Introduction to Crazyhouse 960

Season 9.60

The first three weeks of July saw four teams of seven as well as back-up alternates battle it out in the second ever full crazyhouse 960 league. The winning team was Red Button made up of Fumitoks on board 1, terra87 on board 2, grogers, IgorBugMate, Zaraza, the_Crocodile_Hunter & Zher0. The team went unbeaten in the league with an impressive 69.0% game win rate. Second & third were the unimaginatively named Team 2 & Team 3 led by LegionDestroyer & Kleerkast respectively, while Dirty Diagonals despite great team spirit came in fourth. Special mention goes to Fumitoks & terra87 who both went through the league undefeated with 6 wins out of 6. We take this opportunity to introduce crazyhouse 960 through highlights from this recently completed league.

How to Play

Go to https://www.pychess.org, click login on the top right, then authenticate and it will automatically recognise your lichess username (if it doesn't work, repeat in incognito browser). Like lichess, you might also wish to press the settings button right of your username, then Background: Dark to get the familiar dark background that’s easier on the eyes. You can create challenges in the lobby or train with Fairy-Stockfish, building up from Level 1 to Level 8. Currently, there is a 30 second delay on move 1 before the game times out. During this time, you can assess the unfamiliar position and decide your first move. 

To castle, like in 960, you need to drag king over rook at a time when the king hasn’t moved, is not in check, and none of the squares it passes through are in check. Just like crazyhouse, the game is super-powered chess, rich in tactical combinations and requiring good understanding of short-term positional weaknesses. Basic chess principles apply. Let’s start with beginner principles and increase in difficulty to master this game! Along the way, we present 50 puzzles and one outstanding highlight game of the league.

1. Activate Pieces

This means activating the pieces on the first rank at the start of the game, but also activating the pieces in hand to maximise their contribution. Since your opponent also wants to activate their pieces, it also means trying to restrict the scope of your opponent’s pieces.

Bishops can begin to develop by simply opening the lines. Knights however need to be moved. Pushing a central rook pawn, or a pawn that develops both a bishop and the queen, or a pawn that opens a long diagonal are good candidate first moves, or also a knight in the corner.

A knight in the corner has only one square to move to, so it is usually wise to develop it quickly and not put a pawn or another knight there.

Make sure not to leave your most powerful piece, the queen, buried in its starting position for the whole game. But equally, when you do develop the queen, make sure to develop it with threats which cannot be ignored and cannot be parried with a counter-threat on the queen. It must have “places to go, things to do!” Do not be afraid to sac it.

2. Don’t Hang Mate in 1

One of the biggest differences as players get stronger is that they do not give up, even if completely losing. they make it hard for the opponent to find the mating sequence, and in particular they do not hang mate in 1. They prolong the game for another move and another move and in crazyhouse comebacks can and do happen! Conversely, if the opponent does hang mate, make sure you deliver it!

3. Spot Hanging Material

This is simple enough. Unless there is a very good reason not to, take free material! Conversely, don’t leave material hanging. Every pawn you lose, not only are you a pawn less, but your opponent has a pawn more in hand to use back at you later in the game.

4. Piece Values & Piece Sacs

Like in crazyhouse, knights, bishops & rooks are similar in value. This is because unlike chess, there is no endgame and it is in the endgame in standard chess when rooks begin to dominate because knights have short range and bishops are restricted forever to one colour complex.

Knights have most value in delivering checks that can’t be blocked so they can initiate fast attacks opening up the opponent king.

The greatest value of Bishops is that they can attack & defend at the same time. They can also take and defend backwards!

Rooks can sometimes be used on a file to both attack & defend, or sometimes to purely attack on the opponent’s back rank, and sometimes to purely defend on one’s own back rank.

All minor pieces are worth approximately two pawns. The greater value of pawns compared to standard chess is because after all, pawns can be dropped on the sixth or seventh rank where they threaten the opponent king or even threaten to promote to a Queen or Knight. Note that a promoted piece once captured reverts to being a pawn in the hand of your opponent so it is especially easy to sac it for material & initiative.

Pawns are invaluable in defence, but often you should keep your last pawn in hand for your attack. A single pawn in hand is sometimes enough to spark a mating attack on the opponent’s king.

Queens are worth two minor pieces in crazyhouse. They are of course the strongest piece, but for precisely this reason they are also a liability. A lot of time and initiative can be lost if our opponent develops and drops pieces attacking our Queen, so we must sometimes be willing to sac it.

Two thematic piece sacs are the sac that demolishes the opponent centre and the sac that demolishes the opponent’s king. If this picks up two pawns for a minor piece, then given the above piece values one could argue that it isn’t a sac at all.

Piece sacs are especially powerful on what JoannaTries has termed “tender pawns” which are pawns defended only by the opponent’s king. In standard crazyhouse, f2 & f7 are tender squares defended only by the king, while c2 & c7 are potentially weak squares if the pawns are moves as they are defended only by the Queen. 

Given a fresh 960 position, it is instructive to consider what are the tender squares corresponding to f2/f7 in this fresh position. If the king is castled, then as in standard crazyhouse, g2/g7 are often tender pawns.

5. Colour Complexes

As expounded in mastertan’s classic guide on light & dark squares in crazyhouse, one has to be aware of the colour of squares on which it is most profitable to attack and conversely how best to defend. The piece sacs from the previous chapter often help initiate an attack on a colour complex. But sometimes, a beginning player unwittingly opens up a colour complex without provocation and allows one to take advantage of the resulting weak squares.

6. Basic Mating Patterns

If we can deliver mate, it is important to find it and not to let the game slip away in complications. Players often have an intuition there might be a mate, and if you get this feeling it is often worth spend some extra time calculating to find it, or to find what piece you need for it. In slow crazyhouse, it is worthwhile playing obvious moves relatively quickly and leaving at least a couple of minutes of your time for critical positions to find the fatal blow.

6.1 Back-Rank Mate

Along with 6.2 Smothered Mate, back-rank mate is one of the most important mating themes for the beginning crazyhouse player to be acquainted with. You can find a full introduction to back-rank mates in crazyhouse with both lichess practice study, solution study as well as embedded video on this blog, as well as a follow-up second video & second study made subsequently. The main idea is that diagonals and especially pawns on the 7th rank can be the catalyst for a back-rank attack because with a single rook and enough pawns the opponent's back rank rooks can be recycled into one's own pocket and dropped again, clearing them all away!

6.2 Smothered Mate

In crazyhouse 960, one must be especially aware of undefended pawns, or pawns defended with only one piece so if that piece is moved, this pawn or square becomes undefended. This can give rise to smothered mates & smother tactics (about which more in the next section). There are also the classic smothered mate patterns as in standard crazyhouse.

6.3 Magnet Mate

The idea of a magnet mate is to drop a checking piece adjacent to the king which acts as a magnet forcing the king to take and in so doing drawing the king to an unsafe square where it can be checked & mated more easily, sometimes because it allows us to pick up more material with check.

6.4 Double-Take Mate

Sometimes the checking square is defended so at first glance the opponent king is safe. But if we look deeper, we notice that we can re-capture the defending piece with check! This provides the opportunity for a double-take mate!

6.5 Knight Drop Mates

Knights are the one piece whose checks can’t be blocked, so sometimes they can be used to draw the king out of safety. See if you can calculate these positions all the way to mate.

6.6 Cover Escape Mates

A useful mating technique is to examine the path the king might run to safety and delivering checks which also block this path! This keeps the king in a box and mating much easier.

7. Smother Tactics

The threat of smothers can lead to some interesting tactics in the opening. This is the only position in this blog not taken from a league game, but from my first ever game of crazyhouse 960 four years ago with andreijl in a lichess study, and we both missed it!

8. King Safety

The possibility of castling can sometimes rapidly evacuate the king from an approaching attack. 

Usually, the best way of keeping the king safe is by moving and dropping one’s pieces around it, defending the checking squares. If in check, it is often best to try to run the king to squares where it cannot be checked again.

In rare cases, the best approach is to create luft for the king so it has safe passage to run.

9. Drop Attacks

9.1  Pawn Drops on the 6th

The most common drop attacks are pawn drops on the 6th corresponding to @h3/@h6 in standard crazyhouse. A single pawn in hand can be the spark that triggers a bonfire on the opponent’s king.

9.2  Pawn Drops on the 7th

Another common attack in crazyhouse are pawn drops on the 7th, either threatening to promote or as we saw already in 6.(i) to put a major on the back rank and launch a back rank attack.

9.3 More Advanced Drop Attacks

Sometimes piece & pawn drops can come with more complex clearance ideas which lead to unstoppable mating attacks.

10. Pawn Forks

Often in crazyhouse 960, knights develop to squares two apart and are prone to pawn forks so one must keep an eye out for this.

One must also be wary of pawn drop attacks on the 7th winning material.

11. Dangerous Diagonals

12. Advanced Mating Technique

12.1 Clearance Mates

Clearance mates involve clearing away opponent pieces to open squares or lines.

12.2 Castaway Mates

Castaway mates involve discarding one’s own pieces to open up squares to deliver mate.

How to defend and why?

12.3 Interference Mates

How to interfere with the defence of the rook on b1?

12.4 Block-Escape Mates

Q@h4!! What is Black’s follow-up after Kxh4?

Solution Key

1. Activate Pieces

b6! 

developing the Queen and threatening the undefended g2 pawn

g5! 

defending & developing with a double counter-attack

Na3! 

keeping the bishop diagonal open

B@g3! 

limiting the scope of the opponent’s Queen. Black’s best move is Qxg3.

2. Don’t Hang Mate in 1

B@d2, N@c6, R@b6, R@e1

3. Spot Hanging Material

Bxe4

Qxb7

Bxb3 

threatening N@f2+ forking king & queen

e1=Q!!

double-check & mate, which is much better than taking free material! 

(Trick Question)

4. Piece Values & Piece Sacs

Nxd5! cxd5 Qxd5

White has two pawns for the piece & has demolished Black’s centre. Black’s king is next!

Nxb7! Nxb7 @a6!

with two more pawns in hand, another will soon be landing on b7

Nxg2! Kxg2?? Nf4+!

With another knight in hand, White would soon be mated.

Nxc7! Kxc7 Qa5+!!

Not only is Black’s king safety wrecked but White wins back the lost knight after Qxa7

5. Colour Complexes

N@f3! Ke2 Nxg1! Ke1 Nf3 Ke2 Nxh2

6.1 Back-Rank Mates

@f7 Kh8 R@g8 Rxg8 fxg8=Q Kxg8 B@f7 Qxf7 (Kf8/Kh8 R@g8#) Qxf7 Kxf7

Notice how we recycled Black’s rook and queen back into our own pocket with initiative, so we can drop them back first! 

The finish is now simple — there are mates one move faster, but we like:

N@e5 Kf6 Q@f7 Kg5 Qf4 Kh5 Qh4#

6.2 Smothered Mates

N@e7

Oops! Have to watch for this is crazyhouse 960!

N@h6 Kh8 (gxh6 Q@h8#) Q@g8 Rxg8 Nxf7#

The classic pattern!

6.3 Magnet Mates

R@g8 Kxg8 B@f7 Kxf7 (Kxf8 Q@e8#) Q@e6 Kxf8 R@g8#

There were other mates e.g. starting with Nxg6, but this way was fastest.

R@a1 Kxa1 NxQc2 Kb1 Na3! Ka1 Q@b1! Rxb1 Nc2 

Combining the magnet and smothered mating themes!

After Kb1, there is also Q@a1 Kc2 Qxb2 Kxd3 Qd4 and if Kc2, B@d3 Kc1 @b2#, so: 

Ke2 B@d3/@d3+ Ke1 and the key move Qe3!! (exploiting the pin) followed by Qxe2#

6.4 Double-Take Mates

R@f8 Qxf8 Rxf8 Kxf8 Q@f7#/Q@g8#

Q@g8 Rxg8 Qxg8#

Bxh7 Kh8 N@g6 fxg6 Nxg6#

6.5 Knight-Drop Mates

N@a3 bxa3 N@c3 Kb2 Bxa3 Kxa3 @b4 Kb2 @a3

N@a3 Nxa3 (bxa3 Qxa1#) N@d2 Bxd2 Qxb2#

Notice that the order matters, as N@d2 Bxd2 first gives the King luft on c1.

6.6 Cover-Escape Mates

@c6! (blocking d7) Kc8 @d7! (blocking e8) Kd8/Kb8 @c7#

A mating square of pawns on the 6th & 7th ranks!

7. Smother Tactics

Bxf6 gxf6 (exf6?? N@e7#) N@h6 Kg7 Nf5 Kg8/Kg6 Nxe7 Kg7 NxQc8

8. King Safety

0-0!

Qa2!!

This both provides luft for the King on b1 and threatens mate with:

Qg8 Kg6 N@h8 Kh6 N@f7 Kh5 Qh7 R@h6 (else Qg6#) QxRh6 gxh6 R@h4#

Qg8 Kh6 is no better e.g. @g5 Kxg5 Qxg7 R@g6 N@h7 Kh5 N@f6 Rxf6 Nxf6#

9.1 Pawn Drops on the 6th

@f3!

@a6!

Nxf3 Nxf3 @h3 gxh3 Bxh3 @g2 Bxg2 Kxg2 @h3!!

Black has enough pawns in hand to not need to prepare with @g4

9.2 Pawn Drops on the 7th

@d2 Kd1 @e2 Kxe2 Qxd3 Kf2 (Kd1 @e2#) N@h1#

9.3 More Advanced Drop Attacks

B@g6!!

This is the best but not the only move and it is crushing!

There are too many lines to go into them all. Click through to the study!

N@h3 gxh3 B@f3 @g2 BxNe2

Material is unchanged but the White knight on e2 is replaced by a Black bishop.

10. Pawn Forks

@d4!

@e7!

@d7!

B@e4!

Trick Question! Not @e7, else 

Qxg2 Kxg2 N@h4 Kg3 N@f5 Kh2 Nf3 Kh1 @g2 Kxg2 N5h4 Kf1 B@g2 Ke2 Nd4++#

@h7 Kxh7 B@e4 is not better as the Black king is actually safer on h7

12.1 Clearance Mates

Nxc3 bxc3 Q@b3#

@e6!! fxe6 QxNe8!! Rxe8 N@d6 Kf6 (Kf8 N@d7 Kg8 @f7) e5 Kg6 @h5 Kh6 Nf7#

or if after Qxe8 Kxe8 N@d6!! exd6 R@e7 Kd8 Rad7 Kc8 N@a7 Kb8 Nxc6 Ka8 @b7#

@e3!! NxRg2 (dxe3?? R@g1# no blockers!) R@g1 R@f1 Rxf1 Kxf1 R@h1 R@g1 @e2 Ke1 Rxg1#

@e3 whether taken or not covers the d2 square restricting the White king to the back rank

12.2 Castaway Mates

Qxf1 Nxf1 then Nf2!! @g4 & R@h5 before, between or after is mate!

Qxf6!! gxf6 Nf5 Kd7 B@c6

Nxe2!!

If instead Kd1 Rxd2 Ke1 Re2 Kd1 Re1!! Kxe1 @d2 Kxd2 B@c3 Kd1 Bxf3 @e2 B1xe2#)

Nxe2 second-time round doesn’t work because of:

@d2 Kxd2 @c3 Nxc3 Bxc3 Kxc3 N@b5 Kb4 (Kb2 B@c3 Kb1 Na3#; Kd2 B@c3 Kd1 @e2#) B@c5 Ka4 Nc3#

Q@f5 N@g5 h4!! opening the h-file & mate cannot be stopped

12.3 Interference Mates

Q@c6!! R@b6 B@b7 Ka7 (Ka5 R@a4#) R@a6 Rxa6 Qxa6 Kb8 Qxa8#

The key is to interfere with the Black rook’s defence of b7.

12.4 Block-Escape Mates

Q@a4!! Kxa4 Bc2!! (block-escape!) Kb4 (b3 b5 Kb4 Bd6! blocking escape again! @c5 a5#) Bd6! @c5 (Kxc4 b5#) Nd5! Kxc4 b5 cxb6 Nxb6#

Solution Study

Thanks to NM visualdennis for helping me to collect some of these highlight positions.

You can also review most of the full games played in Season 9.60 here.

2021 Crazyhouse Update!

Jasugi99 ended 2020 winning both the Crazyhouse World Championship as well as teaming up with chickencrossroad to win the Bughouse World Championship.

February 2021 saw the conclusion of Season 9 of the ZH League of slow team crazyhouse, as well as the kick-off for the 2021 Crazyhouse World Championship with 267 participants reduced to 256 and 256 reduced to 12 over the past six months through a double-elimination process. As in previous years, a lot of these matches were live-streamed and you can catch up from the 2021 CWC playlist.

You can see a truncated version of this double-elimination here thanks to LegionDestroyer.

The final 12 along with 2020 runner-up IM opperwezen will now play a round-robin over the coming months (one match a week of 10 games of 3+2). The player with the most game wins will then face 2020 CWC Champion in the 2021 Grand Final, with the loser qualifying to the Candidates at the next cycle.

The final 13 are:

IM opperwezen

catask

doganswer

IM VariantsOnly

IM Bugzilla

LM JannLee

mariorton

TheFinnisher

FM zyxon

burpcow

NM blitzbullet

FM two64brocc

Kleerkast

To keep up to date with future Crazyhouse World Championship action, keep an eye on the CWC lichess team.

Elite Crazyhouse Arenas organised by TheFinnisher have continued Friday or Saturday evenings for players rated 2100+ on lichess.org.

There have also been hotly contested ZH Nations League Arenas organised by OFBC_Nigeria every Sunday afternoon dominated by Russia, Nigeria & Germany. Finland has also proved to be a force thanks to the singular indomitable contributions of TheFinnisher each week. For the less nationalistic and smaller countries of Europe such as the UK & Switzerland, there is also the Outer-Europe Crazyhouse Team, and for the smaller countries of East-Asia the East Asian Crazyhouse Team. Powerhouses the Netherland, Australia & Canada have yet to participate fully, but we expect these arenas to continue to grow and more nations to join.

Another endeavour has been to replace the usual hourly crazyhouse arenas on lichess with underground arenas organised by blunderman1. To see these arenas in your upcoming tournaments, join the Underground Crazyhouse team.

TheFinnisher also set up a Crazyhouse Curator team to notify members about all future crazyhouse events each week. Another good way to stay up to date is to join the House Variants discord server, which has been extending its success in variants to standard chess with victories in the online Bundesliga (14 wins in 2020, 10 so far in 2021) which was set up in response to the pandemic.

With the race to the CWC Candidates getting clearer, July 2021 also saw a Crazyhouse 960 team league (Season 9.60) as an intermezzo between Seasons 9 and Season 10 expected towards the end of 2021. If you wish to be notified of future slow crazyhouse initiatives, please join the Crazyhouse League Team on lichess. This second successful zh960 league was played on the lichess sister site https://www.pychess.org which allows for zh960 and zh from position as well as a host of other variants. The Russian-dominated Red Button won the league with a team headed by Fumitoks on board 1 and terra87 on board 2, both of whom were undefeated with 6 wins out of 6.

The league was concluded with a prize arena and the following week the inaugural zh960 shield with over 100 participants won by zyxon from Sweden (firefly on FICS).

The shields in standard crazyhouse meanwhile have been dominated by TheFinnisher & BughouseKnight, but also wins from Fumitoks in May, and Kleerkast in July up against stiff opposition from both TheFinnisher & zyxon.

For an introduction to crazyhouse 960: from Beginners to Mastery, check out these highlight positions chosen & commentated on by myself and NM visualdennis from games played in Season 9.60 of the team zh960 league.

Enjoy the upcoming Candidates matches and the rest of what should be a great year of crazyhouse!

—okei

A Dictionary of the Crazyhouse Ecosystem

The following dictionary of the crazyhouse ecosystem, describing the styles of different players, was written by Guest Editor Zaráza, except for the description about herself which was written by The_Crocodile_Hunter as it is not easy to see one’s own style.

Alduto’s style of play is the moonwalk of Michael Jackson. He plays by rearranging pieces and pawns, often moving them to adjacent squares, as if moving to the beat of music. Step forward, two steps forward, U-turn, long diagonal.

BananaJo is like gum on the sole of your shoe. He has a smooth playing style, dancing around the victim like a spider tangles its web, until he delivers the fatal blow.

googa plays like the flight of Rimsky-Korsakov's Bumblebee. Fast, laborious, not aggressive. Burdened with pollen, there's no time to rest. Likes to play bishops, stings from all sides, exhausts the opponent to the point of saying “Leave me alone, I can't cope.”

JoannaTries is bold and risky, like the blue-footed booby bird that dives headfirst to a depth of 25 metres seeking her victim. Her game style is chaotic and ragged, sometimes meaninglessly giving up pieces to stupify her opponent.

Kleerkast is a smart, calculating player who sees the chessboard perfectly. He doesn't really keep track of his time, but even if he has 20 seconds left, he'll get you as ruthlessly as a female praying mantis.

MarlonC plays with grace and precision, thinking through every movement like a surgeon working with a scalpel on the patient's body.

metin48 is a tank. He rushes in a straight line, as long as the game goes according to plan. As soon as the opponent makes unusual moves for him, he begins to get lost and makes one mistake after another. If you want to beat him, surprise him and be surprised yourself.

opperwezen is a Mimic Octopus. His style of play is very similar to the smartest octopus in the world. The mimic octopus can make a split-second decision based on the appearance of a predator, choosing which marine animal it should impersonate to instil fear in its enemy. Likewise, opperwezen adapts which appearance he takes, transforming quickly depending on the circumstances. He has a lot of openings and defences and his game depends on his mood. One moment he is a small octopus wolfi, reliably on the defence, protecting his king, the next he is a Kraken, lightning-fast in attack, throwing all his collected forced into a lethal attack, instilling panic in the enemy, so that he freezes with fear.

PepsiNGaming is a Minesweeper. His style of play is very similar to this puzzle game. He meticulously collects pieces and pawns on the board in a pile, forcing the opponent to do the same. Then he walks through the minefield, towards the enemy king, trying not to explode. And he does it perfectly!

pkr5025 is a bear. Big, strong, confident. He loves his lair and makes sure that no one offends his king, so he creates additional protection in case of invasion. If he needs berries, he will go to the queen's flank and collect a handful of pieces in his paw. After that, he will go straight into the bee hive for the enemy king, and he does not care that his snout will be all bitten by bees.

The_Crocodile_Hunter is a small hedgehog who makes his way through the thorns of a madhouse, sharpens his needles, screams in pain and turns into an armadillo.

TheFinnisher is a charming magician. With a deft movement of his hand, he juggles the pieces on the board, as if performing card tricks. He is a professional in his field. While you are racking your brains trying to figure out the trick, he pulls the spare pieces out of his sleeve, switches your attention, and wins the game.

The-Lone-Wolf, despite his moniker, plays like a black panther. He hunts smaller and larger prey alike. Carefully, carefully places the pieces, sneaking up on the victim before pouncing. If the victim runs away, the sad and hungry beast will return to the bushes and wait for the next one.

variantbunny is a mountain goat. Her game is characterized by vertical constructions of pieces and pawns, which she skilfully connects with each other. Jumping from figure to figure, he jumps to the top of the cliff in the hope of checkmating the king.

VariantsOnly is a sloth. Representatives of this family are distinguished by an energy-saving way of movement, as well as slowness and good nature. He is too lazy to move all the pieces during the game, he is content mainly with those that he got from the exchange with the enemy, playing them all the game. And, like a miracle, if you resist for a long time, he will open his sleepy eyes in surprise and go with the remaining pieces in a frontal attack.

Zaraza translates from the Russian as something synonymous with a virus or infection. It is an apt name, as when playing her one awaits her incursion through the pawn structure (just like ingesting a virus, which spreads). She pushes her bishops, releases her queen, attacks the weak points and grabs territory, preparing to bring the pain. An opponent with a strong immune system has nothing to fear, but said immunity has to be really strong, and with positive mentality, otherwise even players with a 2500 rating will be in real trouble. The analogy with the famous coronavirus is overall applicable! The mask as her profile picture ought to warn you to be on your guard and tread carefully! [Written by The_Crocodile_Hunter]

—Zaraza

Spot the Move! #3

Another year of the Crazyhouse World Championship, the pinnacle of the game, and another player marked on lichess.org for presumed engine use in a match against littleplotkin (in 2018 it was HighContrast, in 2020 BughouseMaster). But in the spirit of taking the good from the bad, here is a sequence of ten puzzles from the 2021 CWC campaign of luvlyx, now marked on lichess.org.

Note, that while some of these moves might have been suspiciously good discoveries, there is no suggestion that it was these positions or on this particular evidence that Lichess reached their verdict. On that, no-one will ever know. Lichess has its own methods for reaching its conclusions and this evidence is kept private to prevent cheats using it to avoid detection in future.

The purpose is rather so that we can learn and become better players ourselves. After the puzzles is a video review of the games from which they came. In each of the following positions, it’s the pieces on your side of the board to play and you are tasked with finding the best next move! A solution key is at the bottom of the blog.

Video Review of the games

Solution Key:

1. Kg7               2. Ke7

 3. Qxe7             4. Qh5

    5. N@d4           6. B@g4

     7. B@g5           8. N@h4

     9. N@f5          10. N@d2

—okei

Season 9 of the ZH League

Season 9 of the zh team league was a shorter three-week season in anticipation of the upcoming 2021 Crazyhouse World Championship. But there were still four powerhouses in TheFinnisher, zyxon, blitzbullet & Kleerkast leading the four teams. As in previous editions of the league, board 1 played 2 games of 5+5, board 2 played 6+6 all the way down to board 7 playing 2 games of 11+11 zh. So there were 28 players in all as well as three alts who also got a match. For the second time in zh league history, we had an unbeaten team winning every game. The other three teams (Pocket Play, Okei Boomer & Zatramp) each secured one match win, separated only by tiebreaks (number of games won by each). 

Congratulations to Zhumbawamba for winning the Grand Slam in Season 9 with 6/6 match points and 30/42 game points (an impressive 71.4%). 

The winning team was made up of TheFinnisher, terra87, Bleichkind and jrpadhi on boards 1 to 4, Marlonc & abunickabhi sharing board 5, Zaraza & fgalla sharing board 6 & adande1 with his now legendary mate-dodging on board 7 (how is it that his opponents can never finish him off?). Congratulations to the Season 9 Champions! 

Individual shout-outs go to TheFinnisher top board 1 with 5/6, terra87 & LegionDestroyer equal-top board 2 with 5/6, Bleichkind top board 3 with 5/6, okei & pepellou sharing top board 4 with 4/6, Andrey2888, new to the league, was top board 5 with 5/6, no_seigen, also new, was top board 6 with 4/6, and last but not least adande1 was top board 7 with 5/6. 

As for season-wide statistics, Black won only 44% of games with the disadvantage for Black most pronounced on boards 6 & 7. On board 2, however, Black upset the odds with a 2-1 win ratio, and even on board 1, it was a tie. Crazyhouse is still not too one-sided a game, even at the highest levels, and even in slow time controls.

Full results may be found both in this Season 9 Google Sheet as well as on the zh league website. 

Thanks to all the participants who helped self-organise the league this Season despite some technical difficulties on the website, and to all the spectators who watched and commentated on the games live in lichess chat.

Puzzles based on the games in Season 9 will follow as usual on this blog.

Keep playing crazyhouse, and keep your eyes on the calendar in the right sidebar for upcoming matches once the 2021 Crazyhouse World Championships get underway!

—okei

Jasugi99 is the 2020 Crazyhouse World Champion!

Jasugi99 (real name NM Janak Awatramani from Canada) followed up his win earlier in December partnering chickencrossroad in the inaugural online bughouse world championship (BWC) with a win also in the 2020 Crazyhouse World Championship to become the new Crazyhouse World Champion! He becomes the third ever Champion following JannLee in 2017 (to whom he was runner-up under his old handle TwelveTeen) and IM opperwezen in 2018 whom he defeated in the 2020 Grand Final. The 2020 CWC trophy will go up on Jasugi99’s lichess profile in a couple of weeks once lichess is updated. 

As noticed by ijh, this creates a triangle of Crazyhouse Champions, JannLee defeating TwelveTeen in 2017, opperwezen defeating JannLee in 2018 and now TwelveTeen defeating opperwezen in 2020. This replicates the very same triangle in 2019 in which opperwezen defeated JannLee to win the bullet zh World Championship (100 games played over three days), Jasugi99 then defeated opperwezen in a 100 game 1+0 zh People’s Championship match (played over 2 days) before JannLee defeated Jasugi99 in a marathon of 110 games of 1+0 zh played in a single sitting.

The 2020 Grand Final, as in 2018, was 60 games of 3+2 zh played over three days. Jasugi99 got off to a blistering start taking the first seven games, coming back from the dead in some of them. This ability to survive seemingly lost positions took its toll on the defending champion. IM opperwezen did manage to fight back to only trail 8-12 on the first day. The second day he did narrow the gap to 12-15 but his lead on the day was momentary and he went down 9-11, leaving Jasugi99 23-17 ahead, a margin of 6 going into the final day of 20 games. On day 3, Jasugi99 was again in commanding form and won it 12-8, an overall score of 35-25 in favour of the new champion.

You can watch the 7½ hours of live action across three days on JannLee’s YouTube, accompanied by no less than GM Yasser Seirawan, famous player, commentator and co-creator of S-chess, and also accompanying JannLee in the commentary booth were top crazyhouse players Mugwort and Kleerkast, both streamers in their own right. If you don’t already, go follow all three! Here are the three live-streams. On average there were about 350 people watching live throughout the three days, but many hundreds and thousands more will watch these amazing games over the coming months and years.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

You can play through the 60 games in the following lichess study. 

Here is also a “practice-against-computer” puzzle study based on the games of the Grand Final.

Wishing you all a Good 2021!

Keep playing crazyhouse!

—okei

2020 Crazyhouse World Championship Grand Final

A lot has happened on the crazyhouse scene in the past year. Following IM opperwezen’s victory against JannLee in the 2019 bullet zh championship organised by littleplotkin (opperwezen won 54-46), there were a couple of exhibition matches with prizes in December 2019: 100 games of 1+0 zh between Jasugi99 and opperwezen (Jasugi99 won 58-42) and 110 games between Jasugi99 and JannLee (JannLee won 57-53). Jasugi99 from Canada was the runner-up to JannLee in the 2017 Crazyhouse World Championship under his former handle TwelveTeen and well known in the bughouse community as cheesybread on FICS, so it was good to see him back in action on his new account after a break away from the game. All of these matches were live-streamed with commentary by Mugwort, myself and others.

As well as three more editions of the slower time control crazyhouse league on lichess and also a fantastic zh960 league played on pychess (all of which we have blogged about copiously), 2020 kicked off in style with JannLee’s announcement that he would both organise and guarantee a $2000 prize fund for the 2020 World Championship. JannLee decided unfortunately that because of fathering duties, he would not play himself. JannLee had won the 2017 World Championship organised by FischyVishy, beating TwelveTeen 31.5-28.5 in the Grand Final (60 games of 3+0 zh) but he had lost to current champion IM opperwezen in 2018 after 60 games of 3+2 zh, the final score 32.5-27.5 in favour of the new champion. The time control in 2020 would again be 3+2 to ensure quality crazyhouse would not descend into flagging battles.

There were 142 participants in the 2020 Crazyhouse World Championship (CWC), seeded according to the average of their current and peak rating. Probably the only absence was catask, the breakout player of 2019 who sadly couldn’t make it. These 142 were whittled down to 128 after 14 knock-out matches. Then the 128 participated in a double-elimination knockout https://challonge.com/noxtc1kv. Jasugi99, chickencrossroad, xuanet and Kingswitcher progressed undefeated (JKtheBullfrog unfortunately withdrawing). IM gsvc, Mugwort, TheFinnisher & VariantsOnly progressed automatically having only lost in the fifth round. Meanwhile, the final four candidates were IM Bugzilla who fought off Kleerkast in a very tight encounter, penguingim1 who beat the-lone-wolf, ArtOfDeception who narrowly beat LegionDestroyer and mastertan who beat unjournakamura.

These final 12 were announced by JannLee to be the Candidates for the 2020 CWC.

The Crazyhouse Candidates was a round-robin, so every Candidate needed to play every other Candidate in a 10-game match of 3+2 zh with the greatest game scorer going on to be the Challenger to IM opperwezen for the 2020 CWC crown. After several gruelling months, Jasugi99 emerged as the unrivalled Challenger defeating everyone else by a score of 7-3 or greater, including three 10-0 clean sweeps (sometimes termed “adoptions”) against three legends of the game: VariantsOnly, xuanet & mastertan. Jasugi99 scored 93.5 game points out of a maximum possible of 110, an incredible win percentage of exactly 85%! So Jasugi99 will face IM opperwezen in the 2020 Grand Final for the World Championship Title!

When will the Grand Final be?

Jasugi99 and opperwezen will play 60 games of 3+2 crazyhouse over three days (20 games per day):

Tuesday 22nd December at 20:00UTC

Monday 28th December at 20:00UTC

Wednesday 30th December at 20:00UTC

How can I watch?

GM Yasser Seirawan, co-inventor of S-chess and a crazyhouse aficionado, will be joining streamers Mugwort, Kleerkast and host and organiser JannLee on https://twitch.tv/jannleecrazyhouse to commentate live on the games. Be sure to drop a follow and turn on notifications so you don’t miss JannLee’s streams. Of course you should also be following Mugwort & Kleerkast. In case you miss it, the VOD will also be available afterwards on YouTube.

You can also watch live on lichess, as hundreds will be, from the perspective of either opperwezen or Jasugi99 and follow the lichess game chat.

How can I support the event?

The best way you can support is by playing crazyhouse, growing the community, tuning into the Finals and keeping an eye on the crazyhouse calendar. If you do wish to donate to JannLee’s fund for the Final and for future events, here is the link.

In anticipation of this end of year finale, here is a plethora of crazyhouse puzzles from this year’s Championships.

Have you got what it takes to be Crazyhouse Champion? 

Score 8/10 or more on a set to qualify to the next round of the Double Elimination. In case you don’t succeed, there is also a second-chance set of puzzles. If you qualify, there will another set of puzzles taken from this year's Candidates. Can you go all the way?

Qualifiers: Score 8/10 to qualify to Round 1!

Round 1: Score 8/10 to qualify to Round 2!

Round 2: Score 8/10 to qualify to Round 3!

Round 3: Score 8/10 to qualify to Round 4!

Round 4: Score 8/10 to qualify to Round 5!

Round 5: You are a Candidate! Score 8/10 to qualify unbeaten!

Second Chance! Score 8/10 to get into the Candidates!

Did you make it? Even more puzzles are in store taken from the games in this year’s Candidates!

Too easy? It’s time to really shine!

You’re good, really good! But can you be World Champion?

Thanks to LegionDestroyer & Kleerkast for helping to collect so many of these puzzles. You can alternatively play out these puzzles in the interactive studies created by Kleerkast: 

Rounds 1-5

Second Chance

Here is the solution key!

Solution Key

(a solution counts as correct if it includes all moves marked in bold)

Qualifiers: 1. Q@g8# 2. N@f1 Nf2# (N@e2 Nf2 @g3 also works) 3. R@f2 R@f1# 4. R@e8 Kxe8 N@g7 Kf8 R@e8# 5. N@h6 R@g8# 6. Qxf2 Qxf2 N@f3# 7. Q@f1 @g2# 8. Q@d2 Q@e2 is mating, but so is Q@e3!! as Jasugi99 played 9. @e7 Qxc7# 10. Qa6 Qa3 Qc3#

Round 1: 11. Q@g2 Nf3# 12. Q@h3 Kg1 N@e2 Bxe2 Qg1/Qh1# 13. Bf6 R@h8/Qxg7# 14. R@h6 Kg8 Nxe7 Kg7 @f6 Qxf6 gxf6 Kxh6 Q@g7 15. R@h1! N@g1 B@e2 Kxe2 Q@d2 Kf3 Qxf2# 16. Qxe6 Nxe6 B@e8 Kd8 N@f7# 17. Q@f7 Kd8 N@e6! dxe6 Nxc6# 18. @e2 & R@h1 in some order e.g. @e2 Ke1 Q@f1 Kd2 e1=Q# or R@h1 N@g1 @e2 Nxe2 Q@d1 N@e1 Qxe2# 19. Nf2 Kg1 Nxh3 Kh1 (Kf1 R@f2#) R@g1 Rxg1 Nf2# 20. @f3 Ke1 (Nxf3 Qxf3#) Qxg1 Bf1 (no blockers!) Qxf1#

Round 2: 21. N@b3 cxb3 (axb3 N@a2#) Qc3 B@c2 N@d3!# 22. Q@e8 Rxe8 (Kc7 Q@c5 @c6 B@d8 Kb8 @c7) Nf7 Kc7 Q@d6# 23. Qxf5 exf5 N@h1 Rxh1 gxh1=N Kg1 @f2 Kxh1 R@g1# 24. Bxc7 Bxc7 @e7 Kd7 (Nxe7 Qxe7#) e8=Q# (double-check mate) 25. R@e8 Kd6 Bf8 Kxd5 c4 Kd4 fxe3 Kxe3 Qe2 Kf4 Qe4# 26. R@h7 Kg8 N@h6/N@f6 in either order 27. Rxf7 Kxf7 Qxd7 B@e7 Bxe6# 28. N@g6 Kh7 (Kg8 Q@h8 Kf7 Qxf8#) Nxf8 Kg8 and drop diagonal on f7/h7 Kxf8 R@e8# or even R@h8 Kxh8 Q@h7# 29. B@g4!! Kg2 (Kxg4 Q@f5#) @h3! Rxh3 Bxh3 Kxh3 (Kf3 Bg4 Ke3 Q@f4 Kd3 R@d4) Q@f3 @g3 R@h4# 30. B@c6 Kb8 R@b7 Kc8 N@e7 Qxe7 Nxe7 Kd8 Q@d7#

Round 3: 31. Qxd7!! 32. Qxe7 Bxe7 N@e6 Kg8 Nxe7# 33. Q@h4!! Kxh4 N@f5! Kg5 h6 Kf4 g5 Kg4 R@h4# 34. Qxg3 Kxg3 Qxe3 and diagonal checks lead to mate e.g. Kh2 B@f4 Kh1 @g2 Kxg2 Qf3 Kg1 @h2# or Kg2 Qf3 Kg1 B@f2 Kh2 Qg3 Kh1 @g2# 35. Qxe5 N@c2 Rxf1 Rxf2# 36. Qxh7 Kxh7 Nf5 Kg6 (Kg8 @h7 Kh8 @g7) B@h7 or Rh6 B@f4 rapidly mate 37. Qxh2!! Rxh2 N@g3 Ke1 @f2# 38. Qe1! Rxe1 (N@d1! Qxc1 delays the mate a bit) @d2! and a smother on the back rank 39. Qxd3!! cxd3 N@c2 Ke2 N@f4# 40. Qxg7! Kxg7 B@h6! Kxh6 @g5 Kxg5 B@f4 Kg4 f3 Kh4 (Kh5 R@h6#) R@h3#

Round 4: 41. Nc3 bxc3 R@c1 Ka2 Rxa1 Kxa1 B@b2 Ka2 (Kxb2 Bxc3 Kb3 Bxa4 Kxa4 R@a3#) R@a1 Kb3 Bxa4 Kc4 Bb5 (preventing escape to d3) Kb3 @a4/@c4 Bxc3# 42. N@h3 gxh3 Q@g2!! (Bxf2 also works) Kxg2 Rxf2 Kh1 Q@g2# 43. b5/@b5 Kb3 R@a3!! (Qxd3 also works) Kxb4 (bxa3 Qxd3 Kxb4 Qc3#) Ra4 Kc5 Rc4 dxc4 Qxc4# 44. Bxf7! Rxf7 (Kh8 N@g6! hxg6 Qxh6 gxh6 R@h7#) Qxf7 Kh8 R@f8 (other rook drops on the back rank work also) Qxf8 & Nf7# 45. Qxf1! Bxf1 heavy drop on g1 or h2 Nxf3 Kg2 Q@h1! (second queen sac, other moves work also) Kxh1 R@g1# 46. N@e3 Kg1 (Ke2 Nxd4 Kxd2 Nc4 Kc1 Q@d2 Kb1 Qxc2#) N@e2 Kh2 Rxh3 Kxh3 (gxh3 Q@g2#) Q@g4 Kh2 Qxg2# 47. R@h6 Kxh6 (gxh6 Q@g7 mating) Rxg6 (double-check!) Kxg6 Q@g5 Kh7 Qxg7# 48. Qb6 and take blockers Qxb4 cxb4 Qxb4# 49. @g7 @f6 Qxf6 & Q@e5# but there are other mates e.g. Qxf8 R@h7 Nxg5 B@e5 & Q@h7# or even Qxf8 Rxf8 @g7 @f6 Bxf6 Q@h6 Kg8 R@h8 Bxh8 @h7# 50. Q@d6 R@e8/R@a8 Na6 mating

Round 5: 51. N@b6! cxb6 Nxb6 axb6 (Kc7 Nxa8 Kb8 R@c8 Kxc8 @d7 Kxd7 Q@d6 Ke8 @d7#; Bxb6 @d7 Kxd7 Q@d6 Ke8 Q@d7#) Q@d7!! (otherwise king can run to a7) Kxd7 (Kb8 Q@c8 Ka7 Qxb7#) Q@d6 & @d7# 52. R@c1 Kb2 (Kxc1 Q@a1 & @b2#) Q@a1 & Qb6 in some order e.g. Q@a1 Kb3 Qb6 B@b4 Qxc3 Kxc3 N@e4 Kb2 (Kd3 @c4 Kxc4 Nxd2 Bxd2 R@d4 Kc3 Nxd5#; Nxe4 Nxe4 Kd3 N@b2 Kxe4 f5#) Rb1 Kxb1 Nxd2 Kc1 R@b1 Kxd2 Qxd1 Kc3 Qd4# 53. Be4! Kc3 (Kxe4 B@f5/B@c2) N@b5 Kc4 B@d3 Kb3 Bc2 K2d4c4 Bed3 Kc5 Bf8! taking pawn or knight blocker to mate with. 54. Q@f7 Kh6 (Kh8 Qxd8 & R@g8#) Qh5!!/B@g7 e.g. Qh5!! gxh5 Rxf6 or if Kxh5 Qxh7 soon mates; B@g7 Qxg7 Rf7 B@g7 mating 55. N@d7 Ke7 (Rxd7 Q@d8#; Kxf7 N@g5 soon mates)  N@d5 Kxd7 (Kd6 Q@e7 Kxd5 Qxe6#; Kxf7 Ne5 Kg8 Nf6 gxf6 Q@f7#) Bxe6 Kxe6 Nf4 Kd6 (Ke5 Q@e6 Kxf4 Qe4#) Q@d5 Ke7 Qe6 Kf8 Nxg6# 56. N@h6 gxh6 (Bxh6 exf8=Q Kxf8 Q@d8 R@e8 B@e7 Kf7 R@f8 [or N@e5 if the bishop on g6 blocked on e8 earlier] Rxf8 Qxf8#) Q@h8!! Kxh8 exf8=Q &@g7# 57. Q@h6! 58. R@h8!! Bxh8 (Kxh8 Bxg7 Kh7 N@f6 soon mates but even quicker are N@g5! and Queen drop or even sweeter N@f8! Rxf8 N@f6 Kg7 R@h7#) N@e7 Kh7 N@g5 hxg5 R@h6 Kxh6 Bxg5 Kxg5 Q@h4# 59. Bxf3!! Nxf3 Qxg4 Kh1 (N@g3 Qxf3 Kh3 @g4 Kh4 Qf6 & Qg5#) Qxg1 (@g2 also works but less elegant) Nxg1 @g2# 60. N@d6 (trying to force a rook e.g. Rf8 Bxf8 Bxf8 [Qxf8 R@h8 Kxh8 @g7 soon mates] R@h8 Kxh8 Nxf7 Kg8 and take the queen or even better Qxh7!! Kxh7 @g6 Kg8 @h7#) Qb6! Qxh7!! 

Qb6! sets a trap. If Nxe8?? Qxf2!! is an unstoppable mate!

Qxf2!! If Kh1 R@f1 Rxf1 Qxf1 N@g1 (R@g1 R@h2 Kxh2 B@g3 Kh1 Qxg1 Kxg1 @f2 Kf1 R@e1 Qxe1 fxe1=Q#) Qxg1 Kxg1 @f2 Kxf2 (Kf1 N@g3 & R@f1) Bc5 hoping to pick up a pawn blocker after which B@e3 and pawn on the second rank mate, 

so if blocking instead with knight: N@d4 Bxd4 cxd4 Be3 Ke1 N@f3!!! gxf3 (Qxf3 N@d3 Kd1 R@d2#) N@g2 followed by R@g1/R@c1 & Re1# 

or if not blocking at all: Ke1 N@d3 Qxd3 B@f2 Kd1 R@e1 Kd2 (Kc2 cxd3 Kb3 Q@c2 Ka2 Rxa4 and Rxa3#) Bce3 Qxe3 (if Kc2 even better than taking the queen, Rc1#) fxe3 Kc2 Q@b1#]

If after Qxf2!! Kxf2, Bc5 to pick up a blocker and then B@e3 is again mating e.g. Bc5 @d4 Bxd4 cxd4 B@e3 Kf1 R@g1 Ke2 Rxg2 Qxg2 @d3 Kf3 @g4 hxg4 @e3 Kxe4 Rxe8 & either Kf3 @e4 or take all blockers ending with Rxe5 dxe5 N@g5#

But after Qxh7!! Kxh7 @g6 & N@g5 in some order is mating e.g. @g6 fxg6 N@g5 fxg5 hxg6 Kxg6 N@e5 Kh5 @g4 Bxg4 hxg4 Kh4 Nf5#

Second Chance: These puzzles come from an interactive study made by Kleerkast, and you can play out your solutions here in ch. 12-20. The final puzzle is from ch. 4 in this study and the answer is Kxg5!! after which it is impossible for Black to gain control over the dark squares.

Candidates: You Show Up! 1. R@g4# 2. Qxh7# 3. N@h3 Kf1 Bxg2 Kxg2 (Ke2 Q@c2 B@d2 Nf4 Ke3 Nd5 Ke2 @f3#) Q@g4 Q@g3 @f3 Kh1 @g2 Qxg2 Qxg2# 4. Two solutions: Ne4+ Rxe4 Q@f4+ Rxf4 (Kc2 Q@d2 Kb3 Qxb2#) Q@e2#. Or slower but more natural: Q@c2 Kxc2 Nb4 cxb4 Q@d3 Kc1 @d2 Kd1 @c2# 5. Nxf2! Kxf2 Bc5 @e3 N@g4decent attack! 6. g5! undermining the defender 7. e5! developing with tempo 8. N@d3! interference Bxd3 (cxd3 N@c2/Qxc3) Qxc3

Candidates: You Show Off! 1. N@d6 cxd6 (Kf8 @e7 Kxf7 N@f5 & N@d5) N@c7 Kf8 @e7 Kxe7 N@d5 2. @e6!! (the immediate @d7 does nothing) 3. B@h6! deflecting defence from f6 4. Be3! 5. Bxh3! Kh1 (Kxh3 Qxh4 Kg2 @h3 Kf1 @g2 Rxg2 hxg2 Kxg2 R@h2 Bxh2 Qxh2 Kf1 B@g2) R@h2 Bxh2 @g2 Rxg2 Bxg2 Kxg2 Nxh4 Kg1 (Kh3 @g4 Kg3 R@g2#) R@h1 Kxh1 @g2 Kg1 R@h1# 6. Kd1! (Kxf2?? @e3 Ke1 @d2 Bxd2 exd2 Kf1 [Kxd2 @e3 Kc3 B@d2 Kb3 Q@b4#)] Ne3 Kf2 B@e1 Rxe1 dxe1=Q Kxe1 Nxg2 Kf1 Q@e1 Kxg2 R@f2 Kg3 @h4#; while if Kf1 fxg1=Q Rxg1 (Kxg1 @f2 drawing the king to f2) Ne3 Ke1 @f2 after which knight and queen will mate, and if Kd2?? Q@e3 Kd1 fxg1=Q Rxg1 Qxg1 and White only has Queen blockers so is soon mated 7. gxf1=Q Kxf1 (Rxf1 Qxg3+ with check! Unlike Qxg3 in the starting position which hung mate starting with R@h7. After Qxg3 R@g2 N@e2 trying to deflect the bishop Kh1 hxg2 with check Bxg2 R@h2#) N@h2 Ke1 R@f1 Ke2 N@f4 gxf4 N@g3 Bxg3 N@g1# 8. @c4! blocking Bb5 and instigating a queen exchange when White’s king is unsafe

Candidates: You Show Opper! 1. Qxg7 Kxg7 B@h6 Kh8 @g7# 2. Q@d2 Kf3 (Kf1 Nxe3/@e2 both mate) Ne5 (moving either knight on the board) Bxe5 Nxe5 Kg3 several mates, but prettiest is @f4!! exf4 N@e2 Kxh3 Nxf4 (Kxf4 N@e2 Kxe5 [Kg5 Qd8 mating] f6 Ke4 B@d5) Kg3 @h4 Kxh4 Qxf2 N@g3 @g5 Kxg5 B@f6#) Kg3 @h4 Kxh4 Qxf2 N@g3 @g5 Kxg5 B@f6# 3. gxf3!! controlling the e4 square since the f6 knight is pinned, and the King can run to the Queenside. Running immediately gets White mated. 4. Bxd2 Nxd7 Qh4! mate threat on h2 saving the queen with tempo B@g3 Bxg3 fxg3 Qxh2 Kxh2 N@g4 Kh1 Bxd1 5. B@h8!! Kxh6 (Kg6 R@g3 & Bxf6 next; Kf8 R@g8 Ke7 Bxf6) Ng8 Kg6 R@h6 taking the queen with check next move & mate follows soon after. 6. N@a6!! “opper would be proud of me” (gsvc said of his move) Bxc5 Qxb8 Kd7 Qxc7 Ke8 Nf6# 7. R@a3 Kxc2 B@d1 Kc1 (Kb1 Ra1 Kxa1 Qxd4 & Qxb2#) Rc3 Kb1 Bc2 Kc1 Bb3 Kb1 Nd2 Kb2 Rc2 Ka3 Ra2 Kb4 Qxd4 Kb5 Qc4 Kb6 a5# 8. R@c6!! Kxc6 Nxe7 Kb7 N@a5 Kb6 Nxd5 Kc5 B@b6 Kd6 Q@c5#

Keep playing crazyhouse!

Happy Christmas!

—okei