Gripex defeated Forsen and took the lead in group A.

Gripex90, cizzorz, David Pakman Win In Drama-Filled Day

ColinStapczynski

Updated: Sep 1, 2020, 10:28 AM | 19 | Chess Event Coverage

PogChamps is heating up with the second round kicking off on Monday. Concurrent viewers peaked at more than 35,000 while the group standings started to take a clearer shape amidst a sea of Omegalulz.

Monday's exciting play saw Gripex90 defeat Forsen in the first match to take the lead in group A. cizzorz 2-0'd CallMeCarson, which allowed him to leapfrog Forsen in the group A standings, while David Pakman defeated xQc to earn his first victory in PogChamps.

Gripex90 Beats Forsen, Takes Group A Lead
cizzorz 2-0s CallMeCarsonLive Amidst A Sea Of Omegalulz
David Pakman Defeats xQc, Earns First Victory

Track Results

Make sure to tune into Chess.com's coverage of the 2020 Chess.com PogChamps on Wednesday, August 26 at 11:45 p.m. Pacific (21:45 p.m. Central Europe) on Chess.com/tv. The complete show archives are available on twitch.tv/chess and youtube.com/chess.

Gripex90 Beats Forsen, Takes Group A Lead

The first match of the day was a great battle between Forsen and Gripex. Forsen is one of the pre-tournament favorites and a veteran from the first PogChamps, but Gripex90 has become one of the highest-rated players in the field—when the match started, Gripex had a 300-rating point-advantage over the Swedish gaming legend.

In the first game, Gripex was firmly in the driver’s seat after Forsen hung a knight early. Forsen described his knight blunder as "unfortunate." Gripex navigated the position and time trouble well, delivering checkmate on g7 to take a one-game lead.

Gripex90 delivered checkmate in game one.

Game two was a back-and-forth seesaw game. Forsen played aggressively in the opening and had some nice early chances. Gripex kept his cool and found a tactical sequence where he picked up an exchange, but Forsen struck back with his active pieces. Gripex made a mistake while under heavy pressure, and Forsen had a winning attack—it looked like it was all over.

But then it was Forsen's turn to make a mistake as he blundered with 22.Qf7+?? which not only gave back his extra piece but also stopped his mating attack dead in its tracks!

Even after this mistake, Forsen was up a pawn in the endgame. After some more exchanges, a rook and pawn endgame was reached where Forsen was in control, but with less than 20 seconds left on the clock and a draw becoming clear, Forsen repeated moves and the point was split.

In the post-match interview, Gripex described the second game as both "intense" and a "nailbiter." With the draw in game two, Gripex won the match 1.5-0.5 and now leads group A.

Cizzorz 2-0s CallMeCarsonLive Amidst A Sea Of Omegalulz

Both cizzorz and CallMeCarsonLive had something to prove heading into their match as they were in the bottom two spots in group A after the first round. The first game was an amazing and entertaining display of missed chances. Early in the game, both players missed the d5-d4 shot for two moves (which would have won a piece for Carson). Cizzorz eventually saw the d5-d4 pawn break, but only when Carson could still play it—Cizzorz started chanting "not like this, not like this."

Even though Carson missed the d5-d4 shot, he didn't miss winning cizzorz's queen! A tragic comedy of errors began when cizzors realized that Carson had also hung his own queen, but cizzorz had missed it—he couldn't help but scream: "No!!! I hate everything! Not like this!"

Despite missing Carson's hanging queen, cizzorz was still completely winning when he missed a checkmate in one. With both players in time trouble, Carson gave up his final rook and then his queen before resigning.

Carson kept his spirits high in between games as he blasted country music and danced in front of stock backgrounds. The second game was a much more one-sided affair: cizzorz played strongly in the second game and stayed alert as Carson crumbled, giving up piece after piece until cizzorz delivered checkmate.

In the post-match interview, Carson revealed that he was following Ludwig's strategy from the first PogChamps: He was merely "throwing for content" in the group stage so he can sweep the entire consolation bracket. Cizzorz took the match 2-0 and is now in second place in the group A standings.

Group A Standings

David Pakman Beats xQc, Earns First Victory

This match displayed two wildly different personalities clashing on the chessboard, with both players aiming for their first victory in this tournament. In game one, Davidpakman tried out a Ponziani opening which morphed into a closed position where both players maneuvered quietly until xQc trapped David Pakman's rook with his light-squared bishop.

The game became ultra-sharp after xQc's queenside castling, which conjured up a reactive shriek from the commentator, WGM Qiyu Nemo Zhou:

David Pakman built up a ferocious attack on the queenside which eventually led to checkmate. As soon as mate was delivered, xQc motioned with his hands to start up the next game—he wanted more!

The second game was an epic and incredible sight to behold. The position looked like a pretty standard Sicilian dragon until xQc found his pieces forked by a pawn. Despite being down a piece, xQc kept attacking and Pakman grabbed a dangerous poisoned pawn on b2 which allowed xQc to go for the throat. xQc missed a beautiful checkmate in five, and Pakman was leading again.

xQc kept attacking but didn't have enough pieces to make it work. Both players were in terrible time trouble with each of them falling below 20 seconds. A mind-boggling blitz battle ensued, with neither player giving much ground for many moves. xQc won Pakman's rook and was winning, but then he hung his own rook in return. A few moves after this, xQc lost his second rook, and David Pakman was able to force a draw under immense pressure.

In the post-match interview, xQc highlighted the moment where Pakman "no-scoped" his rook for the win:

Commentator GM Robert Hess felt that this epic second game may have been the best game played in PogChamps. Both players showed their ability to keep their cool under time pressure, but David Pakman was able to take the match and earn his first victory in PogChamps. He is now tied with the leaders in group B.

Group B Standings

Make sure to tune into Chess.com's coverage of the 2020 Chess.com PogChamps on Wednesday, August 26 at 11:45 p.m. Pacific (21:45 p.m. Central Europe) on Chess.com/tv.

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