Saturday HiveChess - 8th Place!
Greetings to all chess fans! I played in the round 8 of Hivechess Season 2. It's a weekly chess Arena blitz tournament which run for over an hour. It starts at eleven pm our time and ends at midnight. The time control for this round was four minute blitz with an option to go on "berserk". Going berserk will give you half the time (two minutes) but will give you an extra point if you win.
The pairings were brutal this time and gave me tough opponents. I played IM Odnoobraz, @jaki01 twice and @southgamer thrice. I survived some tough games while cruised to others against lower rated opponents. Overall the tournament was challenging but fun.
My first of three games against southgamer was from a London System, an opening I'm familiar with. I had the advantage in time after my opponent played berserk. We reached the below position that was drawish but with my time advantage, I shouldn't lose unless I blunder terribly. My Knight was better placed and I had pressure on the e file.
After some moves I won the pawn on f4. Black can't recapture because of Qxe1+ followed by Qxc3. I still had a minute on the clock advantage and soon converted this position to a win.
After last week's loss, I was paired against samostically again. He also played berserk against me in this game. We castled on opposite sides but his King's position was loose. I offered my b2 pawn but will open his King to attack.
He declined and proceeded with c5. I answered with b4 to open some lines.
Exchanges followed and the c file was opened. I had an enduring attack while my own King is safe. I also had the advantage in time so I just have to convert this position to a win.
Soon my opponent blundered and allowed my Queen to penetrate on the seventh rank. Mate will soon follow.
Thanks to @sam.chess @samostically for hosting and congratulations to the winners!
Tournament link: https://lichess.org/tournament/HlLzMwCN
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Nice games. In our second game where I won on time, you missed a mate in 2 after I rejected the queen exchange.
I miss a lot of those unfortunately. GG, it's tough to win against you. My only hope is the time odds after you berserk 😀
The time pressure can be hard for me.
Kb6 would have been interesting. Good game!