I Got First Place in the Friday Hive Chess Tournament (Challengers)
Greeting Hiveans and Chess Community
Yesterday was round 2 of the Friday Hive Chess Tournament and it was superb. I finished with the First place 🥇 in the Challengers tournament.
It was exciting having to win First place for the first time, lol. Before the split into challengers and Masters, it was mostly players rated +2000 that dominated the board. The split gave the rest of us the opportunity to shine ✨.
Final Leaderboard
Here's how the final leaderboard looked:
| Position | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | Just_ola | 29 |
| 🥈 | Ohieku | 20 |
| 🥉 | Migmag | 18 |
Game Highlights and In-Depth Analysis
Round Fixtures:
♜ JUST_OLA VS ODIC30
My First win was against ODIC30. Last round, he beat me a couple of times so I decided to play more meticulously this round. White opened with the Scandnavian defense and we began to develop our pieces. An opportunity presented itself at move 21 and I took it. Whites King was too exposed so I leveraged that to orchestrate a checkmate, I used my Queen and bishop to trap Whites King, checkmate became inevitable and then White resigned which made me win the match.
[Event "Hivechess S22 R2 Challengers Arena"] [Site "https://lichess.org/ogDr0Lyd"] [Date "2026.04.17"] [Round "-"] [White "odic3o"] [Black "Just_ola"] [Result "0-1"] [GameId "ogDr0Lyd"] [UTCDate "2026.04.17"] [UTCTime "19:00:11"] [WhiteElo "1740"] [BlackElo "1762"] [WhiteRatingDiff "-6"] [BlackRatingDiff "+6"] [Variant "Standard"] [TimeControl "180+2"] [ECO "B01"] [Opening "Scandinavian Defense"] [Termination "Normal"]
- e4 d5 2. e5 e6 3. f4 Ne7 4. Nf3 Nd7 5. d4 Nb6 6. c3 Bd7 7. Bd3 Ba4 8. b3 Bd7 9. O-O Rc8 10. Ng5 Nf5 11. g4 h6 12. Nxf7 Kxf7 13. gxf5 exf5 14. e6+ Bxe6 15. Qe2 c5 16. Re1 Qf6 17. Na3 cxd4 18. Nb5 dxc3 19. Ba3 d4 20. Nd6+ Bxd6 21. Bxd6 Qg6+ 22. Kh1 Bd5+ 0-1
♜ MIXZYRAGNAL VS LIGHTEYE
MIXZYRAGNAL was on fire today, I won't lie. He even won a match against me. He had a performance of 2033. The only game he lost yesterday was against LIGHTEYE. I looked at the game and what I could say contributed to his defeat was castling too early. White had already dominated the centre so he should have waited to castle in the safer side and also at the right time.
[Event "Hivechess S22 R2 Challengers Arena"] [Site "https://lichess.org/4cqM4a7H"] [Date "2026.04.17"] [Round "-"] [White "lighteye"] [Black "MixzyRagnal"] [Result "1-0"] [GameId "4cqM4a7H"] [UTCDate "2026.04.17"] [UTCTime "19:28:25"] [WhiteElo "1684"] [BlackElo "1716"] [WhiteRatingDiff "+6"] [BlackRatingDiff "-6"] [Variant "Standard"] [TimeControl "180+2"] [ECO "D35"] [Opening "Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack"] [Termination "Normal"]
- d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bf4 a6 5. e3 Bd6 6. Bg3 Bxg3 7. hxg3 Nc6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bd3 h6 10. Nf3 Bg4 11. a3 Qe7 12. O-O g5 13. Qc2 Bxf3 14. gxf3 h5 15. Kg2 O-O-O 16. Bf5+ Kb8 17. b4 b5 18. Nxb5 Nxb4 19. axb4 axb5 20. Qa2 c6 21. Qa8+ Kc7 22. Qa7+ Kd6 23. Qc5+ 1-0
Final Thoughts
Overall, the Friday HiveChess S22R2 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 tofor consistently hosting these engaging tournaments for the community!
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 Saturday HiveChess S2R13 Arena organized by 
| Event Detail | Details |
|---|---|
| Game | Chess |
| Community | Chess Community |
| Host | |
| Event Name | Friday HiveChess Tournament S22R2 |
| Markdown Tool Used | Hive Studio |
