Yesterday, the 20th of July 2025, was yet another Team Chess Battle for the Blockchain Chess Team, where we fought a tough fight but still finished in second place for the second time. The tournament speaks for itself as we were in the lead when it was 12 minutes to the end of the tournament, but our fate took a turn for the worse within those 12 minutes. It was so shocking that I felt this round was going to be our best shot to qualify to Liga 2 since it was 5+0 flat, unlike the previous round that had added time, 3+2.
Our Most Valued Player for this round was @queenslayer, bringing in a total of 33 points, followed by @stuffings bringing in 32 points. As usual, a big shoutout to @stayoutoftherz for sending in the notification for the tournament to all the blockchain team players and every one of my fellow blockchain teammates. Thanks for participating. Your help is greatly appreciated.
In this post, we will be looking at games we lost which caused us to finish in second place on the tournament standings.
kaliopi 2232 (1) vs queen5layer 2398 (0)
Quite an unusual way to play the English opening if you ask me, but with Black's response, one can tell that these players could probably be familiar with unusual openings or unusual setups.
The tactical blow came in for white on move 26 after playing a simple pawn push to c6, putting black in a lot of trouble since the passed pawn on the c-file will cause black to sacrifice his rook.
Sacrificing the rook for the knight is what black did on his next move, but it is already too late because white passed pawn is far gone.
Even after the rook sacrifice for white's knight and bishop, black will still have to drop a piece now that white has played c7. Knight on d5 is already pinned, so it cannot capture the passed pawn, leaving only Qxc7 as the only viable move, and Black will pick up the free knight on d5.
Here is the game link:
Game Link
And here is the Game PGN:
[Event "Lichess Liga 3C Team Battle"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/ms61Assz"]
[Date "2025.07.20"]
[White "kaliopi"]
[Black "queen5layer"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "ms61Assz"]
[UTCDate "2025.07.20"]
[UTCTime "19:26:50"]
[WhiteElo "2232"]
[BlackElo "2398"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+8"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-8"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "300+0"]
[ECO "A36"]
[Opening "English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Ultra-Symmetrical Variation"]
[Termination "Normal"]
1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. a3 e5 6. b4 d6 7. Rb1 Nge7 8. Nf3 O-O 9. O-O Be6 10. d3 h6 11. bxc5 dxc5 12. Rxb7 Qc8 13. Rb5 Nd4 14. Nxd4 cxd4 15. Ne4 Rb8 16. Qb3 Rxb5 17. Qxb5 Bh3 18. Bd2 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 f5 20. Nd6 Qe6 21. Bb4 Rd8 22. c5 e4 23. Qc4 Nd5 24. c6 Rxd6 25. Bxd6 Qxd6 26. c7 Qxc7 27. Qxd5+ Kh7 28. dxe4 f4 29. Rb1 Qc2 30. Re1 fxg3 31. hxg3 Qc3 32. Rb1 Qxa3 33. Rb7 Qf8 34. Rxa7 Kh8 35. Qf7 Qxf7 36. Rxf7 Kh7 37. Rd7 g5 38. Kf3 Kg6 39. g4 Be5 40. Rd5 Kf6 41. Kg2 Ke6 42. Kf1 Bg7 43. Ke1 Be5 44. Kd2 Bf6 45. Kd3 Bg7 46. Rxd4 Bf6 47. f3 Be5 48. e3 Bd6 49. Rd5 Be5 50. Rb5 Bg7 51. Rf5 Bb2 52. f4 Bf6 53. e5 Be7 54. Ke4 Bd8 55. Rf8 Be7 56. Rh8 gxf4 57. Rxh6+ Kf7 58. exf4 Kg7 59. Ra6 Bf8 60. f5 Kf7 61. g5 Kg8 1-0
dzhalil_sultanov 1984 (1) vs ZGM_Samostically 2127 (0)
This is a game I lost that caused the team. It was the penultimate game at the end of the tournament, and I lost due to a misclick. I wanted to play Rf8; instead, I played Re8. A blunder into the hands of a fork from the bishop after Bxf7.
Here is the game link:
Game Link
And the Game PGN:
[Event "Lichess Liga 3C Team Battle"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/MTqKBWNJ"]
[Date "2025.07.20"]
[White "dzhalil_sultanov"]
[Black "ZGM_Samostically"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "MTqKBWNJ"]
[UTCDate "2025.07.20"]
[UTCTime "19:29:37"]
[WhiteElo "1984"]
[BlackElo "2127"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+8"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-8"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "300+0"]
[ECO "C56"]
[Opening "Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Open Variation"]
[Termination "Normal"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 Nxe4 5. dxe5 Nc5 6. O-O Be7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. h3 Ne6 9. Be3 d6 10. exd6 Bxd6 11. Ne4 Be7 12. Qe2 Ned4 13. Nxd4 Nxd4 14. Bxd4 Qxd4 15. Rad1 Qe5 16. Qf3 Bf5 17. Rfe1 Bxe4 18. Rxe4 Qf6 19. Qxf6 Bxf6 20. Rd7 Rac8 21. c3 h6 22. Re3 Rfd8 23. Red3 Re8 24. Bxf7+ Kf8 25. Bxe8 Rxe8 26. g3 Re1+ 27. Kg2 Be5 28. Re3 Rxe3 29. fxe3 Ke8 30. Rd5 Bd6 31. Kf3 Ke7 32. e4 Ke6 33. Rf5 g6 34. Rd5 Be5 35. g4 Bh2 36. Rd8 b6 37. Rg8 Kf6 38. Ra8 a5 39. b4 Be5 40. bxa5 bxa5 41. Rxa5 Bxc3 42. Ra6+ Ke5 43. Rxg6 Bd2 44. Rc6 Ba5 45. Rc5+ Kd4 46. Rxa5 Kc3 47. Rc5+ Kb4 48. Rxc7 Ka3 49. Rh7 Kxa2 50. Rxh6 Kb3 51. Rd6 Kc3 52. e5 Kc4 53. e6 Kc5 54. Rd8 Kc4 55. e7 1-0
Schacher100 2238 (1) vs stuffings 2293 (0)
Here is the last game our second-most-valued player lost on time. It so sad when you are a piece up but you do not have enough time to convert the advantage into a win. In the above position, black is clearly up a piece and even has a mating position but when it is time over there is nothing you can do anymore. If this game was won by stuffings it would have helped in changing our second-position fate.
Here is the game link:
Game Link
And the Game PGN:
[Event "Lichess Liga 3C Team Battle"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/lTI46sRB"]
[Date "2025.07.20"]
[White "Schacher100"]
[Black "stuffings"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "lTI46sRB"]
[UTCDate "2025.07.20"]
[UTCTime "19:32:38"]
[WhiteElo "2238"]
[BlackElo "2293"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+7"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-6"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "300+0"]
[ECO "A15"]
[Opening "English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, King's Knight Variation"]
[Termination "Time forfeit"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. d4 Nc6 6. Bf4 a6 7. e3 Bg4 8. Be2 e6 9. Rc1 Bd6 10. Bg3 O-O 11. Ne5 Bxe2 12. Qxe2 Rc8 13. O-O Ne7 14. Rc2 Ng6 15. Rfc1 Bxe5 16. dxe5 Nd7 17. f4 Rc4 18. b3 Rc6 19. Na4 Ne7 20. Rxc6 Nxc6 21. Bf2 Qa5 22. Be1 Qd8 23. Bf2 Qe7 24. e4 dxe4 25. Qxe4 Rd8 26. h3 Qa3 27. Rc2 h6 28. Rd2 Qe7 29. g3 Rc8 30. Kg2 f5 31. exf6 Nxf6 32. Qf3 e5 33. fxe5 Qxe5 34. Re2 Qg5 35. Nc5 Nd8 36. b4 a5 37. a3 axb4 38. axb4 b6 39. Ne6 Nxe6 40. Rxe6 b5 41. h4 Qg6 42. Kh3 Rc4 43. Bc5 h5 44. Re3 Qb1 45. Re2 Rc1 46. Rh2 Rf1 47. Qa8+ Kh7 48. Bd4 Qf5+ 49. Kg2 Ne4 50. Qa3 Rd1 51. Qe3 Rd2+ 52. Kg1 Rd1+ 53. Kg2 Qd5 54. Qf3 Qxd4 55. Qxh5+ Kg8 56. Qe8+ Kh7 57. Qh5+ Kg8 58. Qf3 Rd2+ 59. Kh3 Qd7+ 60. g4 1-0
That is a wrap of the games that would have helped us to win the tournament.
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.
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