February MEGARAPID Prizes

After a couple weeks with the kids home from school, I finally had time to review all the wonderful games from the ChessDojo February MEGARAPID Championship, which made for a truly delightful stream. Today I would like to announce and appreciate all the winners, as well as sharing with everyone some of the nicest and most interesting games played. The first success of this tournament was participation: the event grew to 114 players from 90 in January, and 70 of them played all the way through the final 8th round, up from about 40 in January. This is a much, much higher percentage, and is an encouraging sign for the positive attitudes of the Dojo community! Finally, I would like to again thank Sombrero (Cartiertank on chess.com) for his donation of our special first prize for the February edition.

1st: ComradeEyelash with 7/8 Eyelash defended her January Championship, and won a Dojo-leading 4th tournament of 2021! For her performance she won the beautiful watch shown here.

2nd: grubeszachy wins a classical game against a Dojo sensei, followed by a postmortem discussion with them.

3rd: chessmonger808 wins a private lesson with a Dojo sensei.

1st under 2000: chaim9786 wins a rapid game against a Dojo sensei, followed by a postmortem discussion with them.

2nd under 2000: MitchFabian wins VIP status on twitch

1st under 1800: In a 4-way tie, neochance and sharkema win a game analyzed on stream by a sensei

2nd under 1800: (also tied for first) cartiertank and guilio808 win VIP status on twitch

1st under1600: cm_9000 wins a game analyzed on stream by a sensei.

2nd under 1600: 7tyfour wins VIP status on twitch

1st under 1400: REZA2011 wins a game analyzed on stream by a sensei

2nd under 1400: drchainsaw wins VIP status on twitch

1st under 1200: ecceneric wins a game analyzed on stream by a sensei

2nd under 1200: Steve-North wins VIP status on twitch

1st under 1000: Marian_Chicu wins a game analyzed on stream by a sensei

2nd under 1000: abhiramkode wins VIP status on twitch

Best Game Prizes

#1 With an instructive and original demolition of the unusual Dzindzi-Indian, Chaim edged out alexa for the first prize of a Profile and Private Lesson with a Dojo sensei.

#2 Alexa's game is equally forceful and instructive, employing Jesse's endgame Philidor variation to win a 1-month diamond membership:

#3 MajorBatata played a flawless positional crush with the Benko to earn a 1-mo gold membership:

#4 MrCharlieSilva came within a millimeter of winning the upset prize with this excellent game, with tenacity and endgame skills on display:

Biggest Upset:

alphacanismajor won a 1-month platinum for this 514 point upset:

Honorable mention: TellingMoose won two massive upsets of 465 and 460 points within one tournament, falling just behind alphacanismajor.

Quickest Win:

MarkoBatman earns a game annotated as PGN by a sensei for this crushing Italian Game:

Best Zugzwang:

You will be seeing chess_latte on stream some time in the next month, as this fantastic zugzwang, allowing a N with one last pawn on the board to triumph over two connected passers, earns him a spot as co-host on an Endgame Training stream with a sensei.

Best underpromotion:

Only one player remembered this prize! TheFinnisher2 earns a private lesson for this one:

A great time was had by many, and many lessons were learned. Skills were refined, character traits like tenacity and endurance were built. I am happy to announce that in March, we will *not* have a MEGARAPID Championship, as instead we will be hosting our first ever Classical Weekend Swiss! Start negotiating with your household for the freedom to play all weekend of March 27-28, as these four long games will leave little time for chores or family!

Cheers!  David