Offerspill news - week 10

This week's update consists of a short recap of our weekly tournament and a reminder not to miss Puzzlemania (!) this week. Most importantly, though, we celebrate the International Women's Day and look forward to Offerspill members Ellen Fredericia Nilssen and Sofie Bech Dürrfeld participating in a team event on Chess24.

Remember to follow Offerspill on social media for frequent updates on club activities, news and other content.

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International Women's Day on Chess24

The one and only Ellen Fredericia Nilssen will be part of a team event, a 3+0 blitz tournament, that starts 20:00 CET on Chess24. Sean Marsh provides a brief look at the history and aims of the International Women's Day in this article.

Ellen will play with live commentary provided by grandmasters. Judit Polgar will have a guest appearance.

Fingers crossed for Ellen and for the "Choose to Challenge" event as a whole.
Follow it live on Twitch from 20:00 CET, while the live games broadcast is available here.

Puzzlemania

The puzzle solving frenzy continues this week on Wednesday the 10th of March.

Last week, Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (Johanssc), Lara Janželj (LaraJ) and Eirik Aarnes (Rabiatwitch) competed in the third edition of our Puzzlemania.

High-scores

Grandmaster Christiansen won the night with 79 puzzles solved and is the current club record holder closely followed by Janželj with 73 puzzles - impressive stuff! Despite numerous attempts to distract and annoy the participants several records were broken on the night - alas, yours truly is in dire straits as the previous record of 68 puzzles has been thoroughly beaten.

Live on Twitch every Wednesday

We are going live on Twitch every Wednesday from 17:30 CET where we will watch club members give Puzzle Storm on Lichess a go - the stream will conclude around 19:00 CET when it is time for the Offerspill Online League.

This week

This week International Master and TalentOffer-candidate Benjamin Haldorsen will attempt to beat the high-score of Christiansen. He will be joined by several other players on Wednesday - don't miss out on what surely will be top quality entertainment!

Online League - Italian Thematic Arena

The first thematic blitz arena of this season's Online League was a success with 46 participants - including the World Champion! This week's chosen opening was the Italian Game. We recorded a short introductory video to get you started with the opening beforehand - the video is part of our growing library on YouTube.

Jon Kristian Haarr (PusheenMeow) was on fire and won the tournament closely followed by the relentless Kenneth Gvein (Gvein) and Slovenian (not Slovakian, as yours truly frequently announces on stream) phenomenon Lara Janželj (LaraJ).

However, World Champion Magnus Carlsen (DrNykterstein) stole the show as he played three games in the tournament. He won all three games, of course. Below you can enjoy one of these brutal victories.

DrNykterstein - Neon_Oreo (1-0)


Replay all games and view standings from the tournament here.

Podium

Standings for the Online League are available here as well as instructions for how to join the league.

Online League tournament schedule

All times are in Central European Time

  • Mondays | 20-21 | Bullet | 1+0
  • Wednesdays | 19-21 | Blitz | 3+2
  • Sundays | 18:30-20.00 | Blitz | 5+0 | Thematic tournament

We announce the opening for each thematic tournament some days in advance with an introductory video to get familiar with the nuances of the opening beforehand.

Quarantine League

After a couple of rough weeks in the online Bundesliga Offerspill finally managed to strike back and secure promotion. Thanks to a team effort by 33 (!) players we managed to secure a place in the 5th divison next week. Runar Ødegaard (Krosta) was the club top scorer with 37 points closely followed by Anita Grønnestad (TraintoBusan) and Jon Kristian Haarr (PusheenMeow) with 36 and 35 points, respecticely.

However, the big news was that World Champion Magnus Carlsen (DrNykterstein) played in the second tournament in one night for Offerspill. He was joined by grandmaster Aryan Tari (Recapture) and TalentOffer candidates Lara Jenzalj (LaraJ) and Ellen Fredericia Nilssen (Fredericia). Puzzle solving monster Eirik Aarnes (Rabiatwitch) scored 30 points and was a major contributor to the team's success.

Tony Alexander (Talexander) is a frequent participant in Offerspill tournaments and is well known for his attacking mindset on the board. Below is an example of how efficient this brand of chess against an unprepared opponent:

Talexander - Pushkarevsfamily (1-0)


Standings


Standings and games can be viewed and replayed here.