Dear Chessfriends,
in round 9 we were 11 players, although 2 for some reasons didn´t play a single game, 
Hive account@gingerbyna (Jeanjarrgh) and a new player, AlushL (no Hive/Steem name known)! With an average rating of 1718 it was interestingly so far the lowest rated tournament in this season, after the strong ones the last time - but it didn´t felt that way (at least for me)!
Hive account@jaki01 was this time again superior and without a real competitor berserked himself through the field!
Second was 
Hive account@foxconnmars1 who didn´t lose or draw a match (but had not the strongest opponents due to coming late). Although I played quite weak this time and gave away pieces without an obvious need several times, I could gain the third spot, followed by 
Hive account@digitalis and 
Hive account@rodrook. Sixth was 
Hive account@schamangerbert (HerbyW), one point ahead of 
Hive account@pereu4ivatel(drakOnb). The remaining point went to 
Hive account@rafaelaquino (ajedrezclub2t) who was the only one who managed to beat Hive account@jaki01. Finally 
Hive account@spacetoon (alinyous) narrowly missed a point today.
The games of this round can be found here, in case you want to replay some of them.
Season 1: 03 April to 05 Jun 2020 / Standing before the final round
The winner of each round gets 8 points, the 2nd 7,... the 8th gets 1 point.
Doc-holliday, clinton210 and AlushL are not ranked until I have a Hive name of them.
After 9 of 10 rounds played not much changes, it seems quite obvious who will be the winner after the next and final round (unless I can somehow trick Hive account@jaki01 to not show up next time😗). But the third place is not too clear yet, since next week double points are given!
Hive account@foxconnmars could move up from the 17th to the 8th rank (a pity he could not participate more often), Hive account@rafaelaquino (ajedrezclub2t) could pass one player and move up from 10th to 9th spot, and Hive account@digitalis could also gain some ground (from 19 to 13).
By the way, in case two players end up with the same number of points after the 10 rounds, the one who played less rounds is first (he achieved more points per round). If both have played the same number of rounds, then the average tournament performance makes the difference. The other rules you can look up in the weekly announcement and reminder posts.
Final showdown will be next Friday. It will be a double round, starting 1h earlier! One Swiss and one Arena! Book your calendars to not miss it!
Stay tuned and see you then!
