Playing Chess960 Hivechess Tournament

Hey chess players,

So, apparently, HiveChess Tournament from @sam.chess was not the only Hive-related chess tournament to hold this weekend. Today, being Sunday, we had a Chess960 chess tournament. The turnout was a bit low, but I suspect some chess players forgot. We had only seven players present at the event, but it was still enjoyable to play. It's like a candidate invitational tournament, only this time there was no round robin or arena-style format, that is, grab as many points as you can. I am glad I did not miss out on this.

I finished in 2nd place, although there were not many players. I even had a couple of nice wins against other Hive players. I have to say it, chess960 is harder because of how the pieces are placed on random squares at the beginning of the game, making it hard for you to play your favourite opening or even memorize one. You can even tell how the pieces are going to be placed once the game starts.

Also, @stayoutoftherz was on fire for this round; he kept beating everyone, including me, until he lost only three games out of the 11 games he played. Nice one, and I think he has been working on his chess secretly because this makes it the second time I am losing to him in a row. First at yesterday's Saturday HiveChess and now in today's Chess960 tournament.

At this point, against stayoutoftheredz, I knew I was in trouble, not on time but also on board. I had just dropped the extra pawn I had, and nothing much was going on in the position to compensate for the time I lacked. I berserked, that is why I had less time, but even without that, I would still lose like I did in a game against him, where I did not berserk.

Click the link to view the game:
SouthGamer vs stayoutoftherz

Next up is a game against @samostically, one of the strong players in HiveChess. So when he berserked me, I did not have the balls to berserk back because I knew I would lose, so I needed more time as my advantage.

I saw my opponent was down on time, so I went for a gamble. Going rook for two bishops. Now that I have looked at the game, the computer actually favors white, but I knew it would be difficult for my opponent to actually find the best moves, hence the reason for my sacrifice. Fortunately for me, it played out well as I was able to grab the win on time.

Click the link below if you want to view the entire game:
ZGM_Samostically vs SouthGamer

I hope there will be another next week, so I know my weekend off from work will be for Hivechess tournaments. And if there is one, you guys should join. See you all next week.

I am @southgamer. Play Chess and have fun.