_{Image designed by @schamangerbert}

Yesterday, July 17th, was yet another Liga Team Chess Battle for the Blockchain Chess Team, and this time we came well-prepared for a fight. Our guns and arsenal of mind-blowing tactics were fully loaded for battle, and thanks to the Strange Twins of Nigerian Chess, Gmdalods and his brother Dakods-16. They both contributed good points to the Blockchain Team, and other players were on their game. In this round, we came in second place, 15 points away from first place.

In this round, IM @tenny-trigah was our Most Valuable Player, bringing in a total of 39 points, followed by @poseout87 with 35 points. To everyone who played, a huge shoutout to you all, and every point you brought means a lot to the team. Hopefully, on Sunday, we might finish 1st.

Let's look at some exciting games played in the tournament, starting with the game played by our MVP against a 2500-rated International Master.

Tenny-trigah 2368 (1) vs IM Maltinho 2531 (0)

A simple position from the Queen's Gambit Declined where both players have berserked one another and they are only playing with 1:30 minutes on their clock, making the game more exciting and fast.

This is when the black ran into a problem by falling for a fork by the white knight on c7. Now his queen and his rook on e8 are under attack, and one of them will be captured on white's next move.

Rxg7 seals the deal for white, as what comes next after Qxg7 is Qxe8 with a strong attack that will put black on the defensive and, if not careful, even drop more pieces.

Rf3! and that is game over for black, since Rg3 is coming up next and the only we to stop this is by moving the black king away, but that means the Knight on f8 will drop next.

This was an interesting game because of how a simple position turned into an aggressive position filled with positional tactics, all starting from a fork of two pieces.

Here is the link to the game if you would like to check the game out:
Game Link

And here is the Game PGN:

[Event "Lichess Liga 3C Team Battle"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/XbGxoc9u"]
[Date "2025.07.17"]
[White "Tenny-trigah"]
[Black "Maltinho"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2368"]
[BlackElo "2531"]
[Opening "Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Reshevsky Variation"]


1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 exd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bg5 c6 6. Qc2 h6 7. Bh4 g6 8. e3 Bf5 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Bg7 11. Nge2 Nbd7 12. O-O O-O 13. f3 Qb6 14. e4 dxe4 15. fxe4 Rae8 16. Kh1 c5 17. e5 Nh7 18. Nd5 Qe6 19. Nc7 Qg4 20. Nxe8 Rxe8 21. Rf4 Qe6 22. Raf1 cxd4 23. Nxd4 Qxe5 24. Rxf7 Nc5 25. Qxg6 Qxd4 26. Rxg7+ Qxg7 27. Qxe8+ Nf8 28. Be7 Ne6 29. Bxf8 Nxf8 30. Rf3 Kh7 31. Qxf8 Qd7 32. Rf7+ Qxf7 33. Qxf7+ 1-0

ZGM_Samostically 2136 vs CM Guillermotello2150 2376

This is an interesting game I played in the tournament. I must say my precise and attacking calculation was sharp for this game, as I exploited certain weaknesses against a Candidate Master (CM) with a rating of 2376.

This position springs from a Pirc Defense: Classical Variation, where I followed opening principles to the core. All my pieces are developed, and my king has been taken to safety by castling. Although the queens have been traded off, there is still room for tactics on the board with the remaining pieces.

The tactics in the game began with Nxc7, where I captured an extra pawn and at the same time attacked the black rook on a8, forcing my opponent to respond to my attack. Aside from the threat on a8, black is going to have a double-crossed pawn structure after I capture the bishop on e6 with my knight.

And that is what I did, which brought about the above position. Now, the next thing on my plan is to exploit the weakness in black's position with the double-crossed pawn on e6 and e5.

Through my exploitation of the weaknesses in my opponent's position, I have successfully gotten three extra pawns and an active rook, which is more than enough to win this endgame.

In the end, I grabbed his remaining pawns while he was only able to take one of mine. With two passed pawns and a rook that cuts the black king off from coming over to stop the pawns. With this, it was more than enough for me to win the game, and I did.

Here is the game link if you would like to check the game out:
Game Link

And here is the Game PGN:

[Event "Lichess Liga 3C Team Battle"]
[White "ZGM_Samostically"]
[Black "Guillermotello2150"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "PyhRqQob"]
[UTCDate "2025.07.17"]
[UTCTime "19:04:38"]
[WhiteElo "2136"]
[BlackElo "2376"]
[Opening "Pirc Defense: Classical Variation, Quiet System, Chigorin Line"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O Nc6 7. Be3 e5 8. dxe5 dxe5 9. Qxd8 Rxd8 10. Rad1 Be6 11. h3 h6 12. Bb5 Nb4 13. Ba4 b5 14. Nxb5 Nxe4 15. Nxc7 Rac8 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Bb3 Nd5 18. c4 Nb6 19. Bxb6 axb6 20. Rxd8+ Rxd8 21. Rd1 Rc8 22. Re1 Nd6 23. Nxe5 Bxe5 24. Rxe5 Nxc4 25. Bxc4 Rxc4 26. Rxe6 Rc1+ 27. Kh2 Kf7 28. Rxb6 Rc2 29. a4 Rxf2 30. a5 Rf1 31. a6 Ra1 32. Rb7+ Ke6 33. a7 Kd5 34. b4 Kc6 35. Rg7 Kb5 36. Rxg6 Rxa7 37. Rxh6 Kxb4 38. Re6 Kc5 39. Re1 Kd5 40. h4 Kd4 41. Kh3 Kd5 42. g4 Ra3+ 43. Kg2 Ra2+ 44. Kf3 Ra4 45. h5 Ra3+ 46. Kf4 Ra4+ 47. Kg5 Ra5 48. h6 Kd6+ 49. Kg6 Ra8 50. h7 Kd5 51. Kg7 Kd4 52. h8=Q Rxh8 53. Kxh8 Kd3 54. Rf1 Kd2 55. g5 Kd3 56. Rf7 Ke2 57. g6 Ke3 58. g7 Ke4 59. g8=Q Ke5 60. Qe8+ Kd6 61. Rd7+ 1-0

That is a wrap for this round, and I will see you all on Sunday for the next round. For more details about the tournament, check out Lichess Liga Team Battle: We almost caused a sensation - Next round this Sunday! from @stayoutoftherz.

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Thanks For Reading!