That is a wrap for PogChamps 6! All through the occasion, followers have witnessed many nerve-wracking moments and piece blunders. We additionally noticed a primary in PogChamps historical past: not a single stalemate in the whole match.
Finally, Ebere Eze turned the sixth PogChampion after a clear 2-0 win in opposition to Sapnap, whereas Mongraal received the Comfort Bracket by defeating LydiaViolet.
Championship Bracket
Comfort Bracket
Comfort Bracket: Mongraal vs. Linzor
It was a tragic day for followers of Linzor, and even sadder for followers of castling. Mongraal performed a clear match, twice going after Linzor’s king and twice succeeding.
Within the first sport, Linzor took too many liberties together with her pawns and obtained punished accordingly. That led to Linzor’s first failed try at castling, and later to her demise:
That most likely impressed Mongraal, who went for a “good little mixture” within the second sport, once more ending Linzor’s hopes of castling:
After taking all his opponent’s items, Mongraal took his time to ship the ultimate blow to finish the match. Linzor, at one level, simply could not take it anymore:
With that, Mongraal moved on to the Semifinals, and Linzor needed to say her goodbyes to PogChamps, taking dwelling $6,000.
Comfort Bracket: Filian vs. LydiaViolet
The second match was a story of braveness and resilience. The lower-rated LydiaViolet couldn’t assist however really feel intimidated by Filian, who, on the top of her 800 score, was absolutely intimidating.
However because it seems, even Cows bleed. Filian’s mighty opening couldn’t stand up to the “wall of pawns” led by the “Pawn Normal,” LydiaViolet.
Lydia’s aggressive play paid off. Regardless of pushing pawns like there isn’t any tomorrow and refusing to fortress, Lydia pounced on Filian’s mistake to win the primary sport.
Her first-game win gave Lydia the arrogance she wanted for the second sport. From a nasty place, she discovered a tactic to entice Filian’s queen:
Filian discovered some difficult defensive strikes, however Violet held her personal and finally defeated her opponent to win the match and go to the Closing. It was now time for her to get again at Mongraal, who mentioned she was an “simple win” within the Group Stage.
Comfort Bracket Closing
After six editions of PogChamps, I believed I had seen all the pieces.
Boy, was I flawed.
The Championship Bracket Closing was a present to behold. Enable me to arrange the stage by sharing our Sport Evaluation accuracy rating for the first sport:
When you’re pondering, “how is that even doable?” you are not alone. It began with Lydia’s signature play type, which includes shifting solely pawns and her queen within the opening. Surprisingly, that led to her successful a chunk. Just a few strikes later, and she or he was up one other piece.
Although behind in materials, Mongraal saved making use of strain together with his items, which he did develop. True to her beliefs, Lydia saved refusing to develop, pushing GM Aman Hambleton to the restrict.
That finally led to a sequence of blunders, and as time obtained low, each gamers gave up their queens. When the mud settled, Lydia had two pawns, two knights, and two rooks in opposition to Mongraal’s three pawns and lone rook. Certainly Lydia might win this, proper?
Effectively, that is when the PogChamps magic occurred. On transfer 42, Lydia lastly developed her knight—proper when that was one of many solely strikes she might play to lose. With this, Mongraal took the lead within the match.
After this absolute masterpiece of a primary sport, the match’s second sport was not that shut. Mongraal discovered a great tactic and received Lydia’s queen. Lydia fought on however finally misplaced sport two when Mongraal saved his cool beneath strain and located a checkmate.
With this, Mongraal completed first within the Comfort Bracket and took dwelling $10,000, whereas Lydia completed second with an $8,000 prize.
Championship Bracket: WolfeyVGC vs. Sapnap
Who would win in a battle, 100 Sapnaps or one WolfeyVGC? The large score hole between the 2 would make you assume Wolfey would have a straightforward time. It positive appeared like that might be the case in sport one, when Sapnap’s solely hope was pleading to the chess overlords for a stalemate, which by no means got here.
However that first sport loss was not about to crush Sapnap’s hopes. Particularly after he discovered an ideal tactic to win materials proper out of the opening within the second sport:
Regardless of just a few inaccuracies right here and there, Sapnap performed properly and even discovered a pleasant knight and rook checkmate to win the second sport. The match then went to tiebreaks, and Sapnap had a shock lined up for Wolfey.
Sure, Sapnap performed the Fried Liver, incomes his second good transfer of the match! Regardless of not following it up one of the best ways doable, Sapnap acknowledged that his opponent’s pawn weaknesses gave him good probabilities:
The affair shortly advanced into an endgame that was actually above PogChamps stage. Wolfey went flawed, and that is all it took for Sapnap to ship a serious upset and make it to the Championship Bracket Closing.
Championship Bracket: Ebere Eze vs. Steve Nedoroscik
In a semifinal match of athletes, it was soccer (the one the place you really use your ft) in opposition to pommel horse (the one the place there’s really no horse).
With two equally rated gamers, there was no telling how the match would go. However when it began going, it went actually quick.
Steve performed a sneaky transfer that appeared like a great tactic, however missed a verify that ruined each his plans and his sport. That led to a fast win for Ebere, who discovered a checkmate only a few strikes later.
Within the second sport, Ebz saved enjoying ruthless chess. He was quickly forward in materials and had a crushing assault, when Steve discovered an ideal tactic to show the tables.
However chess is a merciless sport, and sometimes, one tiny mistake can squander a successful place. Steve was the final to blunder, dropping his queen and the match.
With the consequence, Ebere moved on to the Closing to face Sapnap, whereas Steve was eradicated and netted $8,000 in prizes.
Championship Bracket Closing: Sapnap vs. Ebere Eze
Tensions had been excessive within the Closing of the Championship Bracket. Ebere had confirmed up to now to be a ruthless opponent, and Sapnap got here in because the darkish horse who might play good attacking strikes out of nowhere.
It began out with an ideal sport by each gamers. The underdog Sapnap had an ideal place however missed a key attacking thought, which led to an unlucky mind fart and piece blunder. From there, issues went south shortly.
Of their second sport, Ebere noticed a strategy to entice his opponent’s bishop, giving him an enormous benefit out of the opening. Nonetheless, Ebere postponed the seize and realized that generally, whenever you play along with your meals, you would possibly get eaten as a substitute:
Sapnap not solely escaped together with his bishop but additionally obtained into a really snug place. His lively items had been slicing off the board, and finally led to a fabric benefit and really lively items.
Nonetheless, Ebere confirmed that he is pretty much as good at defending as he’s at attacking. Displaying nice resilience, he managed to outlive lengthy sufficient to place Sapnap beneath super time strain. After just a few errors by his opponent, Ebere shortly pounced and located a sneaky counterattack to checkmate Sapnap.
And similar to that, Ebere received $20,000 and have become the sixth PogChampion:
For his second-place end, Sapnap returned dwelling $14,000 richer and with fairly just a few good video games on his resume.
How To Evaluation
Earlier protection:
