Yesterday, August 3rd, was yet another round of the Liga Team Chess Battle, and this time we were playing in Division 4, having been promoted the last time we played. I didn't do well in this round. I lost most of my games, winning only 3 games out of 15 games played. It was not a good night.
Additionally, it was not beneficial for the Blockchain Chess Team either. The team finished in 9th place out of 10 teams with a total of 155 points. This means we will be playing in Liga 5 again in the next round.
Despite the not-so-good performance, we still had an outstanding performance from a player. @mendelito known as TheMadman4rmDaSouth on Lichess. He had a total of 40 points and finished 5th on the player's ranking, making it the first time he debuted as our Most Valuable Player.
Let's take a long look at some games played, starting with a game from our MVP.
TheMadman4rmDaSouth(1) 2135 vs entrenadorfawn 2326 (0)
This position springs from the Indian Defense, where black chooses fast development over placing pawns at the center. I think in all my years of knowing Mendelito, I have never seen him deviate from playing d4, his favourite pet line. For there is one play I am sure to play, d4 is Mendelito.
This got interesting in the position at this point. White has successfully created two passed pawns along the queenside on the chessboard. This means black needs to be precise in his defensive choices if not get into a bad position in no time.
One unique thing about this game is the fluctuation of the engine bar on who has the advantage. Sometimes it's black and other times it is white. Simply on and off, and this is because both players berserk one another. That means they only get to play with a 1:30-minute time control instead of 3 minutes.
As I predicted earlier, the pawns have gone far into black's camp, and it will be hard to stop them at this point. All black can do at this point is give up the piece (Knight), and still face the problem of the passed pawns.
Here is the game link,
Game Link
And the Game PGN
[Event "Lichess Liga 4A Team Battle"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/io6Nyqwm"]
[Date "2025.08.03"]
[White "TheMadman4rmDaSouth"]
[Black "entrenadorfawn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "io6Nyqwm"]
[UTCDate "2025.08.03"]
[UTCTime "19:34:16"]
[WhiteElo "2135"]
[BlackElo "2326"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+9"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-9"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "180+0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[Opening "Indian Defense"]
[Termination "Time forfeit"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. e3 b6 3. Nf3 Bb7 4. Nbd2 d6 5. Bd3 g6 6. b3 Bg7 7. Bb2 O-O 8. O-O c5 9. Qe2 Nc6 10. a3 a6 11. c4 cxd4 12. exd4 d5 13. c5 bxc5 14. dxc5 a5 15. Ne5 Nxe5 16. Bxe5 e6 17. b4 axb4 18. axb4 Nd7 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Nf3 Qc7 21. Bb5 Bc6 22. Bxc6 Qxc6 23. Rfc1 Rfb8 24. b5 Rxa1 25. Qb2+ f6 26. bxc6 Rxb2 27. Rxa1 Nxc5 28. c7 Ne4 29. c8=Q Kh6 30. Qf8+ Kh5 31. Qf7 Ng5 32. Nxg5 Kxg5 33. Qxe6 Rb4 34. Qxd5+ Kh6 35. Qd2+ g5 36. Qxb4 Kg6 37. g4 1-0
ValMir76 2272 (0) vs jaki01 2225 (1)
I had to pick this game because black's interesting choice to castle to the kingside despite not having a pawn on g6. This means the g-file is open to possible kingside attack from white, and it is only the bishop on g7 that is serving as the defender in the given position. Well, the choice to me remains daring. There are chess players who run away from potential dangers, and there are chess players who run towards potential dangers. I guess @jaki01 is one to run towards such danger. Now the attack mounts, the bishop pair is coming for the black king. At this point engine gives white a +3 advantage, but as it is well said in chess, it is not over until it is over. White did a good job in holding off his advantage for a long time, but the moment he began to trade off pieces, the advantage slowly dropped. But when he made the last mistake of underestimating a passed pawn, all the advantage went out the door. Once again, a passed pawn changed the course of the game. Moral of the lesson: do not underestimate a passed pawn. Here is the game link: And the Game PGN That is a wrap for this round. See you in the next round. I am @samostically. I love to talk and write about chess because I benefited a lot from playing chess, and I love writing about chess. ♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟
Game Link[Event "Lichess Liga 4A Team Battle"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/F89n0DSj"]
[Date "2025.08.03"]
[White "ValMir76"]
[Black "jaki01"]
[Result "0-1"]
[GameId "F89n0DSj"]
[UTCDate "2025.08.03"]
[UTCTime "18:56:01"]
[WhiteElo "2272"]
[BlackElo "2225"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "-7"]
[BlackRatingDiff "+6"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "180+0"]
[ECO "A10"]
[Opening "English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Defense"]
[Termination "Time forfeit"]
1. c4 f5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. d3 g6 4. e4 d6 5. h3 Bg7 6. exf5 gxf5 7. Nge2 e5 8. d4 Nc6 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Ng3 O-O 11. Be2 Bd7 12. O-O Kh8 13. Bg5 Qe8 14. Nh5 Nxh5 15. Bxh5 Ng6 16. Re1 Qc8 17. Bxg6 hxg6 18. Qd2 f4 19. Bxf4 Bc6 20. Nd5 Qf5 21. Bg3 Rf7 22. Ne7 Qh5 23. Nxc6 bxc6 24. Re4 Bf6 25. Rae1 Raf8 26. Re8 Kg7 27. Rxf8 Rxf8 28. b3 Qf5 29. Qe3 Bg5 30. Qxa7 Rf7 31. Qd4+ Bf6 32. Qg4 Qc2 33. Re2 Qd1+ 34. Kh2 Qa1 35. Qe6 Qd1 36. Qe8 Qd4 37. Qe4 Qa1 38. Qg4 Qc3 39. h4 d5 40. h5 Qd3 41. Qxg6+ Qxg6 42. hxg6 Kxg6 43. cxd5 cxd5 44. Rc2 d4 45. Bxc7 Rd7 46. Bf4 d3 47. Rd2 Bc3 48. Rd1 d2 49. g3 Kf5 50. Kg2 Ke4 51. Kf1 Kd3 52. Bxd2 Bxd2 53. a4 Kc2 54. Ra1 Kxb3 55. Rb1+ Kxa4 56. Rb8 Ka5 57. Kg2 Bb4 58. Rg8 Bd6 59. f4 Kb6 60. Kh3 Kc6 61. Kg4 Kd5 62. f5 Re7 63. Rg6 Re4+ 64. Kf3 Be5 0-1
