Hi chessfans,
yesterday rounds 17 to 21 (of 26) of the HCT were played, and unfortunately 
Hive account@deadleaf and 
Hive account@anomadsoul were completely absent, so all their games were forfeited. Let´s go straight into the results:
Results
*indicates a missed game
Player of the day was definitely 
Hive account@vjap55 who scored 4,5 out of 5 despite having tough opponents. He defeated 
Hive account@eniolw again and drew against 
Hive account@sawko! Well done!
In this interesting game of Hive account@vjap55 (with Black) against Hive account@eniolw, the last move of White (Qh6+) was in fact a mistake and White is surprisingly completely lost already. So much to "a check is always good"! White can´t avoid Ke8-d7 and being pushed back by Rh8. The black Knight aims for f4 - a deadly threat, in combo with the Bishop on d4 and the Rook on the h-file. The white Queen has no fields anymore without losing material.
Check out the game here: https://lichess.org/gje4N7pB/black#57
Other rather surprising results included my draw against Hive account@eniolw. After having lost a quality I (with White) somehow was able to survive this position, there is no direct way to win here for Black:
https://lichess.org/FrwTZrrL/white#97
After a lot of maneuvering and managing to activate his king (I failed to prevent this) Hive account@eniolw finally found a way to give back the quality at the right moment (at a cost of thinking time), but in this position in time scramble he didn´t find the correct way to continue, but took my pawn with Rc3x? (with Kc3x?? he would have lost immediately due to Rc1+), after which I with Ra4 could eliminate his last pawn on the Queenside and rescue the draw.
Black to move an win:
https://lichess.org/FrwTZrrL/white#131
The cross-table:
Standings
After 21 rounds Hive account@eniolw is still leading with 16,5/19 points, but Hive account@vjap55 is now second with 16,5/20. He overtook Hive account@sawko who is now 3rd with 15,5 out of 19.
All three have still chances to win the tournament, whereby Hive account@eniolw could end up maximally with 21,5 points - more than the others, but he has to face the more difficult pairings. Probably it will come down to the result of the return match between Hive account@eniolw and Hive account@sawko.
Never has a Hivechess (Friday) season been that close like this one. Will we see a new champion?
Ranking before the final day:
Stay tuned for the final showdown next Friday!
