@eniolw is still leading the Hivechess Candidates Tournament, but @vjap55 is on fire!

Hi chessfans,

yesterday rounds 17 to 21 (of 26) of the HCT were played, and unfortunately @deadleaf and @anomadsoul were completely absent, so all their games were forfeited. Let´s go straight into the results:

Results

Round 17
White		Black
@eniolw	1:0*	@anomadsoul
@b0s	1:0	@falcout
@vasigo	0:1	@rodrook
@sawko	½:½	@vjap55
@jaki01	1:0*	@deadleaf
@samostically	1:0	@pereu4ivatel
Round 18
@falcout	0:1	@eniolw
@rodrook	1:0*	@anomadsoul
@stayoutoftherz	1:0	@b0s
@vjap55	1:0	@vasigo
@pereu4ivatel	0:1	@sawko
@samostically	½:½	@jaki01
Round 19
@eniolw	1:0	@rodrook
@falcout	0:1	@stayoutoftherz
@anomadsoul	0*:1	@vjap55
@b0s	1:0*	@deadleaf
@vasigo	0:1	@pereu4ivatel
@sawko	0:1	@jaki01
Round 20
@stayoutoftherz	½:½	@eniolw
@vjap55	1:0	@rodrook
@deadleaf	0*:1	@falcout
@pereu4ivatel	1:0*	@anomadsoul
@samostically	1:0	@b0s
@jaki01	1:0	@vasigo
Round 21
@eniolw	0:1	@vjap55
@stayoutoftherz	1:0*	@deadleaf
@rodrook	0:1	@pereu4ivatel
@falcout	0:1	@samostically
@anomadsoul	0*:1	@jaki01
@b0s	0:1	@sawko

*indicates a missed game

Player of the day was definitely @vjap55 who scored 4,5 out of 5 despite having tough opponents. He defeated @eniolw again and drew against @sawko! Well done!

In this interesting game of @vjap55 (with Black) against @eniolw, the last move of White (Qh6+) was in fact a mistake and White is surprisingly completely lost already. So much to "a check is always good"! White can´t avoid Ke8-d7 and being pushed back by Rh8. The black Knight aims for f4 - a deadly threat, in combo with the Bishop on d4 and the Rook on the h-file. The white Queen has no fields anymore without losing material.

Check out the game here: https://lichess.org/gje4N7pB/black#57

Other rather surprising results included my draw against @eniolw. After having lost a quality I (with White) somehow was able to survive this position, there is no direct way to win here for Black:

https://lichess.org/FrwTZrrL/white#97

After a lot of maneuvering and managing to activate his king (I failed to prevent this) @eniolw finally found a way to give back the quality at the right moment (at a cost of thinking time), but in this position in time scramble he didn´t find the correct way to continue, but took my pawn with Rc3x? (with Kc3x?? he would have lost immediately due to Rc1+), after which I with Ra4 could eliminate his last pawn on the Queenside and rescue the draw.

Black to move an win:

https://lichess.org/FrwTZrrL/white#131

The cross-table:

Standings

After 21 rounds @eniolw is still leading with 16,5/19 points, but @vjap55 is now second with 16,5/20. He overtook @sawko who is now 3^rd with 15,5 out of 19.

All three have still chances to win the tournament, whereby @eniolw could end up maximally with 21,5 points - more than the others, but he has to face the more difficult pairings. Probably it will come down to the result of the return match between @eniolw and @sawko.

Never has a Hivechess (Friday) season been that close like this one. Will we see a new champion?

Ranking before the final day:

Stay tuned for the final showdown next Friday!