Saturday Hive Chess: Big Defeats!

“When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”- Paulo Coelho

Yesterday, the chess brothers played another round of the Hive Chess tourney. I played amazingly well despite the fact that there were many higher-rated players. I finished 5th with solid points. Earlier today, we played another chess tournament hosted by another host. This time, things didn’t go my way. I beserked games I shouldn’t have, played eradicated and made silly blunders. I can’t tell if I made those blunders because I wasn’t focused or maybe it wasn’t just my day. As usual, I’ll be reviewing some of my games in this post.

My first game was against a lower-rated player. I wasn’t over-confident, but before I could blink twice, I got check-mated! I hadn’t even made up to 10 moves. Very embarrassing!

Justfavour VS Stranger27

My first “solid win” was against this player. After I had lost many games, I decided to take it slowly and stop forcing it. I didn’t beserk. That would have been horrible. I was happy when I discovered a fork and captured by opponent’s piece. It was at the time I knew I would win. Still, I didn’t let my guard down.

I moved my Queen to c5 and then Qxe5

PGN:

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 h6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bd2 Bxc3 6. Bxc3 Nf6 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. e3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 a6 10. c4 Nc6 11. Bd3 Qe7 12. O-O O-O 13. a3 b6 14. Qc2 Bb7 15. Be4 Rab8 16. Bxc6 Bxc6 17. Ne5 Bb7 18. Nd3 Qf6 19. Ne5 Rfd8 20. f3 Rbc8 21. c5 Bd5 22. e4 Ba8 23. Rfd1 Qe7 24. Qa4 bxc5 25. dxc5 Qxc5+ 26. Kh1 Qxe5 27. Rxd8+ Rxd8 28. Rd1 Rxd1+ 29. Qxd1 Qd6 30. Qxd6 cxd6 31. Kg1 Kf8 32. Kf2 Ke7 33. Ke3 Bc6 34. Kd4 Bb5 35. g3 Kf6 36. f4 g5 37. e5+ dxe5+ 38. fxe5+ Kf5 39. h3 h5 0-1
   Link to the game

Justfavour VS @justola1

I got paired with Justola two times. While he won the first game (in a very brutal and embarrassing way), I managed to win the second game. I blundered a few times, and Justola also did the same. Particularly towards the end of the game when he could have captured my pawn and destroyed my pawn structure:

The pawn in b7 was hanging, but I guess he missed it. Instead, he played h6 to check my king. Maybe he would have won if he hadn’t played that way.

PGN:

1. e4 d5 2. Nc3 dxe4 3. Nxe4 Nf6 4. Nxf6+ gxf6 5. Ne2 e5 6. d3 a6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. Be2 Bf5 9. Bh5 Bg6 10. Bf3 Qd6 11. Ne4 Qe6 12. Nc3 O-O-O 13. h3 Bb4 14. Bg4 Bxc3+ 15. bxc3 Bf5 16. Bf3 h5 17. Bxc6 Qxc6 18. Qf3 Bd7 19. c4 Qxf3 20. gxf3 Bc6 21. Ke2 Rdg8 22. Be3 f5 23. Rag1 f4 24. Bd2 f6 25. Bc3 Bd7 26. d4 Rxg1 27. Rxg1 Bxh3 28. dxe5 fxe5 29. Bxe5 Re8 30. Rg5 c6 31. Kd2 Rd8+ 32. Kc3 Bf1 33. Bxf4 Rf8 34. Be3 Rxf3 35. Rxh5 Kc7 36. Rh7+ Kd6 37. Rh6+ Kc7 38. Kb2 Rf7 39. Rh4 Rd7 40. Rh1 Bg2 41. Rh2 Bf3 42. Bf4+ Kb6 43. Be3+ c5 44. Rh6+ Ka5 45. Bg5 b6 46. Bf6 Be2 47. Bc3+ Ka4 48. Rxb6 Bxc4 49. Rc6 Rd5 50. f4 Bb5 51. Rc8 Rf5 52. Be5 Kb4 53. a3+ Kc4 54. Ra8 Kd5 55. a4 Bxa4 56. Rxa6 Bb5 57. Rd6+ Kc4 58. Rd8 Kb4 59. Ra8 Kc4 60. Ra3 Kd5 61. Ra8 Be2 62. Rd8+ Ke4 63. Rc8 c4 64. c3 Kf3 65. Rh8 Bd3 66. Rh3+ Ke4 67. Rh2 Rf7 68. Rh5 Kd5 69. Kc1 Ke4 70. Bd4 Rb7 71. Be5 Rb1+ 72. Kd2 Rb2+ 73. Ke1 Ke3 74. Rh3+ Ke4 0-1

Link to the game

Honestly, these are the only games I played well. The others reek of blunders. I won other games, but they were against lower-rated players. Some of them were even lucky games. I hope I play better next week.

As usual, thanks to our host @sam.chess
See you all next week!