Dear Chess fans,
the second round of Season 9 was a 4+1 Blitz arena with again 23 players - actually more, but a few players (including 
Hive account@rafaelaquino (ajedrezclub2t)) had 0 or less than 3 games and thus were not counted! The average rating was 1892, slightly higher than in round 1! And again we could welcome two new players, 
Hive account@giacomone (KingJames4) and 
Hive account@franu (Tz995) - the latter one formerly known as "aztecx" from old Steemchess times!
Hive account@samostically and Hive account@giacomone (KingJames4) streamed the tournament. Check out their videos here and here!
Yesterday was finally time for a new winner (in the Friday series): 
Hive account@tungphong (blackswan21) didn´t lose a single game and won with a huge lead. Since 
Hive account@eniolw didn´t show up and 
Hive account@sawko could play only a few games, he had no equal opponent. Runner up was 
Hive account@pamboy27, follwed by Hive account@samostically as 3rd. Also 
Hive account@vjap55 had, after a few rather unlucky rounds, this time a good 4th place. Congrats to All!
Fortunately I played much better than last time. Despite my opponents had an average rating of 2065, I lost only 3 games and had a - for me - unusual performance of 2214. To land in the Top 10 is nowadays with this many strong players already an achievement!
The games of this round can be found here.
Season 9: 29 Oct to 17 Dec 2021 / Ranking after 2 rounds:
| Rank | Hive name | Lichess name | Rating | Rounds played | R1 | R2 | Total | Performance |
|---|
| | average rating | | | 1882 | 1892 | | |
| | players | | | 23 | 23 | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| 1(+1) | Hive account@tungphong | blackswan21 | 2466 | 2 | 22 | 23 | 45 | 2406 |
| 2(+4) | Hive account@samostically | ZGM_Samostically | 2252 | 2 | 18 | 21 | 39 | 2200,5 |
| 3(+1) |  Hive account@jaki01 | jaki01 | 2348 | 2 | 20 | 19 | 39 | 2117,5 |
| 4(-1) |  Hive account@kintokris | jonbellionfan | 2041 | 2 | 21 | 17 | 38 | 2101 |
| 5(+4) | Hive account@pamboy27 | pamboy27 | 2203 | 2 | 15 | 22 | 37 | 1872,5 |
| 6(+4) | Hive account@vjap55 | vjap55 | 2137 | 2 | 14 | 20 | 34 | 2030,5 |
| 7(+6) |  Hive account@emic | emichessmaster | 2141 | 2 | 11 | 16 | 27 | 2138,5 |
| 8(+4) |  Hive account@stayoutoftherz | stayoutoftherz | 2034 | 2 | 12 | 15 | 27 | 2000,5 |
| 9(-2) |  Hive account@zincheck | ZinCheck | 2138 | 2 | 17 | 9 | 26 | 2107,5 |
| 10(-5) | Hive account@sawko | CM sawkito | 2376 | 2 | 19 | 6 | 25 | 1980 |
| 11(-10) | Hive account@eniolw | eniolw | 2470 | 1 | 23 | | 23 | 2463 |
| 12(-4) |  Hive account@pereu4ivatel | pereu4uwatch | 2104 | 2 | 16 | 7 | 23 | 2368 |
| 13(-2) |  Hive account@petreius | petreius | 1997 | 2 | 13 | 8 | 21 | 1884 |
| 14(new) |  Hive account@rosmarly | rosmarly | 2066 | 1 | | 18 | 18 | 1899 |
| 15(+5) |  Hive account@b0s | Da_k1ng | 1200 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 1821 |
| 16(new) | Hive account@franu | Tz995 | 2142 | 1 | | 14 | 14 | 2213 |
| 17(+5) |  Hive account@rodrook | rodrook | 1417 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 1648 |
| 18(new) |  Hive account@schamangerbert | HerbyW | 1689 | 1 | | 13 | 13 | 1692 |
| 19(-5) |  Hive account@agreste | agreste | 1696 | 1 | 10 | | 10 | 1858 |
| 20(new) |  Hive account@burnoutawesome | burnoutawesomehive | 2083 | 1 | | 10 | 10 | 1709 |
| 21(-6) |  Hive account@lighteye | lighteye | 1737 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 1591,5 |
| 22(-6) |  Hive account@maverieux000 | Keylix | 2102 | 1 | 8 | | 8 | 1729 |
| 23(-6) |  Hive account@pirex | karik10 | 1457 | 1 | 7 | | 7 | 1671 |
| 24(-5) |  Hive account@kharrazi | kharrazi | 1272 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 1479 |
| 25(-7) |  Hive account@manncpt | Toful | 1256 | 1 | 6 | | 6 | 1573 |
| 26(-5) |  Hive account@vasigo | vasigo | 1092 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1544,5 |
| 27(-4) |  Hive account@maciejficek | XM9000 | 1521 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1389,5 |
| 28(new) | Hive account@giacomone | KingJames4 | 1584 | 1 | | 4 | 4 | 1466 |
The rules you can look up in the announcement post.
With a second and a first place Hive account@tungphong (blackswan21) could well-deservedly grab the lead from Hive account@eniolw who - due to his missing in round 2 - plunged to rank 11. This shows how big the impact of participation is with this new point system. Hive account@samostically, who is in a flow currently (he won the last CBL round!), could - 6 points behind - jump to rank 2, ex aequo in points with Hive account@jaki01. Also Hive account@vjap55 and 
Hive account@pamboy could gain some places due to their good performance today.
While the spots 2 to 6 are only separated by 5 points, there is then already a gap of 7 points to the other ranks. But 7 rounds to go and everything is possible still...
See you all next week!
