Two days ago, June 19, 2025, was yet another Liga Team Battle, but this time our opponents saw a different side of the Blockchain Chess Team. We won the event with a total of 294 points, out of 10 active chess teams and 184 chess players.

_{Image designed by @schamangerbert}

Coming from a not-too-good position of sixth place in the last round, we knew things had to be different this time around. Players were all set as I took it upon myself to give all players a heads up at least 30 minutes before the event.

Leading the Team to victory in our attack frontline was our always-ready MVP, in the person of @poseout87 playing under the Lichess username ManFromSpain. With a brilliant rating performance of 2411, a win rate of 64%, a berserk rate of 73%, and a total of 22 games played, he was able to bring in 54 points for the team, finishing in 3rd place in the player's final standings.

Next on the line, as it was a two-man attack formation, was @stuffings. Africa's first chess player to play the highest-rated chess player, Magnus Carlsen, in the Chess World Cup held in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 2017. Also, he recently dropped his introductory post on Hive, where you can get to know more about him.

Meet IM Stuffings - My Introduction to Hive

As an International Master of chess, stuffings didn't fail to deliver points for his team. With a rating performance of 2208, a win rate of 51%, a berserk rate of 95%, and a total of 21 games played, stuffings brought in 44 points and finished in 6th place on the final player's standings.

Poseout and stuffings were not the only players that led the Blockchain Chess Team to victory, as there were some good performances from all our top 8 players.

queen5layer (@chessdev17) bringing in 37 points
Jonbellionfan (@kintokris) bringing in 37 points
TheMadman4rmDaSouth (@mendelito) bringing in 36 points
nevagivup (@salaks.chess) bringing in 32 points
tangible_ay (@tangibleay)bringing in 31 points
just_ola (@justola1) bringing in 22 points

And most importantly, thanks to all 21 players who joined the tournament under the Blockchain Chess Team banner. As @stayoutoftherz will say, you all kept our opponents busy.

Some Exciting Games

Stuffings vs CM malkalmardgh

The position springs from a Zukertort Opening: Sicilian Invitation, where all white pieces are focused on the black king. The queen on c2 and the bishop on b1 form a strong battery along the b1-h7 diagonal, posing a potential threat to the black king if a strong defensive measure is not taken.

This setup from the white queen and bishop is what later goes on to win the game for stuffings, and this is why:

The white pawn on h5 poses a strong threat to black's defensive options, as black is limited from playing the move g6, as hxg6 comes in next for white, causing more problems for black. That is not all, the white pawn on e5 does the same thing as well. Limiting black from playing f6 as that will also lead to some complications for black.

The white queen and bishop finally enter black's territory, and from this position in an IM's hand, it is almost over as the rook on f6 drops next and possibly more pieces in the near future, or even worse, a checkmate.

Here is the game link. You can check it out:

Stuffings vs CM malkalmardgh on Lichess

TheMadman4rmDaSouth vs LiamCleryChess

In this Englund Gambit Declined: Reversed French position, white decides to forgo opening principles of developing your pieces, instead going ahead to launch an attack on the black king with the move Qh5. This choice of move is quite sharp as white has space on the king side, and given the berserk time of 2:30 mins on the clock, both players have to be fast with their response

g6??

And that is the move that wraps up the game for black. g6 is a blunder because what comes next is a checkmate in five moves:

fxg6 fxg6
Bxg6!! hxg6
Qxg6+ Kh8
Rf7 Rg8
Qh7#

After this is the sac that wins the game (Bxg6!), the checkmate will be coming in soon.

From here, the checkmate cannot be stopped. So black resigned.

Here is the game link. You can check it out:

TheMadman4rmDaSouth vs LiamCleryChess

Also,

The tournament had the presence of a chess grandmaster from Slovakia playing for the Polish chess team. Although his team came in at 6th place despite his 71 points, 2596 rating performance, 17 games won, and a 100% berserk rate, he only lost a game to a 2394-rated player and finished in 1st position on the player final standings.

SchtolcAndreyIvanich vs GM Funo09

A typical position that arises from the Alekhine Defense: Two Pawns Attack
White goes for an early attack on the knight on c6, also causing tension in the black camp as the pawn on e6 is pinned by the white rook on e1.

Although the grandmaster found a good defensive move for the previous position, the game became more interesting when white sacs a rook for a bishop and possibly an attack on the poorly placed black king.

Even better, black sacs back in an attempt to create counterplay with Qd6+

Then the grandmaster's queen gets strapped, with no safe square to run to. Although black went ahead to capture the rook with his queen, continuing the fight with his remaining piece, the game lasted for 73 moves until the grandmaster blundered a rook on move 72 (Kf8).