How to Win your Group: Strategies for Chess.com Daily Chess Champs Mastery (Well, kind of)

In 2022, I participated in the Chess.com Daily Chess Championship, and despite being on the verge of advancing to the second round, a blunder cost me the opportunity to tie with the first place winner (1768), leaving me with only 20 points. Motivated to do better, I decided to compete again in the 2023 edition.

I learned a valuable lesson in 2022: I realized that to increase my chances of winning, I needed to limit myself to playing at most one move per day from the opening phase. For those who haven't played in this tournament before, it's important to note that timeouts are quite high (73% in 2022), and many players end up losing on time in the middle game phase too.

As I joined the 2023 tournament and the games began, I took a moment to read through the comment section. To my surprise, I found that a player with a lower rating (1200) were able to defeat a higher rating player, a 1600 just like me. including the biggest upset where an 831 outplayed an 1845 (banned later for violating the Fair Play). Furthermore, there were many unrated 400 or 800 players with higher ratings in other time controls. These comments made me realize that the ratings may not always accurately reflect a player's abilities in this 2023 tournament.

Subsequently, I proceeded to review the profiles of the players in my group who were still playing after timeouts. This is what I learned:

**Although I didn't actually create this table, it serves as an illustration of how I approached the data analysis in order to determine the strongest player.

Clearly, Kinkshuk was the most experienced player, having played the most games and had the highest ratings across different time controls. Using this knowledge, I made a prediction for my group if I were not part of the tournament:

• 1st Kinkshuk
• 2nd FerMRC or Paullacagolle
• 4th Hesamkhan
• 5th Synfjell

I believed that winning 1.5 points against Kinkshuk would be enough to advance to the next round. Once the majority of the games in my group had concluded, I focused my attention to finishing my matches against Kinkshuk. As it turned out, I was able to secure 1.5 points against him. Here is how the group standings looked:

Kinkshuk finished with 19.5 points, and my prediction for the first and second places in the group proved correct. Additionally, FerMRC still had a chance to advance to the next round if he could only beat me in our remaining two games. Consequently, my new strategy was to win those two games against FerMRC because I had made some blunders in  matches against other players, and my healthiest games were against FerMRC.

To gain an edge in the tournament, I applied my next strategy - taking advantage of the explorer tool available if you are a Diamond Member. This tool proved particularly useful when my opponent cannot use it, although I am uncertain of how frequently players make use of books as an alternative. By using the explorer, I was able to access the first 10 moves of an opening and gain insight into my opponent's objectives and tactics when I lacked familiarity with a specific opening. Additionally, the tool displayed the percentage of winning for each possible move, allowing me to select moves with higher likelihoods of success. Naturally, I opted for moves that offered the greatest chance of victory.

The last strategy is a combination of two tools, the use of Notes and Analysis. It is difficult to do it for every game but I made a conscious effort to utilize them as frequently as possible. First of all, I write the date and hour and then observations about the position in Notes. This includes identifying which pieces could be attacked or potential tactics or which moves could be the best in the current position or a link for an opening lesson on Chess.com or any other important information.

To use the Analysis tool effectively, it's important to explore different variations and find the strongest moves for your game. By doing so, you may discover several Great and Best Moves that can lead you to victory.

It's important to never underestimate your opponents, as every player can be a challenge. For instance, I had assumed I would easily win my matches against Hesamkhan and Synfjell, but I only managed to defeat Hesamkhan in both games due to a timeout in the middle game phase in one match (Remember the percentage of time outs is high).

I opted to employ the Loud Italian opening against Hesamkhan, a strategy I had learned through GM Alexandra Kosteniuk's (ChessQueen) lessons on Chess.com. Remarkably, our game unfolded almost identically to the example provided in the lesson -A Rare Gambit: The Loud Italian-. By the seventh move, I had already secured an advantage, and after 15 moves, I won. In that moment, I felt like a true genius.

After I was overconfident in our first game, I made a crucial blunder in my second game against Hesamkhan. On move 15, I blundered with Bb5, and he responded with his second great move, Bxh6. From then on, I struggled to regain my advantage and could end up losing the game but I won because of timeout. It was a harsh lesson that reminded me not to underestimate my opponents and to stay focused throughout every game. However, I made two more blunders in two other games (against Synfjell and Paullacagolle), which reminded me that I still had room for improvement and that I must follow my own strategies.

In summary, there are four steps to follow if you want to improve your chances of winning the group in the 1st round:

1. Limit yourself to playing at most one move per day during the opening phase.
2. Check the profiles of players who are still active after timeouts in your group and rank them according to different time controls.
3. Make use of the explorer tool to gain insights into your opponent's strategy and choose moves that give you the best likelihood of winning.
4. Use the notes and analysis tools together to find the best variations for your game.

And perhaps the most important advice is to not underestimate your opponents.

I hope that these strategies and tip will prove valuable to you as you play your own chess matches in the future. Good luck, and may your games be successful!