Dear chess fans,
in the 7th round of S13 we were 32 players (welcome back, @amirl and @jaki01!) and with a 6+1 arena there was much more thinking time per game than last time. Although the average rating was only 1820, it was an impressive player´s lineup with almost half of them having a rating of >2000. So some serious chess was played.
The winner was @sawko, his third win this season, drawing equal with @maestroask (Odnoobraz_bcm) who was runner-up again! Third was multi champion and Hivechess veteran @jaki01 who in his first appearance in S13 immediately captured a podium position. The fourth spot went to @tony1294 and behind him @samostically was on his usual 5th rank 😀. Congratulations to All!
This position from a game between @sawko (White) and @kintokris (jonbellionfan) is still equal despite the quite strong difference in the pawn structure, the one of White is ugly but creating some dangers for the Black king. Black to move and it was important to put a rook on the open file or move the queen to h4 to help with the defence!
https://lichess.org/11RQk55w/white#37
But after Qd5?? Qg4 Black is already completely lost. Not only can´t the queen on d5 help her king, but will be kicked away with tempo after g6 (forced) Tad1.
It is instructive to see what happened next. It would be unsufficient to play the rooklift Td3 now because of Tfd8 and there is no mating threat anymore (Qg5 can be answered with Rd3x and Qf8) and Rh3 with Rd2 and counterplay). Instead the best move (and found by @sawko) was Qg5 threatening Qh6 with unstoppable mate, so Black played Kh8 to be in time to play Rg8. The alternative to Kh8, Tfd8, to make room for Qf8 on the next move, doesn´t work due to the nasty Td6! blocking the Queen out. Only now Td3 was played and after Rad8 Rh3 h5 Qh6 Black resigned.
The biggest upset in round 7 was this victory of @stranger27 (White) against @tony1294 in which @tony1294 resigned in an equal position. Very strange! Anyhow, 1 Hive and 5 LEO go to @stranger27!
Link to the tournament: https://lichess.org/tournament/7kgl1BVR
Season 13: 02 Sep to 04 Nov 2022 / Ranking after 7 rounds:
| Rank | Hive name | Lichess name | Rating | Rounds played | Points | Performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | @maestroask | Odnoobraz_bcm | 2614 | 7 | 230 | 2537,3 |
| 2 | @sawko | CM sawkito | 2440 | 7 | 222 | 2338,2 |
| 3 | @samostically | ZGM_Samostically | 2128 | 7 | 196 | 2094,8 |
| 4 | @tony1294 | tony1294 | 2269 | 6 | 194 | 2315,2 |
| 5 | @lucianosky | Pavarotty | 2368 | 6 | 190 | 2266,2 |
| 6 | @pamboy27 | pamboy27 | 2218 | 7 | 183 | 2022 |
| 7(+4) | @wildthougts | Wildthougts | 2244 | 6 | 170 | 2154,6 |
| 8 | @rosmarly | rosmarly | 2037 | 7 | 170 | 2066,8 |
| 9(+1) | @kintokris | jonbellionfan | 2018 | 7 | 168 | 2025,5 |
| 10(+2) | @stayoutoftherz | stayoutoftherz | 2088 | 7 | 153 | 1944,8 |
| 11(+2) | @emic | emichessmaster | 2123 | 7 | 152 | 2075,2 |
| 12(-5) | @eniolw | eniolw | 2374 | 5 | 150 | 2312,2 |
| 13(-4) | @fcastro177 | FCastro17 | 2115 | 6 | 147 | 2050,6 |
| 14 | @vjap55 | vjap55 | 2123 | 7 | 145 | 1919,7 |
| 15(+2) | @iammanythings | iammanythings | 2128 | 6 | 124 | 1921,7 |
| 16(-1) | @stranger27 | stranger27 | 1718 | 7 | 116 | 1815 |
| 17(-1) | @andzhi | andzh1 | 1947 | 4 | 105 | 2036,7 |
| 18(+1) | @lighteye | lighteye | 1741 | 7 | 101 | 1770,7 |
| 19(-1) | @b0s | Da_k1ng | 1521 | 7 | 89 | 1645 |
| 20(+1) | @agreste | agreste | 1707 | 7 | 87 | 1713,2 |
| 21(+3) | @rodrook | rodrook | 1450 | 6 | 84 | 1672,2 |
| 22(-2) | @petreius | petreius | 1886 | 4 | 77 | 1831,7 |
| 23(-1) | @beyondhorizonmm | beyondhorizonmm | 1644 | 5 | 72 | 1759,8 |
| 24(-1) | @schamangerbert | HerbyW | 1748 | 5 | 71 | 1808 |
| 25 | @sammy00 | migmag | 1474 | 7 | 69 | 1582 |
| 26(+1) | @kreur | Kreur | 2104 | 3 | 61 | 2285,3 |
| 27(-1) | @pokerarema | ragnarokgame | 1491 | 7 | 60 | 1525,3 |
| 28(+1) | @fiona777 | fiona777 | 1481 | 7 | 44 | 1489,7 |
| 29(+4) | @maciejficek | XM9000 | 1441 | 6 | 40 | 1474 |
| 30(-2) | @? | Belguesmi | 2143 | 1 | 39 | 2405 |
| 31(+3) | @salomijale | unknownhumnabeing | 1463 | 3 | 39 | 1684,5 |
| 32(-3) | @? | Nkoloma | 2104 | 1 | 37 | 2051 |
| 33(-2) | @yazp | zulukill | 1988 | 1 | 34 | 2061 |
| 34(-2) | @? | G174R | 2045 | 1 | 33 | 2021 |
| 35(new) | @jaki01 | jaki01 | 2361 | 1 | 30 | 2361 |
| 36(-1) | @? | Oyuncu07a | 2436? | 1 | 29 | 2453 |
| 37(-1) | @? | vesuvianum | 1937 | 1 | 29 | 1976 |
| 38(new) | @amirl | amirl4e | 2011 | 1 | 26 | 1984 |
| 39(-2) | @? | siamak56 | 1891 | 1 | 26 | 1636 |
| 40(-1) | @vasigo | vasigo | 1225 | 7 | 26 | 1356 |
| 41(-3) | @? | ajedrez_64 | 2070 | 1 | 25 | 2071 |
| 42(+11) | @justfavour | justfavour | 1663 | 2 | 24 | 1582 |
| 43(-3) | @? | Gornyi_Roman | 2007 | 1 | 22 | 1818 |
| 44(-3) | @? | art_rozov_17 | 1715 | 1 | 21 | 1774 |
| 45(-3) | @ptmaker | ptmaker | 1510 | 2 | 21 | 1496,5 |
| 46(-1) | @grafo07 | Grafo_07 | 1033 | 4 | 21 | 1387,8 |
| 47(-2) | @? | Capablancaplayer | 2014? | 1 | 20 | 1836 |
| 48(-4) | @? | Bishopmaker2018 | 1840 | 1 | 20 | 1783 |
| 49 | @tin.aung.soe | TinAungSoe | 1320 | 3 | 20 | 1412 |
| 50(+9) | @anomadsoul | anomadsoul | 1448 | 2 | 18 | 1645,5 |
| 51(-4) | @? | bassam49 | 1608 | 1 | 17 | 1858 |
| 52(-5) | @falcout | falcout | 1511 | 3 | 16 | 1500,5 |
| 53(-5) | @? | Alireza_1342 | 1662 | 1 | 15 | 1985 |
| 54(-4) | @volkiceper | HelloxD | 1552 | 1 | 14 | 1864 |
| 55(-4) | @deadleaf | realdeadleaf | 2144 | 1 | 13 | 1628 |
| 56(-4) | @? | Chalenko_V | 2252 | 1 | 11 | 2199 |
| 57(-3) | @? | Yetundefemii | 1880 | 2 | 11 | 1790 |
| 58(+2) | @mypathtofire | mypathtofire | 1285 | 5 | 11 | 1294,3 |
| 59(-4) | @philipp87 | Philipp87 | 1773 | 1 | 10 | 1651 |
| 60(-4) | @? | moscatel10 | 1783 | 1 | 9 | 1748 |
| 61(-4) | @? | Socolonquio | 1606 | 1 | 9 | 1460 |
| 62(-4) | @? | nakonako | 1797 | 1 | 8 | 1947 |
| 63(-2) | @? | Dionysis1 | 1965 | 1 | 7 | 2114 |
| 64(-2) | @? | emprendemesta | 2022 | 1 | 6 | 1993 |
| 65(-2) | @? | juliandav | 2058 | 1 | 3 | 1827 |
| 66(-2) | @artistparthoroy | artistparthoroy | 1075 | 2 | 3 | 1212 |
| 67(-2) | @johannfrare | johannfrare | 1629 | 1 | 2 | |
| 68(-2) | @ajumaa | Chocho2 | 1308? | 1 | 1 | 964 |
The rules you can look up in the S13 announcement post.
Only 3 rounds to go and no changes in the top ranks, @maestroask (Odnoobraz_bcm) is still first with a 8 point lead.
See you all next week - and keep practicing!
On another note, yesterday the "Aimchess Rapid" started, the penultimate tournament of the Meltwater Chess Champions Tour 2022. Many top players including Magnus Carlsen are competing there. After the first 4 rounds of the playoff, the rapid chess worldchampion Abdusattorov is leading with 4 wins. The standings you can see here.
