Welcome! Chess fans, to the Games showcase post, where we will look at some interesting games from the second round of the Saturday Weekly Tournament.

The selected games features brilliant tactics, resilience, or good upsets. Game winners will share in the reward for their games being featured in this post. Rewards would be paid in Liquid.

^{Please don't forget, if you feel confident of any of your games during the Saturday weekly event, drop a link in the comment section in the report post next week Sunday}

Game 1

IM @maestroask Vs @samostically 1-0

In a tournament where IM @maestroask went undefeated, Players like @samostically would definitely feel they had a chance to stain that record. A look at this game shows how brilliant the International Master converted an exchange down position.

11.Ne3

Let's get straight to it. At this position black infiltrated white defence and white decided to continue with 12 Nb3 giving up the exchange. It appears that black would be better or winning after 12. Nxf1, 13.Bxf1

13.Bxf1 Be7 and black is an exchange up.

As interesting as that sound the game got difficult as all black did was try to exchange pieces. It went well until black played Nc3??

White exchanged on c3 and eventually picked up the pawn and grinded the game.

As you can see, white is now clearly winning as the pawns can't be stopped. To enjoy the move by move brilliance, here is the game pgn

[Event "Saturday Hive Chess S1R2 Arena"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/eVioxwwd"]
[Date "2025.07.12"]
[White "Odnoobraz_bcm"]
[Black "ZGM_Samostically"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2554"]
[BlackElo "2148"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+2"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-1"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "240+0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[Opening "Lasker Simul Special"]
[Termination "Normal"]

1. g3 h5 2. h4 c6 3. d3 d5 4. e4 Nf6 5. Bg2 e6 6. Qe2 Nbd7 7. Nd2 Nb6 8. Nh3 Be7 9. O-O Ng4 
10. f3 Bc5+ 11. Kh1 Ne3 12. Nb3 Nxf1 13. Bxf1 Be7 14. e5 Bd7 15. f4 Rc8 16. Bg2 c5 17. Bf3 
Bc6 18. Kh2 g6 19. Be3 d4 20. Bf2 Bxf3 21. Qxf3 Qd5 22. Qe2 O-O 23. Nd2 Qd8 24. a4 Nd5 
25. Ne4 a6 26. a5 b5 27. axb6 Qxb6 28. b3 Rfd8 29. Qf3 Nc3 30. Nxc3 dxc3 31. Ra4 Qc6 
32. Qxc6 Rxc6 33. Ng1 Rb8 34. Ne2 Bd8 35. Nxc3 c4 36. dxc4 Bb6 37. Bxb6 Rxb6 38. Ne4 
Rd8 39. Kg2 Rd4 40. Kf3 Rb8 41. Rxa6 Rd1 42. Rd6 Rc1 43. Rd2 Ra8 44. Ke3 Ra2 45. Kd3 
Rg1 46. c5 Raa1 47. c6 Ra6 48. b4 Rxc6 49. c4 Rc1 50. c5 Ra1 51. Rb2 Ra3+ 52. Kc4 Ra1 
53. Nf6+ Kg7 54. Kb5 Rc1 55. Kxc6 Ra1 56. b5 Ra8 57. b6 Rc8+ 58. Kb5 Ra8 59. b7 Rd8 
60. c6 Rb8 61. Kb6 Rd8 62. c7 Rd4 63. c8=Q Rb4+ 64. Rxb4 g5 65. Qg8+ Kh6 66. Qh7# 1-0

Also a link to the full game here

Game 2

@sammy00 (1559) vs @jaki01 (2336) 1-0

Not everyday do we see a 700+ Elo difference upset. This was a case of not playing the opponent but playing the board and the clock!

3.e6!

A very orthodox Owen defense with the dubious Ba6?!

White got an extra pawn,very large center and very good space advantage as we can see below

Black tried to mix things up with a knight sacrifice which was incorrect but technically helped change the outcome of the game as white who has little time on the clock would most likely see the threats and might not want to calculate a solution.

h5?
White ended picking up the knight a few moves later and had a piece up. But with 48 seconds left and a not so simple position to simplify. Black had some momentum

White played 29.Kf2 here A blunder that gives black a way into the game.

Final chance for white to win the game was the hard to find 30.Qc4 as after the rook exchanges, white wins back the piece with Qc8+ and Qc2+.

_{A move sequence never played that could have changed the result}

Resilience and grit pays off as Black won after the exchange with Qc5+

The rest of the game was pretty much straightforward.

Here is a pgn

[Event "Saturday Hive Chess S1R2 Arena"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/TCoLczkx"]
[Date "2025.07.12"]
[White "jaki01"]
[Black "migmag"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2336"]
[BlackElo "1559"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "-11"]
[BlackRatingDiff "+12"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "240+0"]
[ECO "B00"]
[Opening "Owen Defense: Guatemala Defense"]
[Termination "Normal"]

1. d4 b6 2. e4 Ba6 3. c4 e6 4. Nf3 d5 5. Nc3 Bxc4 6. Bxc4 dxc4 7. O-O Qd7 8. d5 e5 
9. Nxe5 Qd6 10. Bf4 Qf6 11. Bg3 Nh6 12. f4 Bd6 13. Nxc4 O-O 14. e5 Bc5+ 15. Kh1 Qf5 
16. Qe2 Ng4 17. h3 h5 18. Ne4 Nd7 19. Nxc5 Nxc5 20. hxg4 hxg4 21. d6 Ne4 22. Qe3 
cxd6 23. Nxd6 Nxd6 24. exd6 Rae8 25. Qf2 Re6 26. Rad1 Rh6+ 27. Kg1 Rd8 28. Qd4 
Qh5 29. Kf2 Rhxd6 30. Qxd6 Rxd6 31. Rxd6 Qc5+ 32. Ke2 Qxd6 33. Rd1 Qe6+ 
34. Kf2 Qxa2 35. Rd2 a5 36. f5 b5 37. Be5 f6 38. Bd4 Qc4 39. Kg3 Qc7+ 
40. Kxg4 Kf7 41. Be3 Qc4+ 42. Bf4 Qc8 43. Rd5 g5 44. Bg3 Qc4+ 45. Kh3 
Qxd5 0-1

Also the link to the game here

---

Tournament Details

1. We play every Saturday at 15:00 GMT

2. We play on an open-source chess application, www.lichess.org

3. To start up on Lichess, kindly read @samostically's Introduction to Lichess Platform

4. Register with your Lichess username in the comment section if your name is not on the mention list.

5. Total play time is 1 hour and 10 minutes. Time control for the tournament varies with each round.

6. Feel free to write about your tournament experience and post the link in the comment. Quality posts will get curated. Alternatively, you can post on our Discord channel.

7. Join our Team Page on Lichess, to play our team events.

8. It is important to know that the Hive Saturday Chess Saturday was founded by @schamangerbert

9. Thanks to our Main sponsors stayoutoftherz, eddiespino Through the Aliento Project & Yabapmatt!

In two days, The reminder post with the game link and time will be up. Looking forward to the next round.

See You on Saturday!

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