) do you use regularly and how did these help you?

I use the Lichess tactics trainer on a daily basis, and try to not move before I see what the winning move is. When I first started I watched a lot of John Bartholomew on youtube, I like his playing style and explanation of stuff he does. John plays solid strong moves, he develops his pieces and castles before he does anything else. He taught me opening principals and positional understanding. Ben Finegold is another goldmine on youtube, I primary watch the lectures, its fun to see how he mocks GMs that don’t castle and loses.

I have a few chess books, most of them gather dust on the shelf. I really like the winning chess series by Yasser Seirawan. He explains important principals and helps putting them to use with tactics during and after each chapter. The one book I use most is my opening book for white, Starting out: 1.d4 by John Cox.

I use the opening book during preparation for a match and after a game to see where I deviated from theory. I don’t bother memorizing opening lines, I’ll rather use that time on tactics. John Cox advocates for main lines, instead of tricky side lines. His reasoning is that the main line is objectively best and the opponent on club level doesn’t know much theory anyway.

When I get my pairing, I always go into my opponent’s profile and see what opening he plays against my preferred opening. I then check out my book or find a youtube video to look up some good lines. On the first round this season against Carschi I discovered that he plays the Chigorin Defence, an opening I had no experience against. This method helped me getting out of the opening with a good position, that I converted to a win.

What advice, if any, do you have for the average U1800 player in the league who is trying to place well in the standings?

Tactics, tactics and tactics. It’s praised a lot online, but it does help. It can be hard finding tactics during a game, where you have to look for one every move, this league with a longer time control helps me here. It gives you time to look for tactics and avoid tactics and silly blunders.

See my last paragraph in the section over. Preparing for the specific opening you will meet really does help. You should also learn the principals of the opening you will play during the round. Find out what pawn brakes you should look for, where each piece belongs, etc.

How has this League and the community affected your experience of the game?

Playing tournaments on Lichess helps me keep my motivation up and running, all the time it is hard finding someone to play classical chess against.

Any final thoughts you’d like to share with the community?

First and foremost I would give my gratitude to my girlfriend that watches hours of chess on youtube with me and leaves me alone when I play classical chess online.

Much respect to the organizers and mods off the Lichess4545 leagues. You guys does an amazing job.

Thanks for taking the time to provide these thoughtful answers and all the best for Season #14!

Note: In our interview with alex_slow last week, we'd incorrectly reported that Season #13 was his only win when in fact he'd also won Lonewolf Season #4 that he'd played under the username alex_1987. Apologies to alex_slow for the error.

If you liked this week's featured player interview or have thoughts on who and/ or what you’d like hear next feel free to post in #lichessledger or DM @adande1. As always, DM @glbert with your complaints! (and he’ll tell you what to do about them).

Weekly Stats

by @kraaft and @Somethingpretentious

Stats for Season 16 Rounds 4:

The fastest mate was white on move 21 found in Gamelink White: darubaru, Black: yvettenicole.
The fastest draw was found in Gamelink White: david252525, Black: grzybozbur.
The fastest resign was black on move 13 found in Gamelink White: lucagaglia73, Black: grizzhog.
The biggest upset was 137 points in Gamelink White: quietstorm24, Black: kn960, Gamelink White: sleivert, Black: highonpotnuse.
The longest game ended with white on move 78 Gamelink White: sanganakam, Black: tsscfttsos.
112 was the highest ACPL in Gamelink White: alex123a, Black: rebelme.
6 was the lowest ACPL in Gamelink White: fittyz, Black: ubique29.
Combined maximum ACPL was 181 in Gamelink White: alex123a, Black: rebelme.
Combined minimum ACPL was 20 in Gamelink White: f1nn33, Black: christopherchabris.
The longest think was 25 minutes 30.0 seconds on move 13 in Gamelink White: tothecloid, Black: kostasvl.
The most time left was 61 minutes 56.0 seconds in Gamelink White: mekumcu, Black: litlee.
The most time spent was 87 minutes 46.0 seconds in Gamelink White: luvgangster, Black: theratrivertrapper.

-PGNs-

Chess Puzzles

by @forhavu, @kraaft and @okei

Thanks to @okei for filtering and arranging this edition of puzzles.

Click on the images for the solution.


SherlockHolmez (1713) - Tsatsa64 (1651) Gamelink. ◯ White to play.	glaciersix (1176) - Acer30 (1451) Gamelink. ◯ White to play.	Isachess (1827) - Edwarde (1774) Gamelink. ◯ White to play.	mekumcu (1716) - litlee (1697) Gamelink. ⚫ Black to play.
swandog (1609) - msiipola (1568) Gamelink. ⚫ Black to play.	Immortality (1805) - mathijshuis (1789) Gamelink. ◯ White to play.	mekumcu (1716) - litlee (1697) Gamelink. ⚫ Black to play.
Shared by the community (can contain imperfect puzzles.)
The4545LeagueSimul (1500) - kostasvl (1716) Gamelink. Shared by @kostasvl. ⚫ Black to play.	richtri_rj (1673) - Kraaft (1594) Gamelink. Shared by @kraaft. ⚫ Black to play.	joey1472 (1647) - mysonnevercallme (1723) Gamelink. Shared by @okei. ◯ White to play.

Chessboard images provided by lenik terenin.

Please feel free to join #lichessledger on slack if you would like to contribute towards the ledger in any way, or provide any feedback. Both are highly encouraged and appreciated. Thank you for reading.

Thanks to @adande1, @forhavu, @Hoikka, @kostasvl, @kraaft, @okei, @Somethingpretentious and @Spiteknight.