This is a long overdue recap of the Candidates, completing the earlier half-time recap. All the highlights can be found in studies linked at the bottom of the blog, but one way of enjoying them might be to try solving the puzzles in part 2 of the Candidates Practice against Computer study and I share a hopefully instructive video with a selection from this study to illustrate 19 important crazyhouse motifs. The first part of this practice study was linked already in the half-time recap.
As expected, opperwezen closed out his campaign in style to secure his place as the Challenger, although conceding a draw to sexy_and_I_know_it to reach a final score of 9.5/10 with gsvc in 2nd on 8.5/10 and TwelveTeen on 8/10 who has sadly retired from the game at least temporarily. littleplotkin & JKtheBullfrog completed the top half, coming 4th equal on 5.5/10. IM opperwezen would indeed go on to become the 2018 Champion after a fantastic Final against JannLee spanning three weeks in November.
Here is the full index of Candidates Matches:
21st August 19:30 opperwezen - littleplotkin 8-2, first game, video (opperwezen)
23rd August 19:00 xuanet - JKtheBullfrog 5-5, first game, video (opper)
24th August 17:00 opperwezen - xuanet 7-3, first game, video (opper)
26th August 19:00 TwelveTeen - opperwezen 4-6, first game, video (opper) video (JannLee)
31 August 14:00 littleplotkin - gsvc 4-6, first game, video (JannLee & GM Yasser Seirawan)
31 August 19:00 gsvc - opperwezen 2-8, first game, video (opperwezen) video (JannLee & Yasser)
1st September 20:00 TwelveTeen - Kleerkast 6-4, first game, video (JannLee & Yasser)
2nd September 15:00 gsvc - Kleerkast 6-4, first game, video (okei)
2nd September 18:00 TwelveTeen - sexy_and_i_know_it 8-2, first game, video (JannLee & Yasser)
3rd September 19:00 gsvc - TwelveTeen 5-5, first game, video (okei)
5th September 03:00 TwelveTeen - littleplotkin 6-4, first game, video (okei)
7th September 19:00 opperwezen - Kleerkast 7-3, first game, video (opper) video (JannLee & Yasser)
8th September 14:00 gsvc - sexy_and_i_know_it 6-4, first game, video (JannLee)
8th September 19:00 blitzbullet - TwelveTeen 1-9, first game, video (okei)
9th September 13:00 sexy_and_i_know_it - Kleerkast 7-3: first game, video (okei)
9th September 15:00 JKtheBullfrog - gsvc 2-8, first game, video (okei)
13th September 17:00 JKtheBullfrog - opperwezen 4-6, first game, video (okei)
14th September 16:00 xuanet - gsvc 4-6, first game, video (okei)
15th September 12:00 mastertan - sexy_and_i_know_it 4-6, first game, video (JannLee)
15th September 22:00 xuanet - TwelveTeen 2-8, first game, video (zhbruhs)
16th September 00:00 gsvc - mastertan 6-4, first game, video (zhbruhs)
16th September 14:00 blitzbullet - gsvc, first game, video (crptone)
23rd September 12:00 opperwezen - mastertan 8-2, first game, video (okei) video (opper)
23rd September 22:00 TwelveTeen - mastertan 7-3, first game, video deleted by Twitch (zhbruhs)
28th September 09:00 mastertan - xuanet 4-6, first game, video (okei) analysis (okei)
30th September 10:00 Kleerkast - mastertan 6-4, first game, video (JannLee)
4th October 04:30 TwelveTeen - JKtheBullfrog 5-5, first game, video (okei)
5th October 16:30 xuanet - sexy_and_i_know_it 6-4, first game, video (crosky)
7th October 14:00 blitzbullet - Kleerkast 3-7, first game, video (okei)
9th October 12:00 littleplotkin - sexy_and_i_know_it 7-3, first game, video (okei)
13th October 13:00 sexy_and_i_know_it - blitzbullet 4-6, first game, video (JannLee)
13th October 15:00 xuanet - blitzbullet 5-5, first game, video (okei)
13th October 19:00 Fumitoks - opperwezen 4-6, first game, video (JannLee)
14th October 12:00 littleplotkin - Kleerkast 7.5-2.5, first game, video (okei)
14th October 16:00 Fumitoks - xuanet 7-3, first game, video (JannLee)
18th October 14:00 sexy_and_I_know_it - opperwezen 5-5, first game, video (JannLee)
20th October 13:00 Fumitoks - mastertan 5-5, first game, video (okei)
21st October 14:00 Fumitoks - Kleerkast 6-4, first game, video (JannLee)
21st October 16:00 Fumitoks - sexy_and_i_know_it 7-3, first game, video (okei)
22nd October 16:00 xuanet - littleplotkin 4-6, first game, video (okei)
23rd October 02:00 littleplotkin - mastertan 5-5, first game, video (okei)
23rd October 23:00 Fumitoks - littleplotkin 8-2, first game, video (crosky)
25th October 13:00 Kleerkast - JKtheBullfrog 2-8, first game, video (JannLee)
25th October 15:00 JKtheBullfrog - littleplotkin 7-3, first game, video (JannLee & Yasser Seirawan)
25th October 17:30 Kleerkast - xuanet 4-6, first game, video (JannLee)
27th October 12:00 littleplotkin - blitzbullet 5.5-4.5, first game, video (JannLee)
28th October 13:00 opperwezen - blitzbullet 7-3, first game, video (JannLee)
28th October 16:00 Fumitoks - gsvc 2-8, first game, video (okei)
1st November 23:15 Fumitoks - JKtheBullfrog 4-6, first game, video (okei)
4th November 14:30 sexy_and_I_know_it - JKtheBullfrog 3-7, first game
4th November 18:00 TwelveTeen - Fumitoks, first game, video (Jann)
9th November 02:00 mastertan - JKtheBullfrog, first game
12th November 00:30 Fumitoks - blitzbullet, first game
12th November 00:30 blitzbullet - mastertan, first game, match cut short at 1-6 & forfeited
12th November 02:00 JKtheBullfrog - blitzbullet, match never happened
Final
10th, 17th & 24th November 18:00 opperwezen - Jann Lee
JannLee live-stream of the Final without commentary
opperwezen live-stream of the Final without commentary
Commentary of the Final
Day 1 Flourish & Antic
Day 2 Flourish & Antic
Day 3 okei, MMichael, Flourish, Fumitoks, and others from the House Discord
Final Highlights video (okei feat. opper)
I have chosen a selection of puzzles from the second half of the 2018 Candidates to present in the following instructional video to highlight 19 important crazyhouse motifs. I do not move the pieces in these puzzles to try to encourage viewers to pause and try to calculate the lines. For advanced crazyhouse players who just want to see the puzzles without commentary, see the last 5 minutes and pause for as long as you need to solve each one.
The motifs illustrated are:
1) Back Rank
2) Queen Invasion
3) Drawing the King Out
4) The Yoyo Mate (drawing out with pawns & pushing back)
5) Deflecting Defenders
6) The Magnet Mate (displacing the king to better mate it)
7) Discovered Attacks
8) Exploiting a Pin
9) Interference
10) Minor Piece Mates
11) Double Mate Threats
12) Assessing Whose Mate is Faster
13) Queen Factory
14) Corner Rook Drops
15) Smothered Mates (with knights)
16) Smothered Mates (with pawn or queen)
17) Clearance
18) Turning Defence into Attack
19) Drawing Motif: Perpetual Knight Checks
We hope to delve deeper into each of these and many more crazyhouse motifs in future instructive videos in the coming year. You can practice these puzzles and many others against the computer, or you can see the full lines and variations in the following studies:
Wishing everyone a good New Year!
—okei
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