Dear chess fans,
in the 9th round of S10 we had a 2+1 Bullet arena, with again 26 participants (this season´s magic number, the third time in a row with 26 players - how likely is this?). The average rating of the players was 1735, but Bullet ratings are generally lower than Blitz ones (for most of the people at least) and as mentioned I won´t take them into consideration regarding the average ratings of the season. Welcome to 
Hive account@fjcr (FCastro17) and welcome back 
Hive account@eliaschess333 (eliaschess333).
The third time in a row we have also a new winner: This time 
Hive account@tungphong (blackswan21) was dominating the field and won with 7 points gap to the runner-up, 
Hive account@eniolw. Interestingly, the previous Bullet tournament on a Hive-Friday was in R8 of S9 - it was also won by Hive account@tungphong and Hive account@eniolw as second, so it seems they like fast playing 😃!
It was also the first win in this season by Hive account@tungphong, kind of surprising as he was so dominating the last season where he had won 6 out of 8 rounds!
The third place went to 
Hive account@sawko (ex aequo in points with Hive account@eniolw), followed by 
Hive account@kintokris (jonbellionfan) and 
Hive account@jaki01. Congratulations to All!
I was quite happy with my 6th rank (best result in this season), but also 
Hive account@petreuis and 
Hive account@schamangerbert could land in the Top 10 this time, in front of such strong players like 
Hive account@cocacolaron and 
Hive account@jesusmgl1995!
My games were full of blunders, not surprisingly.
But in Bullet this is normal, even in games with the strongest players you can see the evaluation going up and down like this:
In my game with White against Hive account@petreuis with my last move h5 I set a little trap and he fell for it. He went for the fork with Kd4 after which (can you see it?)...
https://lichess.org/KktmYk1v/white#67
Correct, with h6+ Kh8 Qf6+ Rg7 Qg7 the Black King gets suddenly mated, thanks to the Bishop who took the remaining squares from him.
Result table of Round 9:
Link to the tournament: https://lichess.org/tournament/5PVITwW0
You can watch here a stream by 
Hive account@giacomone (KingJames4), but unfortunately again uncommented with music instead. This one by 
Hive account@anomadsoul is much more instructive, but maybe you can next time also add the pricepool account 
Hive account@badge-646464 as e.g. 5% beneficiary?
Season 10: 14 Jan to 18 Mar 2022 / Ranking after 9 rounds:
| Rank | Hive name | Lichess name | Rating | Rounds played | Points | Performance |
|---|
| | | | | | |
| 1 | Hive account@sawko | CM sawkito | 2382 | 9 | 260 | 2396,9 |
| 2 | Hive account@jaki01 | jaki01 | 2366 | 9 | 235 | 2300 |
| 3 | Hive account@eniolw | eniolw | 2399 | 9 | 232 | 2292,4 |
| 4(+2) | Hive account@tungphong | blackswan21 | 2456 | 8 | 225 | 2394 |
| 5(-1) | Hive account@cocacolaron | cocacolaron | 2218 | 9 | 223 | 2230,8 |
| 6(-1) |  Hive account@samostically | ZGM_Samostically | 2193 | 9 | 220 | 2194,4 |
| 7(+1) |  Hive account@emic | emichessmaster | 2125 | 9 | 188 | 2032 |
| 8(-1) |  Hive account@vjap55 | vjap55 | 2106 | 8 | 184 | 2023,1 |
| 9(+1) | Hive account@kintokris | jonbellionfan | 2133 | 8 | 173 | 1949,3 |
| 10(-1) |  Hive account@deadleaf | realdeadleaf | 2099 | 7 | 151 | 1975,9 |
| 11 |  Hive account@stayoutoftherz | stayoutoftherz | 2029 | 8 | 151 | 2045 |
| 12 |  Hive account@franu | Tz995 | 2163 | 6 | 121 | 1996,5 |
| 13 |  Hive account@rosmarly | rosmarly | 2047 | 7 | 119 | 1976,2 |
| 14 |  Hive account@lighteye | lighteye | 1744 | 9 | 118 | 1833,4 |
| 15 | Hive account@schamangerbert | HerbyW | 1737 | 8 | 117 | 1812,1 |
| 16 |  Hive account@tony1294 | tony1294 | 2270 | 4 | 97 | 2139,5 |
| 17 |  Hive account@pereu4ivatel | pereu4uwatch | 2124 | 5 | 96 | 2121,8 |
| 18 |  Hive account@rodrook | rodrook | 1448 | 9 | 83 | 1613,8 |
| 19(+3) | Hive account@jesusmgl1995 | jesusmgl1995 | 2160 | 4 | 80 | 2171,7 |
| 20(+1) | Hive account@giacomone | KingJames4 | 1572 | 7 | 74 | 1655 |
| 21(-1) |  Hive account@rafaelaquino | ajedrezclub2t | 1798 | 7 | 70 | 1804,5 |
| 22(-3) |  Hive account@stranger27 | stranger27 | 1784 | 6 | 69 | 1773,7 |
| 23(+3) |  Hive account@agreste | agreste | 1733 | 6 | 67 | 1635,6 |
| 24(-1) |  Hive account@perzp | WFM perzp | 2211 | 3 | 63 | 2040,7 |
| 25(+5) |  Hive account@petreius | petreius | 2017 | 4 | 63 | 1898,3 |
| 26(-2) |  Hive account@pamboy27 | pamboy27 | 2114 | 4 | 60 | 1786,3 |
| 27 | @bOs | Da_k1ng | 1309 | 7 | 60 | 1620,2 |
| 28(-3) |  Hive account@wildthougts | Wildthougts | 2254 | 2 | 58 | 2095,5 |
| 29(-1) |  Hive account@kreur | Kreur | 2063 | 3 | 52 | 1942,3 |
| 30(-1) |  Hive account@fiona777 | fiona777 | 1476 | 6 | 52 | 1570,2 |
| 31 | Hive account@anomadsoul | anomadsoul | 1364 | 8 | 47 | 1475,4 |
| 32(+3) |  Hive account@nftland1989 | CHeSsdieGOst | 1062 | 7 | 34 | 1344,3 |
| 33(-1) |  Hive account@zincheck | ZinCheck | 2082 | 3 | 33 | 1835,3 |
| 34(-1) |  Hive account@vasigo | vasigo | 1171 | 7 | 33 | 1322,1 |
| 35(-1) |  Hive account@lucianosky | Pavarotty | 2207 | 2 | 30 | 2012 |
| 36(+1) |  Hive account@sammy00 | migmag | 1543 | 3 | 27 | 1630 |
| 37(+7) |  Hive account@astrolabio | astrolabiochess | 1061 | 4 | 27 | 1430,7 |
| 38(-2) |  Hive account@anadello | mandeo | 2309 | 1 | 26 | 2369 |
| 39(-1) |  Hive account@ropavejero | ropavejero | 1910 | 3 | 24 | 1950,3 |
| 40 |  Hive account@maciejficek | XM9000 | 1475 | 6 | 23 | 1486,6 |
| 41(-2) | @? | ruzgar2000 | 2009 | 1 | 21 | 2046 |
| 42(-1) |  Hive account@maverieux000 | Keylix | 2043 | 1 | 20 | 2177 |
| 43(-1) |  Hive account@syndmitrij | Syndmitrij83 | 1344 | 4 | 19 | 1407,5 |
| 44(-1) |  Hive account@levitant | levitant | 1917 | 1 | 18 | 2127 |
| 45 |  Hive account@schnitte | Schnittlauchlogge | 1587 | 2 | 16 | 1681 |
| 46 |  Hive account@alexmag1988 | alexmag1988 | 1136 | 3 | 16 | 1411,7 |
| 47(new) | Hive account@eliaschess333 | eliaschess333 | 1771 | 1 | 14 | 1727 |
| 48(-1) |  Hive account@ibizaki | JasonRoig | 2109 | 1 | 13 | 2131 |
| 49(-1) |  Hive account@thedoc07 | TheDoc07 | 1113 | 5 | 11 | 1249,8 |
| 50(-1) |  Hive account@mrsarri | Freeman21 | 1690 | 2 | 10 | 1906,5 |
| 51(-1) |  Hive account@pravesh0 | pravesh007 | 1661 | 1 | 9 | 1538 |
| 52(new) | Hive account@fjcr | FCastro17 | 1751 | 1 | 5 | 1894 |
| 53(-2) |  Hive account@salomijale | summisimeon | 1211 | 1 | 5 | 1565 |
| 54(-2) |  Hive account@vaipraonde | vaipraonde | 1322 | 1 | 5 | 1367 |
| 55(-2) |  Hive account@therealflaws | sayhitothecamera | 1874 | 1 | 1 | 1520 |
The rules you can look up in the S10 announcement post.
With just one round to go Hive account@sawko seems the quite sure winner with 25 points lead - if he doesn´t miss out in the last round. Hive account@jaki01 could defend the second place in front of Hive account@eniolw as third and thanks to his win today Hive account@tungphong (blackswan21) is now fourth, despite having played one round less.
See you all next week for the big final of S10 - and as always: keep practicing!
