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

The highlighted games feature either 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.

In the last game feature post, I paid @dakods and @tangibleay 2.8 Hive each, 10% of the previous post reward.

20% of this post will be shared among the featured players (10% each), and it will be paid out in liquid.

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

Game 1

@jaki01 vs @southgamer

Southgamer was one of the players who finished in second place during this last round, which is quite new as it happens to be the first time he has finished in second place. This game between Southgamer and jaki01 was a decider for who would finish second, as they were both contending for the second-place position.

1. d4 c5 2. d5 e6 3. e4 exd5 4. exd5 Nf6 5. Nf3 d6 6. Nc3 g6 7. Be2

A typical position that springs from the Benoni defence, where black plays sharply against white's d4 opening. The Benoni defence is one opening considered to be a sharp response, and it is mostly played when black is looking for a decisive win. This type of opening tends to be employed by grandmasters during a must-win match.

In the above position, white has gone for the quiet Be2, which the computer detects to be an inaccuracy because Bb5+ was more active for white. Nothing much changed with Be2 in my opinion, since it still follows the opening principle, and white can go ahead to castle on his next move.

14. Qxf3 Nd7

This became interesting at this point when Southgamer set a trap for Jaki in the given position above, when Nd7.

Can you spot the trap?

Nice one to you if you saw it. The trap involves the pawn on d6. If white goes ahead to capture the pawn on d6, it leads to a loss of material for white after black plays Ne5, hitting the white queen on f3 and at the same time hitting the white knight with the black queen on d8.

33. Qxg2??

Queen capturing the pawn on g2 was the blunder that cost Jaki the game. This is because it takes the queen to the bad square, g2. As the placement of the white queen on that square makes the black queen's check on h4 strong, and when the black rook moves out, it is all over since the rook going to d1 cannot be stopped anymore.

And there is the final position. The rook coming to d1 cannot be stopped.

Here is the game link:

Game Link

And here is the Game PGN

[Event "Saturday HiveChess S1R7 Arena"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/L5swCQ0w"]
[Date "2025.08.16"]
[White "jaki01"]
[Black "SouthGamer"]
[Result "0-1"]
[UTCDate "2025.08.16"]
[UTCTime "15:48:12"]
[WhiteElo "2292"]
[BlackElo "2009"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "-9"]
[BlackRatingDiff "+10"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "300+0"]
[ECO "A43"]
[Opening "Benoni Defense: French Benoni"]
[Termination "Normal"]

1. d4 c5 2. d5 e6 3. e4 exd5 4. exd5 Nf6 5. Nf3 d6 6. Nc3 g6 7. Be2 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 
9. Nd2 a6 10. a4 Bf5 11. Nc4 Ne4 12. Nxe4 Bxe4 13. Bf3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 Nd7 15. Bf4 Ne5 
16. Nxe5 dxe5 17. Be3 f5 18. Bxc5 e4 19. Qb3 Rf7 20. d6 Qd7 21. Rfd1 Rc8 22. Ba3 f4 
23. Rd5 f3 24. Rg5 Bh6 25. Rg3 Bf4 26. Re1 Bxg3 27. hxg3 Re8 28. Qc4 Qf5 29. d7 Qxd7 
30. Rxe4 Qd1+ 31. Kh2 Rxe4 32. Qxe4 fxg2 33. Qxg2 Qh5+ 34. Kg1 Rd7 35. g4 Rd1+ 
36. Qf1 Qxg4+ 0-1

Game 2

@jaki01 vs @iamchessguy

Jaki finished 3rd in this round, but this game against iamchessguy was quite different from his usual line. This time, he plays 1. f4, which is new. Jaki is known for playing the tromposky attack, but he was able to maneuver his way in the game to get the win in this game.

1. f4 d5 2. Nf3 c6 3. g3

This position comes from the chess opening called the Bird Opening under the section of the Dutch variation. I can see that this proves Jaki can be versatile in his choice of openings when playing against his opening, or he was probably looking for an all-out attacking game to get the point and improve his position on the standings.

10. e5 Ng8?

A sign of trouble. I have a chess understanding that when you return your piece to its initial starting square, it is a recipe for your position getting worse. Which we can see from black's last move, that is exactly what he did. He brought the knight back to g8, which means that the knight is not a good square, and if he does not do something fast about it, it could cost him the game.

41. bxa4 c5??

A simple pawn push to c5 changed the dynamics of the game, and immediately, black was losing a drawn position. This is because after white plays c4, the tension in the center will be broken, and white can go ahead to form a mismatch against black's pawn either on the flank, a5, or the center, d5 or e6.

Just as I anticipated, the mismatch was formed by white on black's e6 pawn. The pawn is under attack by the white king, and black's pawn on g5 is also under attack by the white knight on f3, while the black bishop remains far from the action. This was more than enough for Jaki to grab the win.

Here is the game link:

Game Link

And here is the game PGN:

[Event "Saturday HiveChess S1R7 Arena"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/cHEnllni"]
[Date "2025.08.16"]
[White "jaki01"]
[Black "iamchessguy01"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2286"]
[BlackElo "2037"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+3"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-2"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "300+0"]
[ECO "A03"]
[Opening "Bird Opening: Dutch Variation"]
[Termination "Normal"]

1. f4 d5 2. Nf3 c6 3. g3 Bf5 4. Bg2 e6 5. O-O Nf6 6. d3 Nbd7 7. Nc3 h6 8. Qe1 Be7 
9. e4 Bh7 10. e5 Ng8 11. a4 a5 12. Ne2 Bc5+ 13. d4 Bb6 14. c3 Ne7 15. Be3 Nf5 
16. Bf2 O-O 17. g4 Ne7 18. h4 f6 19. Be3 fxe5 20. fxe5 Be4 21. Ng3 Bxf3 
22. Bxf3 Ng6 23. h5 Nf4 24. Qd2 Nh3+ 25. Kg2 Ng5 26. Bxg5 Qxg5 27. Qxg5 hxg5 
28. Be2 Rxf1 29. Rxf1 Rf8 30. Rxf8+ Nxf8 31. Nf1 Bd8 32. Nh2 Nh7 33. Nf3 Kf7 
34. Kf2 g6 35. Bd3 Nf8 36. hxg6+ Nxg6 37. Bxg6+ Kxg6 38. Ke3 Be7 39. Kd3 b5 
40. b3 bxa4 41. bxa4 c5 42. c4 cxd4 43. Kxd4 dxc4 44. Kxc4 Bb4 45. Kb5 Bc3 
46. Kc6 Kf7 47. Kd6 Kg6 48. Kxe6 1-0

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In two days, the reminder post with the tournament link and time will be up. Looking forward to the next round. Special thanks to @edicted for the idea of rewarding brilliant games weekly.

See You on Saturday!

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Thanks For Reading!