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CDawgVA Delivers Swindle Of The Century To Become The Fifth PogChampion

CDawgVA Delivers Swindle Of The Century To Become The Fifth PogChampion

PedroPinhata
PedroPinhata
Staff
| 18 | Chess Event Coverage

Drama, plot twists, and illegal moves marked the live PogChamps 5 Finals—the first in-person Pog event in history. As the remaining four creators gathered in Los Angeles to play for PogChamps glory, no one could've predicted how the matches would unfold. 

Wirtual was the first to guarantee his title after winning his match against QTCinderella in the Consolation Bracket Final. In a mid-event side match, Erobb221 prevailed over his loud brother Tyler1 after a premove fiasco.  Finally, CDawgVA had to fight his nerves to defeat Franks-is-heres and become the fifth PogChampion. 

How to watch PogChamps 5

PogChamps 5 games, schedule, and all the details can be found here as part of our live events platform. 

Live commentary provided by Ludwig, Andrea Botez, WFM Alexandra Botez, GM Robert Hess, WGM Nemo Zhou, and IMs Levy Rozman and Danny Rensch.

  

Consolation Bracket

One of the highest-rated players in PogChamps 5 overall, Wirtual made the Norwegian nation proud by winning his match against QTCinderella. 

Coming into the match, the players shared their preparation for the final. Wirtual invested his time studying all the intricacies of his opponent's favorite opening, the Stonewall. QT went in another direction:  

The players blitzed out great opening moves, showing that their home prep went further than trash-talk and intimidation tactics. A less-than-confident QT had the chance to win a pawn but blundered a knight instead. Up material, Wirtual found incredible moves that even the commentators had missed. 

As expected, the players felt the difference between online and over-the-board chess. First, QT was not sure how to castle:

Then, Wirtual channeled his inner Kasparov in a touch-move incident:

Fortunately, as Ludwig pointed out, PogChamps follows street chess rules, so play proceeded as normal. The game finally ended with a classy checkmate by Wirtual, using two bishops and a pawn.

Chess drama ensued in the second game, as QT pinky promised not to play the Stonewall. Still, like a barbarian with no regard for the rules of decency and civility, she broke her sacred oath and played the Stonewall anyway.

QT was way more confident when she got to play her favorite opening, even smirking at his opponent when she put him in a difficult position. But the rating difference showed, and Wirtual made good use of his opponent's mistakes to win multiple pieces and the advantage back. Part of the blame for QT's downfall goes to the physical board, which seemed to be missing the option to turn the arrows on.

In an already grim position, QT blundered the remainder of her army and soon lost the game. As the disaster happened, she shared her true feelings for the beautiful game of chess:

The third game started balanced, but Wirtual had a slightly better grasp of the position, a product of his chess grind over the last few weeks. When commentators asked Ludwig why he didn't help QT with her chess, he shared what discourages QT to play against him:

Despite QT's lack of practice (for very understandable reasons), she still found a fork to win material, getting her biggest advantage in the match. 

But Wirtual created enough complications to bamboozle his opponent, winning her queen and later, the game. With this result, Wirtual etched his name in history by joining "MoistCr1TiKaL and the other ones" as one of the PogChamps Consolation Bracket winners. 


After the match, the players shared their feelings. "I think I made the most of it, even though I was very upset after losing the groups," he started. "It was really fun to come out here and play chess over the board."

About her experience, QT said: "That was not fun, and I did not like it."

We're happy we could bring joy to QT's life.

That was not fun, and I did not like it.
— QTCinderella

Wirtual earned $7,000 for his first-place finish in the Consolation Bracket, while QT won $5,000 for her efforts.

Salty Suite

Between the two PogChamps matches, fans had the chance to enjoy the Salty Suite, a thrilling side match between brothers Tyler1 and Erobb221. On the line was the ultimate prize: familial bragging rights. Ruining the next family dinner, Erobb defeated the hot-headed Tyler in the weirdest match of the day.

Erobb blundered a knight early in the first game, putting him in a difficult position. Tyler demonstrated to be the better player but not the best uncle, as he pleaded for his niece to be removed from the premises. 

Aside from the initial blunder, both players played really well. Until they didn't anymore. Causing a wave of "ohs" and "ahs," the players went full PogChamps mode:

This turn of events inspired Tyler to do what he does best: scream. Overly excited, he forgot to do the other thing he was supposed to do: checkmate. 

Just as we thought we had seen it all, the players found yet another way to surprise us in the second game.

It's not just that Tyler was a piece down. The man was also playing on his mobile browser. Needless to say, Tyler had little hope left. In a desperate attempt, he launched his kingside pawns forward, trying to create an attack. The strategy backfired when, unlike his brother, Erobb delivered checkmate. Tyler, as you might expect, was not happy.

In their post-match interview, Erobb claimed he would cause Tyler to retire from chess. Tyler, who's not exactly known for keeping his composure, left the call. The world anxiously awaits, hoping Tyler's brilliant chess career is not over.

Championship Bracket

And then, it was finally time for the PogChamps 5 Championship Bracket Final. It all came down to this. A rivalry born over a thousand years ago was about to be resolved over the chessboard. The battle between the English Franks-is-heres and the Welsh CDawgVA promised to be a nerve-wracking affair. 

And the first game delivered on that promise when Frank got a great position against the higher-rated Connor. Frank was a piece up when he played a careless move that hung mate in two. Feeling the pressure, Connor missed the mate and ended up hanging material. 

But then came another plot twist: Frank thought he was getting mated when he wasn't, which led him to hang an actual checkmate. But that's not all. Connor missed the mate again, this time not getting another chance. Frank took the opportunity to go on the offensive, winning a few moves later.

Frank's victory made him overconfident for the second game, which only worked to his detriment as he let Connor win a pawn and a rook in the opening.

Despite the huge disadvantage, Frank still put pressure on his opponent, making Connor "melt like the Wicked Witch of the West," as Ludwig put it. Still, CDawg played well and then found a checkmate to tie the match.

Finding the words to describe what happened in the third game is hard. Frank once again outplayed his opponent with the black pieces, getting into a winning position. Connor saw himself in a desperate situation. And then, somehow, Ludwig peeked into the future to uncork the most absurd and prophetic call in the history of chess:

After carrying out the swindle of the century, Connor took the lead 2-1 to get closer to the title. "It was a huge jebait," he confessed to his opponent after the game. If you ask me, "huge" seems like an understatement.

Things got worse for Frank in the fourth game right from the start. Again, he dropped a pawn and got into a bad position. Connor took advantage of a few other mistakes by his opponent to get a sizable advantage. However, his nerves were clearly clouding his judgment, something that was made clear when he forgot to capitalize on a fork, letting Frank save both his rooks. 

Connor only calmed down when, in a rook and pawn ending, Frank blundered a skewer to lose his rook. A few moves later, the new PogChampion emerged.

With this, PogChamps 5 came to an epic end. The new champion CDawgVA takes home $20,000 and the PogChamps trophy, while Frank made $12,000 for his second-place finish in the Championship Bracket.

All Games: Finals

PogChamps 5 is Chess.com's most popular chess event for creators. Featuring 16 players and a $100,000 prize fund, the event started on July 26, 2023, and ends on August 18, 2023, with live in-person finals happening in Los Angeles. Creators are divided into groups of four and play a single round-robin before moving on to either a Championship or Consolation bracket.

Previous coverage:

PedroPinhata
Pedro Pinhata

Pedro Pinhata is the Writing Lead for Chess.com. He writes articles, feature announcements, event pages, and more. He has been playing chess since 2019 and lives in Brazil.

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