Saturday HiveChess Tournament - Birthday Edition 🎂♟️
Greeting Hiveans and Chess Community
First, Happy Birthday to one of the Hive users that significantly contribute to the growth of the ecosystem, especially through Chess. Happy Birthday
Yesterday, the usual Saturday Chess Tournament Theme was adjusted a bit to feature the special birthday. The prizes were also quite different, the second and sixth winner got special prizes to mark 
The algorithm paired I and Birthday boy. I won by a narrow opening. I'll be analyzing the game and also another match from the tournament yesterday.
Final Leaderboard
Here's how the final leaderboard looked:
| Position | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | eniolw | 44 |
| 🥈 | IM Odnoobraz | 38 |
| 🥉 | Lavidacontinua123 🤡 | 33 |
Game Highlights and In-Depth Analysis
Round Fixtures:
♜ JUST_OLA VS SAMOSTICALLY
White beserked and opened with the Philidor Defense: Morphy Gambit. The game kicked of rapidly and development of pieces was both players target. Honestly, I made a lot of blunders in this game, especially at move 20 where I failed to capture my opponents bishop and also at move 27 where I lost my rook. However, what helped keep my afloat was my opponents time constraint and his blunder at move 38 where he lost his rook in an attempt to beat the time. This advantage led to Black winning and the game came to an end. Overall both players played incredibly well. 🚀
[Event "HiveChess S2R15 Arena"] [Site "https://lichess.org/bkTrscCh"] [Date "2026.05.02"] [Round "-"] [White "ZGM_Samostically"] [Black "Just_ola"] [Result "0-1"] [GameId "bkTrscCh"] [UTCDate "2026.05.02"] [UTCTime "15:26:07"] [WhiteElo "2165"] [BlackElo "1772"] [WhiteRatingDiff "-11"] [BlackRatingDiff "+12"] [WhiteBerserk "true"] [Variant "Standard"] [TimeControl "180+0"] [ECO "C41"] [Opening "Philidor Defense: Morphy Gambit"] [Termination "Normal"]
- e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 h6 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bg4 7. f3 Bd7 8. Be3 c5 9. Ndb5 Bxb5 10. Nxb5 a6 11. Nc3 b5 12. Bd5 Ra7 13. Qe2 b4 14. Nd1 Qa5 15. O-O Nbd7 16. Bc4 Nb6 17. f4 Be7 18. e5 Ne4 19. exd6 Nxd6 20. Bd3 c4 21. Bxb6 cxd3 22. Bxa5 dxe2 23. Re1 exd1=Q 24. Raxd1 O-O 25. Bxb4 Rd8 26. Rxe7 Rxe7 27. Rxd6 Re4 28. Rxd8+ Kh7 29. Bc3 Rxf4 30. Rd7 g6 31. g3 Rf5 32. Rd8 g5 33. g4 Rf4 34. Rh8+ Kg6 35. Rg8+ Kh7 36. Rg7+ Kh8 37. Rxg5+ f6 38. Rg7 Kxg7 39. Kg2 Rxg4+ 40. Kf3 Rg5 41. h4 Rf5+ 42. Ke4 Rb5 0-1
♜ LAVIDACONTINUA123 🤡 VS JAKI01
Don't be deceived by the clown emoji in LAVIDACONTINUA123 🤡 username, he didn't come to joke at all, he was on fire 🔥. I didn't get to play with him but I looked at his points and it seemed quite high. 
[Event "HiveChess S2R15 Arena"] [Site "https://lichess.org/Rm3lwagG"] [Date "2026.05.02"] [Round "-"] [White "Lavidacontinua123"] [Black "jaki01"] [Result "1-0"] [GameId "Rm3lwagG"] [UTCDate "2026.05.02"] [UTCTime "15:55:44"] [WhiteElo "2237"] [BlackElo "2321"] [WhiteRatingDiff "+7"] [BlackRatingDiff "-7"] [Variant "Standard"] [TimeControl "180+0"] [ECO "B00"] [Opening "Nimzowitsch Defense"] [Termination "Time forfeit"]
- e4 Nc6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 dxe4 4. Bxe4 Nf6 5. Bg2 Bg4 6. Ne2 Nd4 7. Nbc3 Nf3+ 8. Kf1 Nd4 9. h3 Bf5 10. d3 e5 11. Bxb7 Bc5 12. Be3 O-O 13. Na4 Be7 14. Bxd4 exd4 15. Bxa8 Qxa8 16. Rh2 Re8 17. b3 c5 18. Nb2 Nd7 19. Nc4 Nb6 20. Ng1 Be6 21. Qh5 g6 22. Qh6 Nd5 23. Re1 Qd8 24. Nf3 Nb4 25. Re2 Bd5 26. Qf4 Bxf3 27. Qxf3 Nxa2 28. Kg2 Nc3 29. Re5 Bf8 30. Rh1 Rxe5 31. Nxe5 Qc7 32. Re1 Bg7 33. Nc4 h5 34. Re8+ Kh7 35. Ra8 Qd7 36. Na5 h4 37. Qb7 Qe6 38. Qc8 Qf6 39. Nc6 hxg3 40. fxg3 Qg5 41. Ne7 Qxe7 42. Qg8+ Kh6 43. Re8 Qg5 44. Qxf7 Qd2+ 45. Qf2 Qxf2+ 46. Kxf2 Nd1+ 47. Kf3 Ne3 48. g4 Bf6 49. h4 Bg5 50. hxg5+ Kxg5 51. Re5+ Kf6 52. Rxc5 Nxc2 53. Rc6+ 1-0
Final Thoughts
Overall, the Saturday HiveChess S2R15 Tournament was dope 🔥, it was filled with sharp tactics from the competitors. I really enjoyed battling with these skilled players and I appreciate the opportunity to learn from every game, win or lose. A huge thank you again to
Which game did you find most interesting, and what lessons did you take away from these battles? Share your thoughts below!
Closing
Thank you all for tuning in and for your continuous support. I look forward to the next round. See you all at the Friday HiveChess S22R5 organized by 
| Event Detail | Details |
|---|---|
| Game | Chess |
| Community | Chess Community |
| Host | |
| Event Name | Saturday HiveChess S2R15 Arena |
| Markdown Tool Used | Hive Studio |
