Virtual Chess Tournament (VCT) - Thug Chess

Hall of Fame:  Final Result Group Standings:

VCT 3 journey has been amazingly exciting so far! As we enter the Quarter Final round, and things start getting serious, let us take a look back to see a few milestones achieved in the Group Stages of the tournament. Highlights :  Black or White - Although there were concerns raised on selection of colors in the games, 33 matches were actually won with black pieces and 23 matches were won with white pieces in the Group Stage. 4 matches were drawn out of total 60 matches. Women power - Two female players out of total 24 players have won the maximum number of prizes in the tournament (of a historically patriarchal game - chess). Both have already won 2 prizes each. No other player can achieve that in VCT 3. Throughout the day - Match timings in VCT 3 have covered almost two thirds of a day, ranging from 8:30 am in the morning to 11:30 pm in the night. And we have seen practice matches happening even at 2:30 am in the night! OP calculation - New qualification rule introduced in VCT...

Auxiliary Prizes Winner : ( Please refer to  prizes  webpage for details )  6. Top Fighter   -            Nandita (Nandy111) 7. People's Champ  - Neha (PoeticDecoy) 8. Best Checkmate  -  Arka (rkdpgupta) - against Sudipta on Matchday 1 in Yellow League. 9. Giant Slayer -          Nandita (Nandy111) - for beating Sudipta on Matchday 2  in Yellow League . Sudipta was 700+ higher rated than her at the time of the match. Honorable mentions -  Souvik - Knocking Champion Sandy out of the tournament, with 600+ rating difference  on Matchday 5, which ultimately allowed him to qualify for the next round. Arka - Absolutely outwitting and winning against Sudipta with 400+ rating difference on Matchday 1, which complicated the Yellow League standings. Shibu - Stunning win against Sandy with 400+ rating difference on Matchday 1 which actually motivated many lower rated players an...

By Bikash Sherpa Match # 13:        Neha (bheegibasanti) V Abhishek (chicsan)  Winner:          Neha Neha and Abhishek began matchday 2 with Neha playing with black pieces. Neha blundered her queen as early as move 8 after which Abhishek dominated the entire match up until the point when there was a sudden checkmate by black as highlighted below (kudos to her presence of mind despite being so down on material): Match # 14:      Matcho (hopelessindian)  V Sandy (buhu_s) Winner:             Sandy This was the repeat of VCT-2 semi-final and despite much improvement, Matcho could not change the result. He opened with his favorite London system with white pieces. They traded queens quickly which resulted in rook and knight endgame. Sandy’s pieces were active and he converted into a win. No upset this time for buhu_s. Match # 15:       Aneek (aneek_roy)...

By Bikash Sherpa Hello Guys Welcome to VCT3: Thug Chess Round by Round report.  Brief Introduction : After successful completion of VCT 2: Thug Chess, where Sandy aka buhu_s was the champion (hence booked his name in VCT Hall of Fame), our hardworking committee members, which mainly comprise of Jongs, Matcho and Avik (I chipped in with few ideas), decided to take the tournament to new heights and include 8 more players totaling 24 players. The tournament format and other details can be found in   https://vctchess.blogspot.com/2020/06/vct-3-structure.html . I personally liked what they have done with the concept of 'Fighters' and the prizes allotted for them. Below are the new players who joined in VCT 3: Abhishek (chicsan)                                    -1390 Souvik (nitrozz)                               ...