The 6th round of the Friday Hivechess tournament took place on the 31 October 2025. It is a tough for me at the start. My first encounter with @maestroask it was an exchange difference where I was an exchange down. Then next was against @justfavour, losing to him as well but that was not the end of it. I lost a lot of games to lower rated players, especially to odic3o.
I am glad in the end I stepped up in the end. I turned up in the end by going on a winning streak by winning 4 games straight. This is what gave me a boost and the luckily draw against @tangibleay to 4th place.
Let's look at some games I played.
odic3o vs ZGM_Samostically
This is one games I played and lost to odic3o. It was a right on action in the game where the center was countered with pawn breaks. With this center break, it was all about rapid development with counter attacks for me.
1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. f4 d5
Here from the opening shows that there is going to fireworks on the board and even from the name of the chess opening which is quite weird. It is the Center Game: Halasz-McDonnell Gambit.
This was the first step towards my attack. I left the bishop on g4, and went for the h5 to support the bishop and when there is a capture of the bishop, next I will have to capture back with the h-file pawn, which in return will open the h-file to my rook with a check on the king and hit on white king. But with saw it and did not go for it.
This is the point where things got ugly for me. The white knight came into the position and now hitting on the queen, instead of moving the queen away I chose to move my king and that is the blunder. I simply dropped a free queen for no valid reason.
You can use the game link to watch the game Game link
And the PGN game:
[Event "Hivechess S21 Round 6 Arena"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/Zz8H85Xd"]
[Date "2025.10.31"]
[White "odic3o"]
[Black "ZGM_Samostically"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "Zz8H85Xd"]
[UTCDate "2025.10.31"]
[UTCTime "20:37:19"]
[WhiteElo "1746"]
[BlackElo "2146"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+13"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-10"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "300+0"]
[ECO "C21"]
[Opening "Center Game: Halasz-McDonnell Gambit"]
[Termination "Normal"]
1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. f4 d5 4. e5 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Bd3 Nge7 7. O-O Ng6 8. a3 a5 9. Kh1 Bc5 10. h3 h5 11. Re1 Kf8 12. Bxg6 fxg6 13. Qd3 Bf5 14. Qb5 Bb6 15. Ng5 Qd7 16. e6 Qd6 17. Nf7 Ke7 18. Nxd6 Kxd6 19. c4 dxc4 20. Qxc4 Ke7 21. Bd2 Rad8 22. a4 Rhe8 23. Na3 Rd6 24. Nb5 Rxe6 25. Rxe6+ Bxe6 26. Re1 Kf6 27. Qd3 Bf5 28. Qg3 Rxe1+ 29. Bxe1 d3 30. Qh4+ Kf7 31. g4 Be4+ 32. Kh2 hxg4 33. hxg4 Ne7 34. Bc3 c6 35. Nd6+ Ke6 36. Nxe4 1-0
stuffings vs ZGM_Samostically
This another game I lost to @stuffings which propelled me to my winning streak next. I feel this is the game where I had to tell myself that if I do not get back into the game, I would probably drop down on the standings.
I decided to play the Grunfeld defense against stuffing. An opening I still remember learning from videos made by Peter Svidler. It is a simple contest for the center, where I contest for the d5 center square with development of my pieces on the king side.
This when I ran into problem when I chose to play b6 to protect my pawn from the range of the rook and this backfired. Backfired in the sense that it allows for Bd5 next and now I have to give up the rook on a8. Therefore I will going an exchange down.
Even after a little shenanigan, I could not getting any counter opportunity rather it got worse for me and the advantage kept increasing. It was only a matter of time.
You can watch the game with the game link. Game link
[Event "Hivechess S21 Round 6 Arena"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/ueEKXEtY"]
[Date "2025.10.31"]
[White "stuffings"]
[Black "ZGM_Samostically"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "ueEKXEtY"]
[UTCDate "2025.10.31"]
[UTCTime "20:48:10"]
[WhiteElo "2339"]
[BlackElo "2136"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+3"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-3"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "300+0"]
[ECO "D85"]
[Opening "Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Modern Exchange Variation"]
[Termination "Normal"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. c4 d5 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 O-O 8. Bc4 c5 9. O-O Bg4 10. Rb1 b6 11. Bd5 Nd7 12. Bxa8 Qxa8 13. Re1 e5 14. Bb2 f5 15. h3 fxe4 16. hxg4 exf3 17. g3 exd4 18. cxd4 c4 19. Re7 Nf6 20. d5 Qc8 21. Qxf3 Nh5 22. Qe2 1-0
I am @samostically, a chess player and writer. I love to share the experience I have gained from different battles over the 64 squares and the knowledgeable insights from books I have read. But most importantly, I am a Midnight Owl and I founded the community Midnight Letters.
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Thanks For Reading!
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