Welcome! Chess fans, to the Games showcase post, where we will look at some interesting games from the twelfth 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.

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

@mendelito vs @maestroask

Mendelito emerged victorious as the winner of Round 12 of the HiveChess Saturday Tournament. It happens to be his first time, and he did it in style, with a 69% win rate, 100% berserk rate, and a performance of 2277. One of the players he brought down in his conquest to winning the event was @maestroask.

1. d4 d6 2. e3 g6 3. Bd3 Bg7 4. Nf3 e5 5. Nbd2 Qe7 6. O-O

The game opens with a Queen's Pawn Game, and I am not surprised that the position setup for black is not like a conventional opening. Maestroask, who is well known for playing unorthodox or unconventional lines, played it again in this game; while Mendelito, played a simple setup that is similar to the London System or Colle System.

33. Ng7??

White gained a +3 advantage after black played Ng7. Why?

This is what I share in my endgame tip series in tip 1, where I spoke about the king. One should activate their king as early as possible when it comes to the endgame, where there are fewer pieces on the chessboard. This is what white employed in this position, his king will be coming to e3 on its next move, and black's bishop d1 is now trapped. Once the white king threatens the bishop, it will fall on its next move.

59. Kf5

The advantage has gotten too clear at this point with white's king being fully active and black not only having a more passive king but also being down a mate. It became hard to play anymore, as the time was up. Nice one from Mendelito is exploiting Black's weakness with an active king.

Here is the game link
Game Link

And here is the Game PGN:

[Event "Saturday HiveChess S1R12 Arena"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/DIhzG4DZ"]
[Date "2025.09.20"]
[White "TheMadman4rmDaSouth"]
[Black "Odnoobraz_bcm"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "DIhzG4DZ"]
[UTCDate "2025.09.20"]
[UTCTime "15:33:34"]
[WhiteElo "2153"]
[BlackElo "2496"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+14"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-13"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "180+0"]
[ECO "A41"]
[Opening "Queen's Pawn Game"]
[Termination "Time forfeit"]

1. d4 d6 2. e3 g6 3. Bd3 Bg7 4. Nf3 e5 5. Nbd2 Qe7 6. O-O Nd7 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. b3 Nh6 9. e4 O-O 10. a4 Rd8 11. Qe2 f6 12. Ba3 Qe8 13. Rad1 Nf7 14. Nc4 Bf8 15. Bb2 Be7 16. Ne3 c6 17. Bc4 Nf8 18. Bxf7+ Qxf7 19. Rxd8 Bxd8 20. Rd1 Be7 21. Nc4 Ne6 22. Nd6 Bxd6 23. Rxd6 Nf4 24. Qd2 Be6 25. g3 Nh5 26. Rd8+ Rxd8 27. Qxd8+ Kg7 28. Qd6 Qd7 29. Qxd7+ Bxd7 30. Bc1 Bg4 31. Ne1 Bd1 32. f3 Kf7 33. Kf2 Ng7 34. Ke3 Ne6 35. Kd2 Bxc2 36. Nxc2 Ng5 37. Ke2 Ne6 38. Be3 Ke8 39. Bxa7 Kd7 40. Be3 c5 41. Kd3 Kc6 42. Na3 b6 43. Nb5 f5 44. exf5 gxf5 45. Bd2 Kd5 46. Nc3+ Kc6 47. Be3 Kd6 48. Kc4 Kc6 49. Nb5 f4 50. gxf4 exf4 51. Bd2 Ng5 52. Bxf4 Nxf3 53. Bg3 Nd2+ 54. Kd3 Nxb3 55. Kc3 Na5 56. Kd3 Nb7 57. Nc3 Nd8 58. Ke4 Ne6 59. Kf5 1-0

Game 2

@jaki01 vs @justfavour

1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 h6 3. Bh4 Nf6 4. Bxf6 gxf6 5. c4 Bg7 6. cxd5 Qxd5

It was yet another Queen's Pawn Game for this game between Jaki and Justfavour, but this time it was the Levitsky Attack. Not a popular opening you get to see played in regular chess games, but it is nice when it resurfaces. It shows that there are a lot of chess openings out there. Justfavour is another player who did well in the round. I would like to describe him as the sheep in the pack of wolves because of his rating, but he still managed to finish ahead of a couple of strong players. Nice one.

48. Rxc7??

The advantage took a while before it came in for Justfavour but it finally did when white made a blunder by using his rook to capture a well-defended pawn by the knight on b5. This is what time pressure can do to a chess player as Jaki was down on time since he went berserk just to gain more points if he won. After taking the rook Justfavour was not another 1800-rated player. He wrapped up the game neatly.

Here is the Game link:
Game Link

And here is the PGN:

[Event "Saturday HiveChess S1R12 Arena"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/REIsUuts"]
[Date "2025.09.20"]
[White "jaki01"]
[Black "justfavour"]
[Result "0-1"]
[GameId "REIsUuts"]
[UTCDate "2025.09.20"]
[UTCTime "15:19:01"]
[WhiteElo "2321"]
[BlackElo "1823"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "-11"]
[BlackRatingDiff "+13"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "180+0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[Opening "Queen's Pawn Game: Levitsky Attack"]
[Termination "Time forfeit"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 h6 3. Bh4 Nf6 4. Bxf6 gxf6 5. c4 Bg7 6. cxd5 Qxd5 7. Nc3 Qd8 8. e4 Bd7 9. Bc4 a6 10. Qb3 O-O 11. Qxb7 Nc6 12. Qb3 Nxd4 13. Qd1 Ne6 14. Nge2 Bc6 15. O-O Qxd1 16. Rfxd1 Rad8 17. Rac1 Bb7 18. Nd5 Bxd5 19. exd5 Ng5 20. Bxa6 Ra8 21. Bc4 Ra7 22. a3 Ne4 23. f3 Nd6 24. Ba2 Rb8 25. Rc2 Rab7 26. b4 Ra8 27. Rc3 f5 28. Rcd3 Rba7 29. Nd4 Rxa3 30. Rxa3 Rxa3 31. Bb1 Bxd4+ 32. Rxd4 Rb3 33. Bc2 Rb2 34. Ba4 Kg7 35. h4 e6 36. dxe6 fxe6 37. Kh2 Kf6 38. Kg3 Ke7 39. h5 Re2 40. b5 e5 41. Rd5 f4+ 42. Kg4 Kf6 43. Kh3 Re1 44. Kh2 Ra1 45. Bb3 Rb1 46. Ba4 Rb2 47. Rc5 Nxb5 48. Rxc7 Nxc7 49. Bc6 Rb6 50. Be4 Rd6 51. g3 Nd5 52. Kh3 fxg3 53. Kxg3 Ne3 54. Kf2 Nf5 55. Ke2 Rb6 56. Kd3 Rb2 0-1

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

See You on Saturday!

Thanks For Reading!

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