Dear Chess fans,
the two final rounds of season 9 were played yesterday, with 19 and 18 players and an average rating of 1852 (bullet rating) and 1932, respectively.
Let´s look first at the 2+1 bullet tournament. It seems some have missed, that the start time was 1 hour earlier, and so a few players had less than the required 3 games to be counted as participants.
The winner was 
Hive account@tungphong (blackswan21) - his 6th win in this season! Despite the short time, he berserked most of his games and could keep his chasers, 
Hive account@eniolw (2nd) and 
Hive account@samostically (3rd), 3 points behind. With a larger gap the usual suspects followed, 
Hive account@pamboy27 and 
Hive account@jaki01. Of note, 
Hive account@schamangerbert (HerbyW) could make it in the Top 8, amidst players with several 100 more points rating. Congratulations to All!
Link to the tournament: https://lichess.org/tournament/k9o3JvlE
After a small break the final 9th round was a 5+1 Swiss mode tournament:
Hive account@eniolw ended up as undefeated winner with 6,5/7 points and a record-breaking performance of 2673! Hive account@tungphong (blackswan21) was 2nd, followed by Hive account@samostically. Congratulations!
In the game between Hive account@eniolw (White pieces) and Hive account@tungphong, White has already a significant advantage with the dominance on the c-file and the much better placed pieces.
But on top of this, after ...f4? White could trap Black´s queen with Nd3 and after Qd2 Rc2 Black lost material (Qb3 instead would not have helped due to Ra3).
Link to the tournament: https://lichess.org/swiss/WU3Arhor
Hive account@samostically streamed the event here!
So the final standing is as follows:
Season 9: 29 Oct to 17 Dec 2021 / Final Ranking:
| Rank | Hive name | Lichess name | Rating | Rounds played | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | Total | Performance |
|---|
| | average rating | | | 1882 | 1892 | 1911 | 1914 | 1843 | 1903 | 1957 | (1852) | 1932 | | |
| | players | | | 23 | 23 | 30 | 28 | 26 | 28 | 26 | 19 | 18 | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Winner | Hive account@tungphong | blackswan21 | 2476 | 9 | 22 | 23 | 29 | 28 | 26 | 28 | 22 | 19 | 17 | 214 | 2424,5 |
| 2nd(+2) | Hive account@eniolw | eniolw | 2444 | 8 | 23 | | 30 | 25 | 23 | 25 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 182 | 2442,7 |
| 3rd(-1) | Hive account@jaki01 | jaki01 | 2404 | 9 | 20 | 19 | 22 | 27 | 25 | 21 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 179 | 2265,3 |
| 4(+1) | Hive account@samostically | ZGM_Samostically | 2327 | 9 | 18 | 21 | 27 | 18 | 24 | 19 | 14 | 17 | 16 | 174 | 2190,4 |
| 5(-2) | Hive account@pamboy27 | pamboy27 | 2222 | 8 | 15 | 22 | 24 | 22 | 22 | 27 | 18 | 16 | | 166 | 2115,9 |
| 6 |  Hive account@stayoutoftherz | stayoutoftherz | 2048 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 26 | 21 | 17 | 17 | 28 | 13 | 13 | 162 | 2096,4 |
| 7 |  Hive account@kintokris | jonbellionfan | 2109 | 9 | 21 | 17 | 14 | 24 | 19 | 18 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 143 | 2027,3 |
| 8(+2) |  Hive account@pereu4ivatel | pereu4uwatch | 2170 | 9 | 16 | 7 | 19 | 6 | 18 | 20 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 111 | 2177,1 |
| 9(+3) | Hive account@schamangerbert | HerbyW | 1787 | 8 | | 13 | 11 | 15 | 13 | 10 | 22 | 12 | 9 | 105 | 1759,7 |
| 10(-2) |  Hive account@vjap55 | vjap55 | 2111 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 28 | 26 | | 11 | 1 | | | 100 | 2047,7 |
| 11(-2) |  Hive account@rosmarly | rosmarly | 2059 | 6 | | 18 | 20 | 14 | 20 | 4 | 24 | | | 100 | 1872,2 |
| 12(-1) |  Hive account@emic | emichessmaster | 2145 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 23 | 20 | 16 | | | | | 86 | 2155,8 |
| 13(+1) |  Hive account@lighteye | lighteye | 1769 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 9 | 13 | 20 | 8 | 5 | 82 | 1669,8 |
| 14(+5) |  Hive account@petreius | petreius | 1969 | 7 | 13 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 10 | | | 9 | 11 | 75 | 1859,2 |
| 15(-2) |  Hive account@zacherybinx | sirtetris | 2101 | 3 | | | 21 | 23 | | | 30 | | | 74 | 2009,7 |
| 16(-1) |  Hive account@eliaschess333 | eliaschess333 | 1867 | 6 | | | 18 | | 21 | 15 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 72 | 1876,6 |
| 17(-1) |  Hive account@zincheck | ZinCheck | 2155 | 6 | 17 | 9 | 15 | 7 | 15 | | | 6 | | 69 | 2084,2 |
| 18(-1) |  Hive account@rodrook | rodrook | 1603 | 9 | 2 | 12 | 13 | 9 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 68 | 1726,9 |
| 19(+3) |  Hive account@kreur | Kreur | 2116 | 4 | | | 10 | 19 | | 22 | | | 12 | 63 | 2047,8 |
| 20(-2) |  Hive account@tony1294 | Tony1294 | 2300 | 3 | | | 25 | | | 24 | 12 | | | 61 | 2334,7 |
| 21(+7) |  Hive account@deadleaf | realdeadleaf | 2139 | 4 | | | | | | 26 | 10 | 14 | 8 | 58 | 2084,3 |
| 22(-1) |  Hive account@maciejficek | XM9000 | 1542 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 7 | 2 | 18 | 4 | | 58 | 1490,1 |
| 23(-3) |  Hive account@agreste | agreste | 1672 | 5 | 10 | | 9 | 17 | 12 | 6 | | | | 54 | 1719,4 |
| 24 |  Hive account@sammy00 | migmag | 1541 | 5 | | | 2 | 8 | | 12 | 26 | | 6 | 54 | 1607,4 |
| 25 |  Hive account@b0s | Da_k1ng | 1308 | 8 | 4 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 3 | | 10 | 51 | 1592,01 |
| 26(-3) |  Hive account@franu | Tz995 | 2119 | 3 | | 14 | | 13 | | 23 | | | | 50 | 2123,7 |
| 27(-1) |  Hive account@burnoutawesome | burnoutawesomehive | 2201 | 4 | | 10 | 17 | 10 | | | | | 4 | 41 | 1907,8 |
| 28(-1) |  Hive account@giacomone | KingJames4 | 1597 | 5 | | 4 | 3 | | 11 | 3 | 16 | | | 37 | 1520,6 |
| 29 |  Hive account@rafaelaquino | ajedrezclub2t | 1816 | 3 | | | | | 8 | 14 | 12 | | | 34 | 1760,7 |
| 30 |  Hive account@sawko | CM sawkito | 2366 | 3 | 19 | 6 | 8 | | | | | | | 33 | 2019,7 |
| 31 |  Hive account@vasigo | vasigo | 1170 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 33 | 1420,5 |
| 32 |  Hive account@walner | walner03 | 1832 | 2 | | | 16 | | | 5 | | | | 21 | 1820,5 |
| 33 |  Hive account@kharrazi | kharrazi | 1254 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 6 | | 2 | | | 20 | 1383 |
| 34 |  Hive account@manncpt | Toful | 1245 | 3 | 6 | | | | 5 | 8 | | | | 19 | 1569,7 |
| 35(+3) |  Hive account@wildthougts | Wildthougts | 2224 | 2 | | | | | | | 6 | 5 | | 11 | 2122 |
| 36(-1) |  Hive account@anomadsoul | anomadsoul | 1308 | 3 | | | | 3 | 4 | | 4 | | | 11 | 1460 |
| 37(-1) |  Hive account@maverieux000 | Keylix | 2074 | 2 | 8 | | | 2 | | | | | | 10 | 1658,5 |
| 38(new) | @? | Emerald09551 | 1864 | 1 | | | | | | | | 7 | | 7 | 1852 |
| 39(-1) |  Hive account@pirex | karik10 | 1457 | 1 | 7 | | | | | | | | | 7 | 1671 |
| 40(-1) |  Hive account@schmidi | schmidii | 827? | 2 | | | | | 1 | 1 | | | | 2 | 1158,5 |
The bullet round 8 was not considered for the performance calculations
The rules you can look up in the announcement post.
As expected, Hive account@tungphong (blackswan21) was the clear dominator of this season with 6/9 wins and the by fast most consistent performance.
Hive account@eniolw (who had won the 3 remaining rounds) ended up as second, despite having played one round less than the others! In a heartbeat finish, he was able to overtake both Hive account@jaki01 and Hive account@pamboy27 (who missed the last round). The four times title winner Hive account@jaki01 had again to settle for 3rd place.
Rank 4 went to Hive account@samostically, followed by Hive account@pamboy27 as 5th.
Congratulations to the winner and all participants!
Special prices
Hive account@eniolw won the special price of highest overall performance with 2442,7 (slightly ahead of Hive account@tungphong with 2424,5). Impressive!
Hive account@b0s (Da_k1ng) won the special price of highest performance in relation to the own rating with a difference of 364,6 ahead of Hive account@vasigo with 301,5. Congratulations!
Both will get 10 Hive on top of their regular price. As always, the prices will be transferred in one week, after the payout of this post.
Winner trophy
This is the unique NFT trophy I have created.
It was already sent to Hive account@tungphong, you can view it only here at nftshowroom.com.
Season stats
The average tournament rating of season 9 was 1904 (slightly below the 1942 of S8).
In each round we had on average app. 25 players - again higher compared to the previous seasons!
Another record: 40 players made it this times in the rankings, many for the first time! Only 6 didn´t participate 3 times (or have no Hive username), so 34 players will get prices (last season 18)! 14 players participated at least in 8 rounds. It is really great to see, that we have not only more players, but also more regular playing ones!
Thank you all for your participation & engagement (and the upvotes)!
And thanks to the other posters for streaming, tournament reports and advertising this event in your blogs!
There will be a break in the next weeks, but in January 2022 we will go full steam ahead with season 10! Stay tuned, practice and have a great Christmas break, if applicable!
Our previous Champions:
Winner of Season 8 was Hive account@sawko
Winner of Season 7 was Hive account@jaki01
Winner of Season 6 was Hive account@sawko
Winner of Season 5 was Hive account@sawko
Winner of Season 4 was Hive account@sawko
Winner of Season 3 was Hive account@jaki01
Winner of Season 2 was Hive account@jaki01
Winner of Season 1 was Hive account@jaki01
