Yesterday marked the 5th round of season 19 of the Hive chess tournament. We played the 5+3 variation. Yesterday’s tourney was arguably the most interesting tourney since we started season19. I didn’t win all my games, but what made it super interesting was that I payed against new players and delivered nice checkmates. I’m unsure whether they are new to Hivechess, but yesterday was the first time I’d play agaisnt them. In general, I played fairly well yesterday. I finished with 15 points and secured a decent position. That’s something to be proud of if you ask me. As usual, I’ll review my games in this post.
I always stress on the importance of starting your games with a win. It gives you more confidence and lowers the tension (at least that’s what it does for me.) I always try as much as I can to win my first game; stay focused and play with all seriousness, but I guess things cannot always go our ways. In my first game, I got paired with Just-Ola. The similarities in our names heightened the fun; justfavour versus Just-ola. We started the game well, trying to build strong openings. Unfortunately, I blundered my Queen and things started to go south from there. After a couple moves, he checkmated my King. Bummer!
My second game was with Dovycola, a 10 year old. According to him, he enjoys playing chess so much that he joined the chess brothers on Hive. Truthfully, a part of me wanted to go easy on him, but I was sure not to let my guard down. Unfortunately for him, he blundered his Rook and I captured it. He resigned shortly afterward. My advice to him; don’t give up easily.
My third game, I got paired with Tortylan, one of the best players in the tourney. I made a very messy move, and he checkmated me within seconds.
My 4th to 8th games didn’t go well. My 4th game, I got paired with Vasigo, a much lower-rated player. At first, I thought to beserk, but I didn’t want to take any chances since I needed to gather points. Things were going well until he blundered his Queen and I landed a beautiful checkmate. There’s not much to say about the remaining games. I played a draw agaisnt Uniforced in my Six games and lost other games. Tough opponents. Plus, my blunders didn’t put me on a good edge.
Game 9 was my best game of the night. Not only because I had been eager to face B0s in the Hive Chess tourney, but I also delivered a nice end game; it takes a lot to deliver a smooth Queen sac. We both played well. My 10th game agaisnt Romeo went well. He resigned after I captured his Queen (he blundered). The euphoria of winning began to seep through the soles of my palms. Slowly, I let my guard down. I blundered my Queen and my opponent (Migmag), capitalized on it. My eyes widened when I lost the game.
I got paired with Rosmarly. I enjoy playing with Rosmarly; he’s a higher-rated player and he plays well. I got paired with him twice yesterday- he won the first one while I won the second time. I guess I didn’t want to lose to him twice, so I played better. I also enjoyed my game with Stranger27. It ended in a draw. My last game was with RD cast; one of my favourites. Things started to go south for him when he blundered his Queen. I upped my game and started playing offensive moves. He was forced to resigned when he noticed the mate in 1.
Generally, I played smoothly and nicely. I managed to land some sweet checkmates. Let's see how next week's tournament goes. Until then.
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