EE-Sports: Chess Final
Hey all! I was lucky enough to be able to document these epic chess games as a member of EE-sports. I should preface this however by saying I know bar none about chess. I only know how to write moves, not what they actually mean. However, lichess.org has this amazing analysis board function, so I will just take some numbers from there and act like I actually know something. With that out of the way, let us start reviewing these games!
First match
First game between Thijs van Essen (black) and Reinier Stribos (white) was done pretty quickly, with only 15 moves. This was due to Reinier developing his board state much more efficiently than Thijs could, with Reinier playing according the book all throughout the first 8 moves. At this point, he had acquired a sizeable lead. During move 9 Lars Holm came barging in to the boardroom to shred some paper, this being detrimental to the concentration of course. To set things right, Holm brought two green beauties to the stage, to which a very sportsmanlike cheers came from both parties. Unfortunately, it seems like Thijs could never fully recover his concentration in this game, leading to a concede pretty early on.
Black (Thijs) concedes, white (Reinier) wins.
Second match
On to the second game then. Normally the parties would switch sides, but this was never intended to be a professional game of chess anyway. In this party, Thijs started playing a lot better, even if the first 4 moves of white were identical. I mean if something worked the first game, why change it right? It took black until the fourth move to figure that if he lost the first game he maybe should consider doing something different. And something different he did! The entirety of the first 12 moves were pretty much dead even. In move 13 Thijs even managed to get a pretty sizable lead by moving his horse to b2! Then gaining even more of a lead when Reinier put his tower on d4. Unfortunately, he lost his lead almost immediately by not taking out the tower and instead taking out the bishop. This almost reset the game back to dead even again. The even state continued on until move 27! However this time it was Thijs making a mistake, giving Reinier a lead. By moving his pawn up to g5 he only opened up his king without gaining much for it. In only two moves Reinier was able to put Thijs’ king in check. Thijs managed to get out relatively unscathed, however, the lead Reinier had only became larger as time went on. Thijs never managed to recover, leading to him losing his king after 56 moves.
White (Reinier) wins.
Third match
This time, the parties do switch sides. So now Thijs will be playing white, and Reinier will be playing black. They start off pretty close to one another, trading some blows left and right with no crazy advantages gained. That all changes in move 15 however. White takes out a pawn with a bishop, losing a bishop in the fray. This trade is definitely not the best, but white does regain some board positioning afterwards. However, the aftershock of this mistake was felt until the very end, with black not giving away the lead gained. Near move 30 is when the death sentence was complete, and black ends up winning in 43 moves.
Black (Reinier) wins.
In the end, even though it was a 3-0 for Reinier, I don’t think it was that one-sided. Especially game two, Thijs came pretty close to taking a game from Reinier. That being said however, I do think Reinier has an edge over Thijs when it comes down to playing chess. What matters most however, is not the result, but the sportsmanship. And in that regard, both these guys were winners.
