Final Leaderboard

Here's how the final leaderboard looked:

1. 🥇 Queen5layer– 52 points
2. 🥈 Odnoobraz- 40 points
3. 🥉 Jaki– 39 points

Unpacking Critical Moments and Strategic Decisions from the Arena

In this part, we're going to look at a number of arena games played today, analyzing impressive moves, blunders, and brilliant strategies. The objective is to provide a learning experience for chess enthusiasts like me and chess players looking to improve their game, regardless of their rating.

Round Fixtures (Table of Contents)

Click on game below to navigate to the review:

• ♟️ Just_ola (Black) vs Stranger27 (White) – 1-0
• ♟️ SouthGamer (Black) vs Stayoutoftherz (White) – 0-1
• ♟️ Odnoobraz (White) vs Queen5layer (Black) – 1-0

♜ Just_ola vs Stranger27

This was my first win of the day. I saw I had limited time so I risked playing a beserk. My opponent played white and opened with the Queens Gambit. Both players started building up positions and meticulously moved their pieces. A critical point in the game that made black win was when White blundered his Rook at move 31. This gave black the advantage to launch pressured attacks till a checkmate at move 43

[Event "Saturday HiveChess S2R4 Arena"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/MoxCfRoK"]
[Date "2026.02.14"]
[Round "-"]
[White "stranger27"]
[Black "Just_ola"]
[Result "0-1"]
[GameId "MoxCfRoK"]
[UTCDate "2026.02.14"]
[UTCTime "15:27:19"]
[WhiteElo "1644"]
[BlackElo "1768"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "-4"]
[BlackRatingDiff "+6"]
[BlackBerserk "true"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "300+0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[Opening "Queen's Gambit Declined: Vienna Variation, Quiet Variation"]
[Termination "Normal"]

d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bxc4 Nb6 7. Be2 Bd7 8. O-O Bb4 9. Bd2 Bxc3 10. Bxc3 Ba4 11. b3 Bc6 12. Ne5 Nbd5 13. Bd2 Bd7 14. Nxd7 Nxd7 15. Bf3 c6 16. Bxd5 cxd5 17. Rc1 O-O 18. Bb4 Re8 19. Qe2 a5 20. Ba3 Nf6 21. f3 Qb6 22. Rc5 Nd7 23. Rb5 Qa6 24. Rc1 b6 25. Bb2 Rec8 26. a4 Rxc1+ 27. Bxc1 Rc8 28. Qd2 Nb8 29. Ba3 Nc6 30. e4 Na7 31. Rxd5 exd5 32. exd5 Re8 33. Kf2 b5 34. axb5 Nxb5 35. Bc5 Qb7 36. d6 Qd5 37. Qxa5 Nxd4 38. Qa4 Re2+ 39. Kg3 Nf5+ 40. Kf4 Qe5+ 41. Kg5 h6+ 42. Kg4 Rxg2+ 43. Kh3 Qxh2# 0-1

♜ SouthGamer vs Stayoutoftherz

I was looking through the chatbox after the tournament and I saw a message from @stayoutoftherz, it said "mouse slip, southgamer?". I got curious as always and wanted to see how the game went. So what happened was that at move 22, White captured blacks bishop and white was expecting a trade-off, but it seemed black accidentally moved his king to h1 instead and didn't capture whites bishop back. Moments later, black ran out of time and White won the round.

[Event "Saturday HiveChess S2R4 Arena"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/5eJxxY96"]
[Date "2026.02.14"]
[Round "-"]
[White "stayoutoftherz"]
[Black "SouthGamer"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "5eJxxY96"]
[UTCDate "2026.02.14"]
[UTCTime "15:08:31"]
[WhiteElo "1948"]
[BlackElo "1991"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+6"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-7"]
[BlackBerserk "true"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "300+0"]
[ECO "D10"]
[Opening "Slav Defense"]
[Termination "Time forfeit"]

d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bf4 Bf5 5. e3 e6 6. Qb3 Qc8 7. Rc1 dxc4 8. Bxc4 Nbd7 9. f3 h6 10. e4 Bh7 11. a4 Nb6 12. Bd3 Be7 13. Nge2 O-O 14. a5 Nbd7 15. O-O Qd8 16. Be3 Re8 17. a6 bxa6 18. Bxa6 Qb6 19. Qxb6 axb6 20. Bd3 b5 21. Bc2 Reb8 22. e5 Nd5 23. Bxh7+ Kh8 24. Nxd5 cxd5 25. Bd3 1-0

♜ Queen5layer vs Odnoobraz

Queen5layer played impressively well today, she lost only a game and it was with one of our star players, international chess master Odnoobraz ♟. Odnoobraz used the Trompowsky Opening and damaged Black's structure early with 3.Bxf6 gxf6. The steady kingside pressure gave White the better play. In the end, Black couldn't hold the position and then resigned. White then won this round.

[Event "Saturday HiveChess S2R4 Arena"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/tPlbhJTR"]
[Date "2026.02.14"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Odnoobraz"]
[Black "queen5layer"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "tPlbhJTR"]
[UTCDate "2026.02.14"]
[UTCTime "15:28:21"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2490"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+4"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-4"]
[WhiteTitle "IM"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "300+0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[Opening "Trompowsky Attack"]
[Termination "Normal"]

d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 c5 3. Bxf6 gxf6 4. c3 e6 5. e3 Nc6 6. Nd2 d5 7. Ngf3 Qb6 8. Qb3 c4 9. Qxb6 axb6 10. a3 b5 11. Rc1 f5 12. g3 Bd6 13. Be2 Bd7 14. Bd1 h6 15. Bc2 Ke7 16. Ke2 f6 17. Nh4 Rag8 18. f3 Nd8 19. Kf2 Nf7 20. Rce1 Ng5 21. Re2 Kd8 22. Rhe1 Kc7 23. e4 fxe4 24. fxe4 Bc6 25. Nhf3 h5 26. e5 fxe5 27. Nxe5 h4 28. Kg2 hxg3 29. hxg3 Rh6 30. Rh1 Rxh1 31. Kxh1 Rg7 32. Kg2 Nf7 33. Ndf3 Nxe5 34. Nxe5 Be8 35. Re3 Bh5 36. Kh3 Bxe5 37. Rxe5 Bg4+ 38. Kg2 Kd6 39. Re1 Bh5 40. Rh1 Bf7 41. Rh6 Ke7 42. Kf3 Rg5 43. Kf4 Rh5 44. Rxh5 Bxh5 45. g4 Bf7 46. Ke5 Bg8 47. Bg6 b6 48. g5 Kd7 49. Kf6 Kd6 50. Bf7 Bh7 51. Bxe6 Be4 52. Bf7 Bd3 1-0

Final Thoughts

Overall, the Saturday HiveChess S2R4 Arena was a blast, it was filled with sharp tactics from the competitors. I really enjoyed battling with these skilled players and I appreciate the opportunity to learn from every game, win or lose. A huge thank you again to @samostically for consistently hosting these engaging tournaments for the community!

Which game did you find most interesting, and what lessons did you take away from these battles? Share your thoughts below!

Closing

Thank you all for tuning in and for your continuous support. I look forward to the next round. See you all at the Saturday HiveChess S2R5 Arena! ♟️