SuperPogChamps Day 1: Samay Raina Wins Every Game; Sardoche, Wirtual Make It To Championship Bracket

Samay Raina can make you laugh, and Samay Raina can make you cry. The Indian comedian won every single game in Group B of SuperPogChamps, guaranteeing his spot in the Championship Bracket’s semifinals. Sardoche and Wirtual both made it to the upper bracket as well and will face Linda Diaz and Andrea Botez, respectively.

On the other hand, it was a terrible day for vegans and Tyler1 fans alike, as they had to watch Tyler’s Cow opening get slaughtered in almost every round. With this, Tyler moves on to the Consolation Bracket, along with Will Benson and Daryl Morey.

SuperPogChamps continues December 4 with the Quarterfinals, starting at 1 p.m. ET / 19:00 CET / 11:30 p.m. IST.

Group B Standings

Round 1: Three Sweeps, Two Unexpected

Round one of Group B started with three 2-0 sweeps. No one was surprised when top-seed Sardoche beat the lowest-rated player in the field, Daryl Morey. 

But over on the other two boards, Wirtual beat Tyler1 convincingly despite a 300-point rating gap, while Samay Raina also dominated the match against similarly-rated Will Benson. As it turns out, both Tyler’s defeat and Samay’s win would become a common theme throughout the day.

We start with the most expected result. Sardoche’s first game win came after he trapped Daryl’s queen. Sardoche then gave his opponent no chance to win in game two, securing his first match.

In what should have been a balanced fight, at least according to their ratings, Samay was on fire. The comedian took advantage of almost every tactical opportunity he had to score a 2-0 sweep.

And then we come to the first big upset of the day. Tyler1, who started the day with a 1832 rating, was to face Wirtual, then rated 1524. But even though Tyler had come a long way since his PogChamps 6 days, his love for the Cow opening was his undoing.

Twice he tried, and twice he failed. Wirtual, who was coached by the Cow creator herself, WFM Anna Cramling, punished Tyler’s opening mercilessly.

Round 1 Games

Round 2: The Dark Horse Strikes Again

In round two, Wirtual’s momentum after an impressive upset was not enough to save him from Samay, who once more won 2-0. Another defeat then followed Tyler’s tough round-one loss in round two—but at least this time it was against the higher-rated Sardoche. In the battle between two sports stars, Will came out victorious after beating Daryl twice.

At this point, no one knew how strong Samay would turn out to be. Despite a 100+ rating gap in Samay’s favor, Wirtual had just pulled off an incredible upset, so anything could happen in the match.

But Samay quickly showed he meant business, finding a tactic to win a piece in the opening, then another to win game one.

In game two, Samay punished his opponent’s mistake once more to win an important pawn, which later helped him win the endgame. Suddenly, it was clear that Samay was extremely underrated—and that he might just be the most dangerous player in Group B.

Despite two tough losses in his previous match, Tyler didn’t shy away from the Cow. He played the opening in both his games against Sardoche and, to no one’s surprise, he got a terrible position out of the opening in both. 

Nerfing yourself with a bad opening is not a good strategy in general. Doing it against the highest-rated player in the field is suicide, as Sardoche demonstrated with two convincing wins. And that’s even after Sardoche missed Tyler’s hanging piece after a “move so stupid, a 2100 doesn’t see it.”

Over on the other board, Will won a clean match against Daryl. An interesting moment came when, already down in the match after losing the first game, Daryl played the daring 11.Kd2. The move was dubbed by commentator GM Aman Hambleton “the most voluntary Kd2 on earth.”

Round 2 Games

Round 3: Samay Wins Battle Of Group B Titans

For Samay, Sardoche was the player to beat in Group B. And beat him he did, taking the sole lead of the group after a beautiful performance in round three. Wirtual had a great start to his match against Will, but saw his victory slip away after two critical blunders. As for Tyler and his Cow… Well, let’s just say Anna Cramling would not be happy about what happened.

Though Samay had had a strong showing so far, no one could have expected what would happen in round three. After Samay’s unusual Janisch Gambit, Sardoche went astray and got into a difficult position out of the opening. He then kept up with the aggression, eventually checkmating Sardoche.

One might have suspected the result was just a fluke after Sardoche’s opening mistake. But Samay proved that was not the case by playing a brilliant attacking game to sweep the match and take the sole lead in the group standings.

Coming into round three, Tyler was confident there was no fluffing way (not the exact words he used) he would lose to “the guy who has zero wins as well.” 

Spoiler alert: he did. 

Apparently, even if you’re the president of basketball operations of an NBA team, you can still find the time to learn how to beat the Cow. After winning material in game one, Daryl got his first win of the day in an 87-move game against Tyler. 

Tyler then momentarily abandoned the Cow in game two. Whether by design or by accident, his strategy panned out—the streamer got his first win of the day against Daryl. But as you’ve seen above, Daryl struck back in the tiebreaker game to take the match. 

Meanwhile, another important match was unfolding between Wirtual and Will. Things looked good for the Norwegian streamer after he won game one. But that all changed after he blundered a rook in game two, losing the game, and then a bishop in the tiebreaker, losing the match.

Round 3 Games

Round 4: Samay Reigns Now

Three sweeps marked round four, with Samay beating Tyler, Sardoche beating Will, and Wirtual beating Daryl. With these results, both Samay and Sardoche had a guaranteed spot in the Championship Bracket. The question now was who would take the last spot, Wirtual or Will?

It goes without saying that Tyler played the Cow again. He experienced a brief moment of joy after taking one of Samay’s pawns, just to realize that he was actually lost.

In game two, Samay finally faltered, blundering a full piece and, for the first time in the day, getting himself into a terrible position. But despite being Super, this is still PogChamps. Tyler found a brilliant knight sacrifice that turned out to be a game-losing mistake, throwing game two and the match. 

On board two, Sardoche recovered from his previous round loss by defeating Will 2-0. Most impressive was his second game, where Sardoche found a brilliant move to seal the deal.

So it was up to Wirtual to win his match to stay in the top three of Group B. He did so by winning both games against Daryl, who, just like in round one, saw his queen trapped in game one, and then lost game two.

Round 4 Games

Round 5: Solace For The Cow

Round five was all about who would take the last spot in the Championship Bracket. The two contenders were Wirtual, with seven points so far, and Will, with five. 

Things were not looking good for Wirtual, however, as he was about to face the group’s top seed. Will, on the other hand, would play Tyler, who had lost every game but one so far. All it took was outright match wins for Will and Sardoche for Will to leapfrog Wirtual, scoring eight points.

But to Wirtual’s content, the Cow finally prevailed. 

It all started with Tyler winning game one and taking the lead in the match for the very first time.

Will was not going down without a fight, however. The baseball star played a brilliant sacrifice to rip open Tyler’s king in game two, winning the game and taking the match to tiebreaks.

However, when Will failed to punish Tyler’s dubious opening play in the tiebreaker game, it was finally time for Tyler to shine. After a nice skewer to win a bishop, Tyler forced simplifications to win the game. The match victory reinvigorated Tyler, who’s now pumped for the Consolation Bracket.

With Will’s match loss, Wirtual already had a spot in the Championship Bracket. But this doesn’t mean that the Norwegian streamer was about to coast. Wirtual lost game one and was in a tough position in game two, being down material. Still, he created counterplay, eventually equalizing, then finding a critical check that led to mate to tie the match.

An unfortunate blunder by Wirtual allowed Sardoche to checkmate him in the tiebreaker. The painful blunder, however, did not stop Wirtual from reaching the Championship Bracket.

In the last match, Samay had to face some turbulence on his way to a win. Despite facing the group’s lowest-rated opponent, the Indian star committed his biggest blunders in the last two games of the day. Unfortunately for Daryl, he couldn’t capitalize on his opponents’ mistakes and lost both games.

With another sweep, Samay ended the day with a perfect 10/10 score, topping Group B. He later revealed the secret to his success during the post-game interview.

As the Group B leader, Samay skips the first round of the Championship Bracket. Sardoche will face Group A’s third-place finisher, Linda Diaz, while Wirtual will go up against Andrea. 

In the Consolation Bracket, Will also skips the first round. Tyler will face Sparg0, and Daryl will battle SonicFox.

Round 5 Games

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