Hey chess players and lovers of the game of chess,
In this round of the Friday Hivechess tournament, it was chess 960. Not my favourite variant of chess because of the much randomness with the placement of pieces. I am still struggling to remember where my pieces are in the standard variant of chess, not to talk more about chess 960.
It was 5 minutes flat time control so I went all out 100% berserk mode for faster games and more points wins. The exciting part is I did decently well and so I finished in 3rd place right behind the tournament winner @samostically and second place @jaki01.
During the ending stage of the tournament, I became more desperate to get more points, even with this game I got more and more eager to make the game fast or end quickly. As I wanted my wish was granted for me but not how I wanted. I ran into a checkmate in the above position. Instead of moving my king closer to defend the pawn or do something more to defend the attack from the knight, I chose to castle and ran into something worse, a checkmate.
Check out the game with this link
https://lichess.org/nQjzbW1r/white#20
This is the only game I was able to win against Samostically who won the tournament. Out of three games played and frankly, I was the only player to beat him in chess 960 in this round. I will call that a high win for me. In the game, he made a costly mistake by dropping a piece at the beginning of the game, making it easier for me to get a fighting chance. Then when he made the second mistake of giving my rook control of the open file, I was made to win the game. My next move came with a checkmate. Take a look again to see if you can get it.
Check out the game with the link below:
https://lichess.org/KVGgWaEa/black#55
My last game against Jaki was a tough one for me. I lost the game in the endgame. I tried to hold off as much as I could but it wasn't enough for this king and knight against my king and bishop. At the end, my pawns on the other flank were dismantled and he got to promote before I could even get that chance to do so.
Check out the game with this link:
https://lichess.org/OvvrTmV0/white#82
Not a bad one for me.
I am @southgamer. Try gaming and thank me later
Yeah you cost me @sammy00’s prize. I could have gone undefeated. Good game and I must admit, you’re quite consistent with our tournaments!
My apologies. 😄
Congrats on the third place
That checkmate was good. Almost all pieces on the board and king nicely tucked in and surrounded with strong pieces. But knight move does it.
Playing fast can bring fast checkmate especially in Chess960
That was the story for me.
Update: @southgamer, I paid out 0.492 HIVE and 0.070 HBD to reward 1 comments in this discussion thread.