Once again, in yet another Saturday Hivechess Tournament, I had another close but not close enough syndrome. I was close to winning the tournament, but when it came to the last game, I thought I would be able to grab the win against Jaki, but he did not give me enough time.
I finally had to settle for 2nd place in the tournament with a total of 30 points, and Odnoobraz_bcm finished in 1st place. The event was challenging as well, which is why I came in second place. It is just sad because I wanted to win the tournament.
A performance of 2299, with 10 games played, 8 won, 100% berserk, and 30 points. This is a nice performance if you ask me, and I am quite impressed with it.
This was the second-to-last game I played against Iamchessguy. I knew this game was going to be a must-win one for me if I wanted to solidify my standing on the ranking. At this point, I was in 1st place, but I knew if I lost this game, those behind me would overtake.
The game was balanced for a long time until I took the initiative by attacking on his kingside with my pawns, and what was next in the position was the presence of my queen. The moment the queen entered the position for me through the c1-h6 diagonal, I knew I had the edge, so I pressed on to get the win.
Watch the game through this link:
https://lichess.org/YrICBBml
This was a game against Odnoo_bcmz, the player who won the tournament, and I have to add that this is the best game I played in the tournament. Through countless times that I have played this player, I know they like to play something like a reversed pirc with the white pieces, or in general, something unorthodox with the opening. So I played the Pirc defense, a line I have found interesting to play for recent times, and it has been working marvelously well for me.
At the point in the position above, I have gone down an exchange for a precise attack on the white king, and thankfully, it paid off. The white queen has blocked her king from my black queen's check, and it drops a piece for white, and that is the knight on e3. After the knight dropped, it was not hard anymore to finish up the position as the white king would become more exposed to my attacks, and more pieces would drop for white.
Watch the game with the link below:
https://lichess.org/YrICBBml
I did not win this one, but hopefully I will in the next edition.