Lichess 2023 Winter Marathon
Lichess 2023 Winter Marathon
I played in the 2023 Lichess Winter Marathon, I started 250 games starting at the beginning of the tournament, taking roughly 4-5hr nap break, around 1am and then got back to playing until there was about 2hrs left of the event, I took several shorter breaks between games at various points, for food, refilling my water, stretching my legs, etc. I figured 250 games was a good stopping point for me.
The average player rating was 1746 for the full event, my starting rating was around 1450, my average opponent rating was 1972, I had a 19% win rate and had a performance at a rating of 1613, which is where my rating ended up after the event. For those curious, according to the chess goals rating conversion, those translate roughly to 1400 average rating player, 1100 for my starting rating, average opponent rating of 1750, and 1250 performance/end rating when converted to chess.com ratings. I placed 1,930, out of the 25,203 total players who played at least 1 game.
Lichess has a mechanic during many events called berserk, this allows you to give yourself a time disadvantage, by cutting your time in half, the flip side is you get 1 extra point if you draw or win. They also have so when you’re on a win streak so you have at least 2 wins in a row, you will start to get 4 points for each win after that.
As a lower rated player, I did not berserk during the whole event, and I did manage to sneak some wins in on time, vs opponents who berserked, not all my wins vs berserked opponents were on time, however, I do believe that the extra 1.5 minute did help me in those games. It is definitely something you should take advantage of if you can as a lower rated player.
I guess I should go into some takeaways, there was a special digital trophy for those who finished in the top 500, I didn’t really expect to make that, and was primarily going into it, expecting to face many sicilians, as an e4 player, and I did, it was the most common opening I played as white, appearing 36 times. Since my goal was not top 500, I primarily wanted to test a few lines against it. The lines I focused on were The Wing Gambit, The Alapin, and the Smith Morra Gambit. The Scicilian is an opening I and I’m sure many other 1 e4 players struggle against. My results for each opening; I played 15 Wing Gambit’s with 1 Draw and 14 losses. My one draw was vs an 1820 rated player (~1550 chess.com elo) In this game I apparently had #4, but wasn’t able to see it, I think this is partially due to not playing in “Zen Mode” chess.com has “Focus Mode”, where your opponent rating is hidden, I’ve found my performance in focus mode on chess.com to be better, as you’re not thinking about “My opponent is higher rated than me.” As that thought process can put you in an already defeated mindset, so instead of finding a checkmate, you end up opting for a draw, or you feel like you’ve already lost.
My wing gambit draw; I wouldn’t say the #4 is super difficult to find, but it’s also not the most obvious move, however I still had over 2 minutes, and had I taken a little more time to think I feel like I would have been able to find it. My opponent did not berserk.
With the Alapin Sicilian, I played 10 games 1 draw and 9 losses. My one draw was vs a 2038 rated player (roughly 1850 chess.com). I put a little more weight on this draw, since it was vs a higher rated player. However the Alapin can get more complicated than the Wing Gambit, so it would take more study. This game was a bit closer, my best advantage was +2.2 when we ended up in a draw, my opponent did berserk, and at the time of the draw, I had 1 minute 19 seconds left and my opponent had 38 seconds left. I don’t know if I had more time I would have been able to find the correct continuation. Here is that game.
With the Smith Morra Gambit, I played 8 games, 2 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses. These wins were vs lower rated opponents, 1766 and and 1792 (1400-1500 chess.com elo)(apparently my 1766 opponent cheated at some point, because the account is now closed on lichess). While still higher rated than myself at the time, I perhaps weigh them slightly lower than my draw in the Alapin, one win was on time, vs the 1792, I had a completely winning position though, my draw with the Smith Morra was vs a 2011 (~1800 chess.com) he did not berserk. In my draw, going over the review I had a completely winning position no mate, but +8.8, I ended the game with 1 minute 13 seconds on the clock, and my opponent had 48 seconds, I most definitely could have potentially won this game, had I taken a little more time and I had enough time, instead of going for a draw. However this again I feel is likely due to seeing my opponent’s rating and being in the mindset, “I’m going to mess something up if I try playing for a win”.
My wins;
My Draw, that really should have been a win.
Before I go into some games I played as black I want to highlight some games I played vs titled players, I lost every game, but I feel like there are some interesting insights that can be had from reviewing them. The first and foremost, is that everyone makes mistakes, and anyone can blunder. I also want to say to wrap up this section I think I will keep both the Alapin, and Smith-Morra under my belt as tools vs the Sicilian, and do away with the Wing Gambit, it's fun, but it's not great.
In this game I play against GM Swayams Mishra, a French Defense vs Papa Ticulat Gambit. Move 10 … Nxb3+ is a blunder, and looking at the game review even aside from the eval bar, and red question marks, it’s a clear blunder. I can recapture with my Queen. However seeing the GM and rating made my mind go “This must be a trap, and It’s going to lose me the game.” This is why I recaptured with a pawn instead. I compounded the issue by trading off a bunch afterwards and got checkmated.
The 7 games I played vs Titled players can be found in this library. https://www.chess.com/c/2R6BXJMRp
For my games where I played Black I stuck to what I know, Scandinavian vs 1 e4, Indian or Englund Gambit vs 1 d4, Anglo Scandinavian vs 1 c4, and the Dutch Defense vs basically anything else. 64 games vs 1 e4, 17 wins, 41 losses, and 6 draws. My most decisive and quick win was 100% accuracy for me, was an Icelandic Gambit vs a 1905(1650 chess.com) my opponent only had 61% accuracy.
From the scandinavian I normally go into a Geschev Gambit, Icelandic Gambit, and while previously I was playing the portuguese variation vs 3 d4, I’ve decided to start playing the marshal variation. The Geschev Gambit performed well enough for me during the event getting me 4 wins, 7 losses and 1 draw. I did fine vs lower rated players, at or below my rating, and struggled in the middle and end game vs higher rated opponents. The Anglo-Scandinavian also served me well enough I only faced 3 english openings, with 1 win, 1 draw, and 1 loss I play the Schulz Gambit line, which can be similar to the Modern Variation of the Scandinavian. If they play Nc3, you play c6 in a similar fashion to the Geschev Gambit, and you’re up in development. If they play e4 you do not take that pawn but you play c6 otherwise you lose in a similar fashion to how the person it’s named after lost. My one win and one draw was vs the same player a 1980(1750) rated player. My opponent did not berserk, I won to a resignation, and drew to 3 fold repetition, initiated by me in the draw, the evaluation was -6, and I had just over 2 minutes left, so it is likely had I taken a little more time I could have possibly won that game.
Win:
Draw:
Vs 1 d4, I had 2 wins, and 32 losses. One of those losses was on time, in a drawn end game. That loss is probably the game I am most proud of since it was vs a 2475(2400) we both played with 92.7% accuracy in a Nimzo-Indian Defense.
* Edit: Take aways, I'm going to stop playing the Englund Gambit, out of the 22 games I played using it I didn't win or draw a single one. It's a fun opening, but I don't see it as a way forward. As for the Dutch Defense, it's a solid opening, but I either need to study it more, or stop playing it against the Reti opening. With 11 Games vs the Reti/Zuckertort going for the Dutch Defense, I had 0 wins and 0 draws, The Dutch is a solid opening, perhaps I just need to study it a bit more, or find something that maybe suits my style a bit more. I honestly need to review those games in more detail to figure out where it went wrong.
I think here is where I will leave it as I’ve already rambled on long enough. I think playing in such an event is really beneficial especially for lower rated players. There isn’t much risk involved, since against even the strongest opponents, you’re not going to lose any rating, and you can gain a lot from a win or even a draw it is also a great way to test your chops vs stronger opponents. All of the games I played can be found at this Library link.
https://www.chess.com/c/4XGxhg54
There were some non-starter games, where I guess my opponent was AFK when the game started, and one game after 2 moves I spilled my water all over myself, so I resigned, which is why there are only 242 games.
