Yesterday, July 13, 2025, was another round of the Liga Team battle for the Blockchain Chess Team. It was not one of our best performances, but we were able to clinch a 5th-place finish out of the usual ten teams in the round. Due to 
I would say the Blockchain Chess Team is one of the oldest teams in the Lichess Liga, and in yesterday's round, we had our MVP 
A big shoutout to everyone who played for the Blockchain Team, your participation went a long way.
Now let's look at some exciting games from the event.
ManFromSpain 2272 (1) vs GM AtalikS 2606 (0)
The first game we will be looking at is the game played by The Blockchain Chess Team's Most Valuable Player, poseout87, and how he brought down a chess grandmaster. Quite impressive for the MVP.
Not your typical position you get to see often due to the opening that was played. It is not a very popular opening, but it has been played in a few games. It is the Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation. I know the opening, but the variation is something I'm just finding out about for the first time.
Ng4?
The first blunder move was made by the grandmaster. Placing a knight in the crossfire of the pawn means that it is a free piece. When I looked closely at the position, I think the idea behind this move is that after hxg4, Bxg4, and the white is pinned, but the black queen will be under attack as well from the white rook on h1.
And white missed the winning move, probably because he was concerned about the threats that might come next after he takes the free piece, forgetting that he has a counter-response as well.
Rh1?
White blunders back with Rh1, giving room for tactics on the f4 pawn, which makes it more complicated but winning for Black, as the white king will be exposed after the Kxf4.
The grandamster later swindled our MVP to get a winning position but he did not know he was playing the fastest player in Nigeria as poseout87 likes to refer to himself. Therefore he lost on time.
You can watch the game through the Game link:
Game Link
Here is the game PGN
[Event "Lichess Liga 3C Team Battle"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/FLUYtcHD"]
[Date "2025.07.13"]
[White "ManFromSpain"]
[Black "AtalikS"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "FLUYtcHD"]
[UTCDate "2025.07.13"]
[UTCTime "19:15:07"]
[WhiteElo "2272"]
[BlackElo "2606"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+10"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-10"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "180+0"]
[ECO "B00"]
[Opening "Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Paulsen Attack"]
[Termination "Time forfeit"]
1. e4 e5 2. d4 Nc6 3. dxe5 Nxe5 4. Nf3 Nxf3+ 5. Qxf3 Qf6 6. Qg3 Bd6 7. f4 Qg6 8. Qf3 Bc5 9. Nc3 d6 10. h3 Nf6 11. Bd3 Qh5 12. g4 Qh4+ 13. Kd1 h5 14. g5 Ng4 15. Ke2 Nf2 16. Be3 Nxh3 17. Kd2 Bg4 18. Qg2 Bxe3+ 19. Kxe3 O-O-O 20. Raf1 f6 21. gxf6 gxf6 22. Nd5 Rde8 23. Rh2 c6 24. Nc3 f5 25. Rfh1 fxe4 26. Bxe4 d5 27. Rxh3 Bxh3 28. Rxh3 Qe7 29. Rg3 dxe4 30. Rg7 Qc5+ 31. Ke2 Rhg8 32. Qh3+ Kb8 33. Qd7 Rxg7 34. Qxe8+ Kc7 35. Nxe4 Qe7 36. Qxe7+ Rxe7 37. Kf3 h4 38. Ng5 Re1 39. Kg4 Rf1 40. f5 Kd6 41. Ne6 Ke5 42. Ng7 Rg1+ 43. Kxh4 Rxg7 44. f6 Kxf6 45. Kh5 Kf5 46. Kh6 Rg1 47. c3 Kf6 48. Kh5 Kf5 49. Kh6 Rg6+ 50. Kh5 c5 51. Kh4 c4 52. b4 Ra6 53. a4 Rxa4 54. b5 Rb4 55. b6 Rxb6 56. Kh5 Rb3 57. Kh6 1-0
Tenny-trigah 2305 (1/2) vs GM Saltaev 2513 (1/2)
Poseout87 was not the only one who recorded a point from a grandmaster in yesterday's Lichess Liga. International Master Tenny-trigah also gained half a point from a grandmaster in a draw, but what makes it more interesting is that Tenny berserked the GM, giving up half of his time, and the GM didn't berserk back.
A typical position from the English opening, where most play is fixated on the queenside by both players. Who gets a striking advantage, wins the game if they can convert as well.
The game got interesting from this point when Tenny-trigah grabbed a pawn, but he still has to look for how to convert such an advantage into a win, given that one of his knights is placed at the edge of the board.
The grandmaster gains his pawn back, and now the position is equal because of the equal number of pieces. This looks like a drawish position, if no player blunders.
The rooks have been taken off, and they are left with only their knights, making it easy to end in a draw. But what is impressive from white is how fast he can do all these with little to no time on his clock.
The game ended in a queen and queen ending, and tenny-trigah was fast enough to get the draw before his time finished.
You can watch the game through the Game link:
Game Link
And here is the game PGN:
[Event "Lichess Liga 3C Team Battle"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/FYLuKnoo"]
[Date "2025.07.13"]
[White "Tenny-trigah"]
[Black "Saltaev"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[GameId "FYLuKnoo"]
[UTCDate "2025.07.13"]
[UTCTime "18:44:16"]
[WhiteElo "2305"]
[BlackElo "2513"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+3"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-3"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "180+0"]
[ECO "A14"]
[Opening "English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Neo-Catalan Declined"]
[Termination "Normal"]
1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. b3 b6 7. Bb2 Bb7 8. d4 c5 9. Nc3 Nc6 10. cxd5 exd5 11. dxc5 bxc5 12. Rc1 Na5 13. Na4 c4 14. Ne5 Rc8 15. bxc4 dxc4 16. Qxd8 Rfxd8 17. Bxb7 Nxb7 18. Nxc4 Ne4 19. e3 f6 20. Bd4 Nbc5 21. Nxc5 Bxc5 22. Rfd1 Bxd4 23. exd4 Rd5 24. f3 Ng5 25. Kf2 Ne6 26. Ke3 Re8 27. Kf2 Rxd4 28. Nd6 Rxd1 29. Rxd1 Rd8 30. Rd2 Nc5 31. Nc4 Rxd2+ 32. Nxd2 Kf7 33. Ke3 Ke6 34. Kd4 Kd6 35. Ne4+ Nxe4 36. Kxe4 g6 37. h4 Kc5 38. g4 a5 39. f4 a4 40. f5 gxf5+ 41. Kxf5 Kb4 42. Kxf6 Ka3 43. g5 Kxa2 44. h5 a3 45. g6 hxg6 46. hxg6 Kb2 47. g7 a2 48. g8=Q a1=Q 49. Qb8+ Kc2+ 50. Qe5 Qa6+ 51. Qe6 Qf1+ 52. Qf5+ Qxf5+ 53. Kxf5 1/2-1/2
That is a wrap for this round, and see you in the next round.
I am 
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Thanks For Reading!