Blunders & Bruises: A Tough Night in Hivechess

“Look at Garry Kasparov. After he loses, invariably he wins the next game. He just kills the next guy. That’s somethingthat we have to learn to be able to do” (Maurice Ashley)

@kintokris gave me a call, Hivechess was starting in few minutes and I was no where to be found. I didn't forget about the tournament but I was having a bad day. After the call, I braced myself, quickly had a shower and came online to play. After all, I won the last two tournaments, I could as well win the next one.

An Tournament to Forget.

I really dont think I have had a bad tournament on Hive like I did on friday. So many things went wrong. I'd take a look at two games on this post. Then during the week, I'd do more detailed analysis. Congratulations to the winners of the event. Hopefully I return to the podium next Friday. Shout again to @stayoutoftherz for organizing chess on Hive. He also has a number of good games from this week's Hivechess.

Kreur vs Samostically

My first game ended in a loss, I give credit to my opponent for taking the initiative early. As opposed to my style of play, I played something wrong - forced me to blunder very early. My opponent threatened a disturbing check which could have been prevented with the simple e6.

But my next moves were terrible

I played 9.Ne5

This moves loses the pawn on by, giving white an overwhelming advantage. After that my opponent played very well. I defended the rook with Rd8. Then Bb5+!

Bb5!	13.d4!

From here white was winning. He played very well won a piece and went on to win the game. Here is the full pgn of the game.

[Event "Hivechess S20 Round 5 Arena"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/csKGd6ew"]
[Date "2025.02.28"]
[White "Kreur"]
[Black "ZGM_Samostically"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "csKGd6ew"]
[UTCDate "2025.02.28"]
[UTCTime "20:00:17"]
[WhiteElo "2184"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+6"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-6"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "180+2"]
[ECO "B01"]
[Opening "Scandinavian Defense"]
[Termination "Normal"]
[Annotator "lichess.org"]

1. e4 { [%clk 0:03:00] } 1... d5 { [%clk 0:01:30] } { B01 Scandinavian Defense } 
2. exd5 { [%clk 0:03:01] } 2... Qd6 { [%clk 0:01:30] } 
3. Nc3 { [%clk 0:03:01] } 3... Nf6 { [%clk 0:01:29] } 
4. Nf3 { [%clk 0:03:01] } 4... Nxd5 { [%clk 0:01:28] } 
5. Bc4 { [%clk 0:02:59] } 5... Nxc3 { [%clk 0:01:27] } 
6. bxc3 { [%clk 0:02:59] } 6... Nc6 { [%clk 0:01:27] } 
7. O-O { [%clk 0:02:59] } 7... Bg4 { [%clk 0:01:26] } 
8. h3 { [%clk 0:02:57] } 8... Bxf3 { [%clk 0:01:25] } 
9. Qxf3 { [%clk 0:02:57] } 9... Ne5 { [%clk 0:01:25] } 
10. Qxb7 { [%clk 0:02:56] } 10... Rd8 { [%clk 0:01:23] } 
11. Bb5+ { [%clk 0:02:51] } 11... c6 { [%clk 0:01:22] } 
12. Ba4 { [%clk 0:02:45] } 12... e6 { [%clk 0:01:20] } 
13. d4 { [%clk 0:02:40] } 13... Nd7 { [%clk 0:01:19] } 
14. Bxc6 { [%clk 0:02:40] } 14... Be7 { [%clk 0:01:18] } 
...
30. Qxa2 { [%clk 0:02:07] } { Black resigns. } 1-0

I lost to a 1300+ player!

My lowest loss probably since I started playing on Lichess happened on Friday. It was a terrible one. I got checkmated on board.

Fiona vs Samostically

Just like the previous game, my opponent tried an early checkmate.

This time I defended properly. I played the game and I was winning, chasing my opponent king, with a overwhelming advantage.

Qxe4	Qxg2!

Then something happened. My opponent made a somewhat quiet move. I say quiet because I didn't neccessary know I was about to get checkmated. I also felt a pawn push when your house is on fire is bad. And then boom I lost!

From a -5 advantage to checkmate in one. That summed up my event. I withdrew form the tournament. Having a 39% win rate which is so rare. Hopefully I bounce back next week. More analysis to follow up during the week and congratulations to the winners!

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Thanks For Reading!