As J.M. Barrie wrote in Peter Pan,
All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again.
And, so it is that, once again, somehow - thank you, Jerome Gambit - I find myself at the top of the heap in my section in the second round of the "Italian Battleground" tournament at Chess.com.
With one game not yet completed, it looks like I will be followed in the standings by four players who will each have the same score. It will be up to the tie breaks to decide which two, among warwar, docfb, manospawn, and vasbur, will join me in advancing to the third round. (I won a Jerome Gambit against warwar, the only player in this group to allow the opening. If he is interested in a return match, I supect he is happy to have the edge in the tie breaks at this point.)
In the other section, two games remain to finish, but XristosGikas and 275Jukka have secured their advance, while Abhishek29 and Alfonso10 are likely to be the ones relying on tie breaks to secure an advance for one of them.
If my predictions hold, I am likely to be the 4th highest rated amongst the final 6 - but, then again, I will have my secret weapon.
Things move slowly in the "Italian Battleground" tournament at Chess.com. By my count, there are 11 games to be completed - although 2 of those cannot be started until a couple of ongoing ones are finished. Still, it is possible to identify those in each group who will move on.
In Group 1 there are a couple of games to complete, but Marek_Sturmvogel, warwar and Iliwo will make it to round two.
Group 2, with two games to go, will see perrypawnpusher (that's me), JohnDuh2 and Abhishek29 move on to the next round.
Group 3 will see 275Jukka, manospawn and either thejamch, Alfonso10, Tarongrig or Asdksafa (yes, that is everyone else) progress. Seven yet-to-be-finished games keep that third spot in competition.
In Group 4, xtfabio, vasbur and XristosGikas will make it to round 2.
Things are happening in the "Italian Battleground" tournament at Chess.com.
With 8.5/10, it looks like I will top Group 2 and move on to the next round - with JohnDuh2 (6.5) and Abhishek29 (5.5). With the Jerome Gambit I scored 2.5/3.
Likewise, xtfabio (8.5) is set to win Group 4, and advance with two of the following three: vasbur, XristosGikas, and nand_1996, who are still battling.
In Group 1 there are still plenty games to complete, but FM_Andy_Markk, Marek_Sturmvogel and warwar are likely to make it to round two.
Group 3 is too hard to call at this point. There are too many important games left to complete. One player - the second-highest rated on in the group - has completed only 1 of his 10 games, to date, but could still walk away with the whole thing. All six players still have chances to be among the three who advance to the next round!
