Dear chess fans,
today the semifinals of S14 were played. These were the results:
The better rated players could win their matches relatively easily. At least, 
Hive account@emic could get 2 draws against the IM! That is quite an achievement!
In my first game I had even a winning position, but I screwed it up completely and later lost even a drawn rook endgame!
Congratulations to the winners!
So next week the Final will be played and the match for the 3rd place:
Simultanously round 8 was played, as a 4+2 arena tournament with 14 registered players (actually 13 but for 
Hive account@primersion I made an exception, at this late timepoint it would be unfair to request a registration fee from him as he - according to the rules - doesn´t qualify for a price (the minimum is 4 rounds played). Welcome to Hivechess, Hive account@primersion!
Hive account@eniolw was a class on his own and he could win the tournament with 17 points lead to runner-up 
Hive account@samostically! 
Hive account@rodrook was third (in what must have been one of his best results ever!), followed by 
Hive account@nikoszzz as fourth and 
Hive account@schamangerbert as fifth.
Congratulations!
Result table:
Link to the tournament: https://lichess.org/tournament/q9VTTNzd
Season 14: 02 Dec to 27 Jan 2023 / Ranking before the final round:
| Rank | Hive name | Lichess name | Rating | Rounds played | Points | Performance |
|---|
| | | | | | |
| ? |  Hive account@maestroask | Odnoobraz_bcm | 2606 |
| ? |  Hive account@fcastro177 | FCastro17 | 2117 |
| ? | Hive account@emic | emichessmaster | 2161 |
| ? |  Hive account@stayoutoftherz | stayoutoftherz | 2028 |
| 5 |  Hive account@rosmarly | rosmarly | 2048 |
| 6 |  Hive account@lucianosky | Pavarotty | 2323 |
| 7 |  Hive account@lighteye | lighteye | 1717 |
| 8 |  Hive account@stranger27 | stranger27 | 1610 |
|
|
| 9(+1) | Hive account@rodrook | rodrook | 1507 | 8 | 70 | 1591,5 |
| 10(+3) |  Hive account@agreste | agreste | 1687 | 6 | 61 | 1731,3 |
| 11(-2) |  Hive account@vjap55 | vjap55 | 2110 | 3 | 59 | 2109,7 |
| 12(-1) |  Hive account@wildthougts | Wildthougts | 2215 | 3 | 56 | 2131,7 |
| 13(-1) |  Hive account@sawko | CM sawkito | 2353 | 3 | 55 | 2259,3 |
| 14 |  Hive account@b0s | Da_k1ng | 1561 | 6 | 55 | 1720,7 |
| 15(+3) | Hive account@eniolw | eniolw | 2364 | 3 | 54 | 2188 |
| 16(+1) | Hive account@schamangerbert | HerbyW | 1750 | 6 | 53 | 1764,3 |
| 17(-2) |  Hive account@maciejficek | XM9000 | 1449 | 8 | 51 | 1530 |
| 18(-2) |  Hive account@fiona777 | fiona777 | 1441 | 8 | 49 | 1513,8 |
| 19(+1) | Hive account@samostically | ZGM_Samostically | 2105 | 3 | 47 | 1922 |
| 20(+1) | Hive account@nikoszzz | nikoszzz | 1871 | 4 | 44 | 1829 |
| 21(-2) |  Hive account@tin.aung.soe | TinAungSoe | 1254 | 8 | 42 | 1455,4 |
| 22 |  Hive account@sammy00 | migmag | 1503 | 5 | 33 | 1553,8 |
| 23 |  Hive account@kreur | Kreur | 2136 | 2 | 32 | 2154 |
| 24 |  Hive account@kintokris | jonbellionfan | 1913 | 2 | 30 | 1783 |
| 25 |  Hive account@vasigo | vasigo | 1178 | 8 | 22 | 1228,5 |
| 26(+4) |  Hive account@mypathtofire | mypathtofire | 1290 | 7 | 21 | 1385,1 |
| 27(-1) |  Hive account@iammanythings | iammanythings | 2120 | 1 | 19 | 1983 |
| 28(-1) |  Hive account@anomadsoul | anomadsoul | 1471 | 2 | 18 | 1719 |
| 29(-1) |  Hive account@pravesh0 | pravesh007 | 1714 | 2 | 15 | 1702,5 |
| 30(-1) |  Hive account@sanjamkapoors | SanjamKapoors | 1448 | 2 | 15 | 1615,5 |
| 31 |  Hive account@salomijale | unknownhumnabeing | 1500 | 2 | 11 | 1336,5 |
| 32 |  Hive account@kaungsett8388 | kaungsett8388 | 1179 | 1 | 6 | 1563 |
| 33(new) | Hive account@primersion | primersion | 1390 | 1 | 3 | 1337 |
One round to go and Hive account@rodrook indeed could jump to the top rank, with a comfy 9 point lead to the runner-up, Hive account@agreste. It could very well be, that we again will see a surprise quarter finalist in S15!
The rules you can look up in the S14 announcement post.
See you all next week for the final 9th round and the Big Final!
BREAKING NEWS: The data and location of the World Championship Match was announced by FIDE:
It will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, this April and the price fund will be some juicy 2 Mio.€!
https://www.fide.com/news/2180
Meanwhile, in the TATA Steel Masters 2023 Magnus Carlsen had to digest 2 losses in a row and he seems to still has not recovered from this blow! Is this a turning point in his career? What do you think?
