Yesterday, August 7, 2025, marked the final round for the Blockchain Chess Team in the Liga Chess Team Battle. It was a close one, considering the few players who participated, but they put up a good fight for the team. We finished 131 points, so did the Teams that finished 5th and 6th.

Our Most Valuable Player for the final round was @mendelito, who played quite well recently toward the last few rounds of the Team Battle. Getting the MVP badge for the team back-to-back now. Also, a huge thank you to @stayoutoftherz for the 10 Hive prize I received for being the player with the most participation in the Liga Team Battle, and he also gave @poseout87 10 Hive for being the top scorer for the Blockchain Team.

For now, guys, stay updated with @sam.chess for more HiveChess Saturday Tournament, @sammy00 for more Chess960 tournament, and probably in September or October for @stayoutoftherz HiveChess tournament, which already has 700 Hive in the prize pool and more to come.

For a more detailed report about the Liga Team Chess Battle, check out this post:

This was the Lichess Liga Team Battle Reloaded - All the numbers!

Let's look at some games played in this round.

Papapitufo1971 2246 (0) vs TheMadman4rmDaSouth 2147 (1)

1. d4 c5 2. d5 d6 3. e4 f5?

It is not every day you get to see a Benoni defense played this way, where black black is going for f5 quite early on in the game. This shows that black is not going to choose the passive option in the game; instead, an all-out attack will be his style, and he has shown this already with f5.

4. Bb5+ Bd7 5. Bxd7+ Qxd7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. a4

Not too long after, white drops a center pawn, and I like I said, black is not here for some passive play; he says the free pawn and grabs it immediately. Now, white has to play with a pawn down, but let's see where the game becomes interesting for black to win.

A simple pawn push was all it took to bring white crumbling. Despite how simple the pawn push may look, it follows the idea of attacking the defender or deflecting it away. When a piece you want to capture is being defended by another piece, simply attack the defender, so the defender moves the piece will drop. Here, the rook is being attacked by the pawn, but once it moves, the bishop on f4 drops immediately. Now you see the move is simple but very strong.

Despite being an exchange up, black still kept the fight alive by bringing his two rooks to the second rank. A very strong decision you can make with your rooks, as it strengthens any attack you may have planned with your rooks. The more they are, the stronger their threat.

You can use the game link to watch the game:
Game Link

Or the Game PGN:

[Event "Lichess Liga 5B Team Battle"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/CjEtN9Bn"]
[Date "2025.08.07"]
[White "Papapitufo1971"]
[Black "TheMadman4rmDaSouth"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A43"]
[Opening "Benoni Defense: Old Benoni"]
[TimeControl "180+2"]

1. d4 c5 2. d5 d6 3. e4 f5 4. Bb5+ Bd7 5. Bxd7+ Qxd7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. a4 Nxe4 
8. Nxe4 fxe4 9. Ne2 e6 10. Nc3 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. dxe6 Qxe6 13. Re1 Qf5 
14. Qd5+ Qxd5 15. Nxd5 Nc6 16. Rxe4 Bf6 17. Nxf6+ Rxf6 18. c3 Kf7 
19. Bf4 d5 20. Re5 Nxe5 21. Bxe5 Re6 22. Bg3 Rae8 23. Kf1 d4 24. cxd4 cxd4 
25. Rd1 Rd8 26. Rd3 Rc8 27. Rd1 Rc2 28. f3 Rxb2 29. Rxd4 h6 30. h4 Ree2 
31. Rd7+ Kg6 32. Rd6+ Kh7 33. Rd7 Rec2 34. Rd1 Rxg2 35. Be5 Ra2 36. Rd7 Rgc2 
37. Rxg7+ Kh8 38. Rxb7+ Kg8 39. Rb1 Rf2+ 40. Kg1 Rg2+ 41. Kh1 Rge2 
42. Bf4 Rf2 43. Bxh6 Rxf3 44. Bg5 Rh3+ 45. Kg1 Rhh2 46. a5 Rag2+ 47. Kf1 Rh1+ 
48. Kxg2 Rxb1 49. Bd8 Rb3 50. Bc7 Kf7 51. Bf4 Kg6 52. Kf2 Kh5 53. Bg5 Kg4 
54. Ke2 Ra3 55. Bd8 Kf4 56. Kd2 Ke4 57. Kc2 Kd4 58. Bf6+ Kc4 59. Kb2 Rxa5 
60. Bg5 Rf5 61. Ka3 Kb5 62. Kb3 Rf3+ 63. Kc2 a5 64. h5 Rf5 65. h6 Rxg5 0-1

ekuliev 2323 (0) vs Dakods-16 2240 (1)

Although Dakods did not play a lot of games during the last round of the team battle, I found this one interesting because of the unusual opening name it has and how rare it is.

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nd7 3. c3 e5 4. dxe5 dxe5 5. Bc4 Bc5 6. Ne2 Ngf6 7. Ng3

I know there are some funny chess openings out there, but this one has to be the funniest. The name of the opening is called the Rat Defense. I guess this has to be the height of it all, as I did not expect to see a chess opening with such a name.

The game went for a couple of moves, but it got interesting at this point when Black decided to forgo the bishop on g4 and instead played Qc5, creating a threat on the pawn on e3 and possibly the white king on g1.

White for the black bishop on g4, which was not the best. His king is open to threats and in a couple of moves, black with gain his piece back with advantage due to the position of the white king.

Rd2 sealed the deal, and it was over for white from here. If he goes ahead to save his queen, he falls for checkmate, and if he creates a counterattack on the black queen, which he did, he loses his rook.

You can watch the game through the game link:

Game Link

or the Game pgn:

[Event "Lichess Liga 5B Team Battle"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/XufB47OR"]
[Date "2025.08.07"]
[Round "-"]
[White "ekuliev"]
[Black "Dakods-16"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2323"]
[BlackElo "2240"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "-7"]
[BlackRatingDiff "+7"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "180+2"]
[ECO "B00"]
[Opening "Rat Defense: Antal Defense"]
[Termination "Normal"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nd7 3. c3 e5 4. dxe5 dxe5 5. Bc4 Bc5 6. Ne2 Ngf6 7. Ng3 O-O 8. O-O h6 9. Bb3 Nb6 10. Qe2 Bg4 11. Qc2 a5 12. a3 a4 13. Ba2 c6 14. Be3 Qe7 15. Nd2 Rad8 16. h3 Bxe3 17. fxe3 Qc5 18. hxg4 Qxe3+ 19. Rf2 Qxg3 20. Rf3 Qxg4 21. Raf1 Qg5 22. Nc4 Nxc4 23. Bxc4 Rd2 24. Rg3 Rxc2 25. Rxg5 hxg5 0-1

That is a wrap for Liga Chess, until next time.

♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟

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