User Profile: Penguincw

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Penguincw
Member since Dec-22-10 · Last seen Nov-11-25

♔ MY PROFILE ♔
I'd like to thank the user who gave me a year of premium services from Feb/14/2012-Feb/14/2013, the user who gave me 3 years of premium services from Dec/26/2015-Dec/26/2018, the user who gave me 2 years of premium services from Dec/31/2018-Dec/31/2020, the user who gave me 3 years of premium services from Dec/25/2020 to Dec/25/2023, the user who gave me 1 year of premium services from Dec/26/2023 to Dec/26/2024, and the user who gave me 1 year of premium services from Dec/26/2024 to Dec/26/2025. :)
??? BIOGRAPHY ???
Outside of chess, I also like to watch sports (who doesn't), and even play sports (even though I'm not great at it). Baseball is by far my favourite sport.
??? GAME COLLECTIONS ???
Penguincw's Game Collections
To view all my collections, see here: Game Collection: 0: Table of Contents.
??? CHESS PUZZLES ???
Here are some chess puzzles I composed. I'm not a very strong composer, but they should be fun to solve nevertheless. However, since my forum won't always be open, I decided to use one of my game collections for that purpose:
Game Collection: Chess Puzzles
Here's a sample:
White to move, mate in three

click for larger view
Solution: (click on above game collection)
??? ACHIEVEMENTS ???
Here's my short list of achievements on this site (other than achievements relating to the prediction contests, which are listed further below):
966th user to open up their forum.
Became the 45th user to reach 13,000 posts (unofficial).
Only the 2nd user (honour shared with 7 other users) to win a membership from the Santa Claus draw twice.
In the ChessBookie Game, finished first in the Championship 2015 preseason with 1727 cbs, 174 cbs ahead of 2nd place. Also, in the Fall 2014 preseason, I finished in 2nd with 1418 cbs, just 40 cbs behind first at the last known update.
4th user, and 3rd overall (after <SwitchingQuylthulg> (x2), <wordfunph> and <Annie K.>) to run the ChessBookie Game.
At the 2016 Caissar Awards, I was nominated and won the "Most Helpful" award for 2015.
In Spring 2016, I became the 172nd user to qualify for the Championship Leg in the ChessBookie Game, finishing in 10th place with 4,204 cbs. (fact-checking needed)
??? PREDICTION CONTESTS ???
I like competing in the prediction contests, and so far, have won these medals (along with the rank listed):
<Golden Executive>
♔♔♔♕♕♕♕♖♖♖♖♖♖♖ (3 gold, 4 silver, 7 bronze; 23rd)
<chessmoron> (hosted by <OhioChessFan>) ♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♘♘♘♘♘♘♘♘♘♘♘♘♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗ (10 gold, 12 silver, 22 bronze; 10th)
<lostemperor>
♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♖♖♖♖ (7 gold, 4 bronze; 3rd)
<Overall>
♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♔♕♕♕♕♘♘♘♘♘♘♘♘♘♘♘♘♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♗- ♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗♗ (20 gold, 16 silver, 33 bronze; 8th)
Updated through Tata Steel 2018.
<Golden Executive>'s Games Prediction Contest: User: Golden Executive
<chessmoron>'s Moves Prediction Contest (hosted by <OhioChessFan>): User: OhioChessFan
<lostemperor>'s Final Standings Prediction Contest: User: lostemperor
Other Notable Achievements:
Only user to ever win a quadruple crown (London Chess Classic 2011) in the Moves Prediction Contest (or any contest for that matter).
Only user to ever win a Betting title crown in the Games Prediction Contest, and defend it the very next year, same tournament (Tata Steel 2014 & 2015).
First user to ever win a gold medal in each of the 3 contests from the same tournament (Tata Steel 2015).
The 4th user to have won at least 3 golds in 3 different contests (after <chessmoron>, <lostemperor> and <SwitchingQuylthulg>). Members of this club are unofficially considered to be "grandmasters" of the prediction contests.
For the 7th consecutive year (2011-2017), I have won at least one gold medal in one of the contests. I am one of just 6 active users to have done so, the others being <chessmoron>, <cromat>, <lostemperor>, <SwitchingQuylthulg> and <WinKing>.
??? NOTABLE POSTS ???
I've made over 13,000 posts, but not all posts are created equally. In fact, most of them don't have too much value, but here are some of my best posts:
Probably my most "viral" post to date (introducing the now defunct Chessgames Playing Zone The Kibitzer's Café
Probably the first <on the internet> to notice the Original Six sweep the Tampa Bay Lightning were going through during the Stanley Cup playoffs, 2015: Mating Net chessforum.
More posts will be added as time progresses.
Here are some of my favourite posts by <other users> around the site (no reason given to some):
The Kibitzer's Café
SwitchingQuylthulg chessforum
chessgames.com chessforum
<YouRang> describes his Hall of Fame (which I am in): YouRang chessforum
Golden Executive chessforum (kibitz #3235)

More posts will be added as time progresses.

>> Click here to see Penguincw's game collections.

   Current net-worth: 1,457 chessbucks
[what is this?]

   Penguincw has kibitzed 16389 times to chessgames [more...]

   Oct-23-25 Chessgames - Sports

Penguincw: Hello <keypusher>.

   Oct-20-25 Daniel Naroditsky

Penguincw: Heard about it from chess.com https://x.com/chesscom/status/19803... R.I.P. Naroditsky. Gone far too young.

   Feb-27-25 Boris Spassky

Penguincw: Rest in peace, Mr. Spassky.

   Feb-04-25 lostemperor chessforum

Penguincw: Thank you <lostemperor> for hosting this. Happy to come away with a gold. Congrats to the other medalists, hope to see you next time, whenever that may be.

   Jan-01-25 Benzol chessforum

Penguincw: Dropping by to wish you Happy New Year, <Benzol>.

   Dec-26-24 OhioChessFan chessforum

Penguincw: Hi <OCF>. Seasonal greetings to you, my friend.

   Dec-25-24 WannaBe chessforum

Penguincw: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, <WannaBe>.

   Dec-25-24 juan31 chessforum

Penguincw: Feliz Navidad <juan31>.

   Dec-25-24 Golden Executive chessforum

Penguincw: Hello <GE>. Merry Christmas to you, your friends, and your family!

   Dec-25-24 FSR chessforum

Penguincw: Hello <FSR>. Dropping by to wish you a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. :)

indicates a reply to the comment.

March of the Penguins

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 39 OF 45 · Later Kibitzing>
Dec-30-17		Penguincw: Canada loses yet another shootout to the Americans. Rough. Sucks even more that the Canadians blew two 2-goal leads. I've noticed a lot of times in sports (in general) that champions are usually those who win games coming from behind, not blowing by everyone else. Hope that's not the theme this year. Interesting to see some outdoor hockey played. On a side note, I'm okay with shootouts deciding preliminary games, but knockout and relegation games, no way. Canada does get the one point they need to secure a ticket to the knockouts, which they have done every single time they have played. They also are very close to clinching the top seed, which usually grants the privilege of playing a non big-6 in the quarterfinals. I see <Switch> your predictions are very accurate. There could be some contest held for that, but doing so requires a style similar to the contests held by <le>/<TLS>, but alas, I have still not reviewed the homework <GE> assigned me almost 3 years ago: WinKing chessforum (kibitz #2522). (I hope that's the right link) Good luck to the Fins today. Sports have an interesting cycle. CAN beat SVK, SVK beat USA, and USA beat CAN. As for your comment regarding video review, I agree the use of it should be extended. Ultimately, making the right call is the most important thing. And when you're facing these tough teams, it's already hard enough to beat the other team; don't want to have to beat the refs either. Though hockey refs may not be the worse in all of sports...

Dec-30-17		SwitchingQuylthulg: <And when you're facing these tough teams, it's already hard enough to beat the other team; don't want to have to beat the refs either. Though hockey refs may not be the worse in all of sports...> Yeah; I've been incredibly frustrated with hockey referees many times (on the junior level, the 2014 final comes to mind, even though we won in the end), but there's no question that far fewer games are decided by dubious refereeing in hockey than in, say, soccer. (Of course, that might be because it's so much easier for a soccer ref to affect the result, not just because they're more biased or less competent.)

Dec-30-17		SwitchingQuylthulg: FIN-SVK 5-2. A decent but not great game from us, we were in control but didn't manage to put it away before the final minutes. The 4-2 goal was really unusual; there was a faceoff in Slovakia's end, and the Slovakian won and drew the puck backwards into his own goal. Slovakia's goalie was caught totally off-guard.

Dec-31-17		Penguincw: Canada has bounced back from yesterday's (29th) loss by easily (and expectedly) beating Denmark 8-0. With this, Canada secures the top seed in the group, and will face the 4th place team in Group B. It'll probably be Switzerland, unless they can beat the Czechs tomorrow (31st). RUS-SWE looks to be a big matchup as well, as Finland will probably face one of those 2 teams. Denmark, losing 8-0 and 9-0 must be rough, but they can still avoid relegation by beating Slovakia, as it seems the first tiebreaker is head-to-head. Lucky them, as Belarus' fate is already decided.

Dec-31-17		YouRang: <Penguincw: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays <YouRang>. Hope life is good for you.> Hi <Penguincw>, sorry I'm late to notice the well-wish you left in my forum. But thanks for that and I hope your Christmas was merry and your New Year is happy. :-)

Dec-31-17		SwitchingQuylthulg: <RUS-SWE looks to be a big matchup as well, as Finland will probably face one of those 2 teams.> There's a very good chance we'll face the Czechs, too. USA-FIN is hard to call. USA are probably slight favorites, but it could go either way.

Dec-31-17		Penguincw: I believe the Americans are slight favourites in that matchup as well. And yes, good chance Finland faces CZE or RUS. Tough matchup, even if it's SWE.

Dec-31-17		SwitchingQuylthulg: Especially if it's SWE. I hope we won't meet SWE before the final :)

Dec-31-17		SwitchingQuylthulg: <Penguincw> Happy New Year! We lost 5-4 after coming back from 3-0 down. We had the usual trouble converting our chances early on, but things started looking better in the second period. We changed our lines late in the Slovakia game, which seems to have helped. We took too many penalties today, though; and our penalty killing still sucks. -- Canada's 53% power play percentage after the group stage is scary to put it mildly! It will probably come down a bit in the playoffs, but I don't think it's purely a statistical fluke; your power play units know what they're doing. Finland's power play percentage so far is <16%... though of course we have a built-in disadvantage in that we don't get to play against our own penalty killing.

Jan-01-18		Penguincw: Denmark loses to Slovakia, and will face Belarus to prevent relegation. But hey, at least it's not Finland. Finland will end up facing Czech Republic in the quarterfinals. Canada draws Switzerland, and will face the winner of that match, should they advance. Sweden edges Russia in a shootout, and will get the privilege of playing a non-Big 6 team in the quarters, Slovakia. And the only other matchup is Russia vs. USA. I will post my predictions later. Same format, rules, etc. as always. All are welcome to participate.

Jan-01-18		WinKing: Happy New Year <Penguincw>! :)

Jan-01-18		Penguincw: Well here are my predictions: QF: <CAN> - SUI CZE - <FIN> <SWE> - SVK <USA> - RUS SF: <CAN> - FIN SWE - <USA> F, BMG & R: <CAN> - USA SWE - <FIN> <BLR> - DEN

Jan-02-18		SwitchingQuylthulg: My bracket: <CAN> - SUI CZE - <FIN> <SWE> - SVK <USA> - RUS <CAN> - FIN <SWE> - USA <CAN> - SWE USA - <FIN> <BLR> - DEN

Jan-02-18		Penguincw: Games have started, about 10 minutes ago.

Jan-02-18		SwitchingQuylthulg: The first period of CZE-FIN pretty much says everything about our play in this tournament so far. Shots on goal: CZE 4 - FIN 15. Goals: CZE 1 - FIN 0. And the Czech goal was, of course, a power-play goal.

Jan-02-18		Penguincw: Welp, there busts both our brackets. But of course, the only game that matters is SWE-USA, but you know, that's assuming they get to face each other. Looking at our brackets, you already set yourself up with an advantage by riding Sweden to the finals. The Americans are the favourites, but no guarantee to get by the Russians. Tough loss for Finland. I thought they had many chances in OT. They fire off a lot of shots, but you know, in OT, it only needs to go in once. FIN nearly went on the PK. CZE did ice the puck once, but the FIN goalie cut it off before it could be so. 2 rushes later, one of the Czech players was down on the ice, but no penalty called. That could've changed the momentum, but I'm probably trying to squeeze water from a stone. As for the shootout, FIN nearly pulled it off, but 2 nice moves from the Czechs in earlier rounds was too much. Well there goes the even year magic.

Jan-02-18		SwitchingQuylthulg: This year's team was very Finnish. A basically good team that somehow always finds a way to lose respectably; and the hardest thing in hockey is winning a won game.

Jan-02-18		Golden Executive: Better late than never. Happy New Year to you too <Penguincw>!

Jan-02-18		Check It Out: <Penguincw> Happy new year, love your CG contributions!

Jan-03-18		Penguincw: Thanks <Golden Executive> and <Check It Out>. Happy New Year to you guys.

Jan-03-18		Penguincw: As for hockey, the 4 seeds did put up some fight. Canada cruised easily, but should they have even allowed 2 goals? Meanwhile, Sweden only got by Slovakia by a score of 3-2. Shocking! The Americans did beat the Russians, 4-2. DEN beat BLR in Game 1. We're both 3/4. SWE-USA game will decide all, for us.

Jan-04-18		Check It Out: Hockey, eh? Is that the northern version of futbol?

Jan-04-18		OhioChessFan: <How cold is it in Canada right now? Too cold for even penguins, apparently. The frigid temperatures in Alberta this weekend forced keepers at the Calgary Zoo to bring their resident king penguins inside on multiple occasions.> https://www.aol.com/article/news/20...

Jan-04-18		tpstar: The U.S. is so cold that Democrats are keeping their hands in their own pockets. Go Canada, eh.

Jan-04-18		Penguincw: < Check It Out: Hockey, eh? Is that the northern version of futbol? > Funny, just the other day I was debating with some guys whether or not hockey is essentially ice football (football as in soccer). < OhioChessFan > Yeah, it's cold. I think it might be even colder than the South Pole. I can't remember the last time I've been able to open my windows, not that I want to (this does occur several times a year). I believe Canada's capital city, Ottawa, recently passed Mongolia's Ulaanbaatar as the coldest capital city in the world. As for penguin life, well you know, us birds are designed to withstand cold weather, but the chicks are not, yet. As you can see in documentaries such as "March of the Penguins", it's very possible (and likely) that the eggshell of a chick can freeze. < tpstar: The U.S. is so cold that Democrats are keeping their hands in their own pockets. > I can tell you from personal experience, a pair of gloves is way better than hands in pockets. < Go Canada, eh. > Go Canada. You can beat the Czechs. :)

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