CCI wins the group and advances to Division B
Since the last info, more months had to pass before the desired success of our Champions League team was in dry cloth.
The very last game of the entire series dragged on and should end in a draw with both sides playing the best moves. A draw would have been enough to move up to Division B. Bit a place at the top of the podium just looks better:-))
Your rapporteur therefore recalled a statement by Tartakover that no one had won a game by offering a Draw. Therefore, I continued to play calmly and forced the opponent several times to find “single moves”.
The position was very complex and could only be correctly evaluated using 7 man tablebases. But this is not so easy, considering that all 7 man tablebases account for about 18 terabytes of hard disk space. It is obvious that hardly anyone has such capacities. It is therefore important to keep only the relevant tablebase databases available. Another factor to consider was the always lurking 50-move rule.
At some point, my opponent believed -and it looked really plausible- that he had to bring his king closer to the center. And that was a crucial miscalculation that allowed me to leave my only Pawn uncovered for a moment and to gain an important tempo.
The game was won according to my analysis (which had already been prepared for months), although almost all engines showed a Draw (0.00). That’s why my opponent continued to play (perhaps unsuspectingly) until the tournament was over and the game came to an adjudication. I submitted a 6-page analysis and claimed the game as a win.
After 4 weeks of hard work (and waiting on my part), my analysis apparently convinced the adjudicator and the game was declared a win.
And so it happened that CCI went from fourth to first place with this last game.
The New Series 2021/23 will start in November. It will be a real challenge for CCI, because the B division is very strong. But I am in good spirits because we have a powerful team and I will report from time to time on the progress of the tournament.