Saturday HiveChess S2R9 - 7th Place!
Greetings to all chess fans! I played in the round 9 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 three minute blitz with an option to go on "berserk". Going berserk will give you half the time (one and a half minutes) but will give you an extra point if you win.
The games were as usual fun and exciting. I had won games that I lost and lost games that I ended up winning through sheer persistence. The top three places were once again taken by the usual strong players (Elo 2200+) @jaki01, IM Odnoobraz and @eniolw.
Game 1
My best game in the tournament. I had the lead early in the game and opened my opponent's King side. He tried to counterattack on the other wing but I had a mating attack that ended nicely.
The game started as a Center Counter Defense that got transposed to the French Defense. 1. e4 d5 2. e5 e6 3. d4 Ne7 4. Nf3 Ng6
This is a blitz game, h4-h5 looked tempting to play so I did inspite of not being able to castle King side. 5. h4 c6 6. h5 Qa5+
My opponent didn't want to retreat his Knight but this is a blunder and loses a piece. 7. Bd2 Qb6
Threatens the pawn on b2 and then the Rook on a1. It would easily be defended. Meanwhile my attack on the King side is stronger. 8. hxg6 Qxb2 9. Bc3 Qb6 10. Rxh7 Rg8 11. gxf7+ Kxf7 12. Ng5+ Ke7 13. Qf3 Kd8 14. Qf7 Bb4 15. Qxg8+ Kc7 16. Rxg7+
I'm already winning but I missed a mate in five. Instead of Rxg7 the quiet move Rh8 is a forced mate. 16. ...Nd7 17. Nxe6+ Kb8 18. Rxd7 Bxc3+ 19. Nxc3 Qb2 20. Kd2 Qxa1
Here I found a pretty mate in two starting with a Queen sacrifice. 21. Qxc8+ Kxc8 22. Rd8# { White wins by checkmate. } 1-0
The ending position is similar to the Arabian mate pattern where Rook and Knight deliver mate to the enemy King.
Thanks to @sam.chess @samostically for hosting and congratulations to the winners!
Tournament link: https://lichess.org/tournament/g8HTbvrN
Playing chess is great for the mind but let's not forget about physical activities. I recently committed to exercise and to keep me motivated, I joined actifit.io
