Dear chess fans,
yesterday the final round of S21 was played! It was a 5+0 Swiss tournament over 8 rounds with 17 players of an average rating of 1731.
This time @rosmarly was in great form and managed to get the second rank after IM @maestroask with 7 out of 9(!) in front of @justola1. For both it was the best result in this season! Congratulations to All!
Result table of round 12:
Tournament link: https://lichess.org/swiss/VkCejQtt
Season 21: 26 Sep to 12 Dec 2025 / Final Rankings:
Tournament 1 (0-1499)
| Rank | Hive name | Lichess name | Country | Rating | Rounds played | Points | Performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | @salomijale | summisineon1 | IND | 1461 | 11 | 94 | 1687 |
| 2 | @lailawrites | Ohieku | NGA | 1436 | 10 | 68 | 1480 |
| 3 | @fiona777 | fiona777 | UKR | 1377 | 11 | 54 | 1441 |
| 4 | @spartano | humbertoortega | VEN | 1494 | 6 | 36 | 1630 |
| 5 | @elcholitosanto | RicardoFox | PER | 1349 | 5 | 23 | 1449 |
| 6 | @vasigo | vasigo | SRB | 1110 | 9 | 19 | 1211 |
| 7 | @yonnathang | Yonnathang | VEN | 1276 | 1 | 7 | 1717 |
| 8 | @teooo | teoooForHive | 1467 | 1 | 7 | 1470 | |
| 9(+4) | @inuke | inuke_2025 | IND | 1365 | 2 | 6 | 1420 |
| 10(-1) | @duskobgd | duskobgd | SRB | 1326 | 1 | 5 | 1779 |
| 11(-1) | @dadapizza | knighthammer7 | 997 | 1 | 5 | 1153 | |
| 12(-1) | @ismeris | ismeris | VEN | 1 | 1 |
Tournament 2 (1500-1799)
| Rank | Hive name | Lichess name | Country | Rating | Rounds played | Points | Performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | @giuatt07 | guisep73 | ITA | 1635 | 12 | 148 | 1743 |
| 2 | @justola1 | just_ola | NGA | 1795 | 12 | 136 | 1764 |
| 3 | @sammy00 | migmag | BIH | 1545 | 12 | 127 | 1608 |
| 4 | @lighteye | lighteye | SRB | 1640 | 12 | 117 | 1765 |
| 5(+1) | @ezemhugo | MixzyRagnal | NGA | 1806 | 10 | 99 | 1711 |
| 6(-1) | @stranger27 | stranger27 | UKR | 1656 | 10 | 98 | 1650 |
| 7 | @odic3o1 | odic3o | ECU | 1766 | 7 | 71 | 1723 |
| 8 | @darruiz | darruiz | VEN | 1523 | 9 | 55 | 1631 |
| 9 | @rodrook | RDcast | USA | 1517 | 4 | 36 | 1575 |
| 10 | @schamangerbert | HerbyW | GER | 1601 | 2 | 28 | 1948 |
| 11 | @rafaelaquino | ajedrezclub2t | VEN | 1644 | 2 | 12 | 1821 |
| 12 | @draco2 | Draco2 | NGA | 1771 | 1 | 10 | 1741 |
Tournament 3 (1800-2099)
| Rank | Hive name | Lichess name | Country | Rating | Rounds played | Points | Performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | @stayoutoftherz | stayoutoftherz | AUT | 2054 | 11 | 192 | 2036 |
| 2 | @rosmarly | rosmarly | VEN | 1975 | 11 | 166 | 1898 |
| 3 | @southgamer | SouthGamer | 2032 | 11 | 157 | 1921 | |
| 4 | @justfavour | justfavour | NGA | 1764 | 8 | 107 | 1794 |
| 5 | @dhilan04 | tortyllan | 1963 | 4 | 83 | 1870 | |
| 6 | @madChess64 | MadChess64 | NGA | 1998 | 2 | 45 | 1908 |
| 7 | @fcastro177 | FCastro17 | VEN | 1998 | 2 | 36 | 2074 |
| 8 | @mendelito | TheMadman4rmDaSouth | NGA | 1983 | 1 | 22 | 1900 |
| 9 | @tobijob | tobilobajob | NGA | 1998 | 1 | 20 | 2074 |
| 10 | @maverieux000 | Keylix | 2066 | 1 | 19 | 2154 |
Tournament 4 (2100+)
| Rank | Hive name | Lichess name | Country | Rating | Rounds played | Points | Performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | @maestroask | IM Odnoobraz | RUS | 2585 | 12 | 232 | 2364 |
| 2 | @samostically | ZGM_Samostically | NGA | 2170 | 8 | 161 | 1936 |
| 3 | @tangibleay | Tangible_ay | NGA | 2147 | 6 | 121 | 2139 |
| 4 | @jaki01 | jaki01 | GER | 2291 | 6 | 111 | 2208 |
| 5 | @stuffings | stuffings | NGA | 2262 | 5 | 91 | 2096 |
| 6 | @eniolw | eniolw | VEN | 2442 | 3 | 69 | 2354 |
| 7 | @dalods | Gmdalods-16 | NGA | 2304 | 2 | 55 | 2045 |
| 8 | @dakods | Dakods-16 | NGA | 2259 | 2 | 38 | 2103 |
| 9 | @lucianosky | Pavarotty | NGA | 2337 | 2 | 24 | 2303 |
| 10 | @africanchess | othims | NGA | 2 | 23 | ||
| 11 | @tony1294 | tony1294 | VEN | 1 | 21 |
Of note, @inuke due to his rating was moved from tier 2 to tier 1. Also @ezemhugo is slightly above his tier with his current rating, but over the majority of the season he was in range, so I kept him in tournament 2.
All the results of this season you can look up here (the different tiers are labelled with different colors):
Congratulations to the champions but also to all participants for playing, engaging and upvoting!
Season stats
In season 21 in total 45 players were participating (4 less than in the previous season), also the average participation per round was with 21 players per round much lower than in the previous one (24,2). Quite disappointing given the fact that several new players were onboarded (and supported) recently.
The average rating of players was much higher in this season (1782 compared to 1678 in S20).
The number of players who participated regularly (which is the whole point of a seasonal event over 12 rounds) was even worse this season (>42% of players played only one or two rounds (35% in S20). The number of rounds played on average by the players went down from 6,8 in S19 to 5,9 in S20 and now 5,6 in S21.
Because of this and the minimum participation threshold of 6/12 rounds, only 21 players (47%) qualify for rewards! Only 5 players had played all 12 rounds - half as much as in S20, and in the 2 tournaments above 1800 only one player (<5%) had played all rounds!
The prizepool from the post rewards and the second half of the generous gift from @yabapmatt will be more than 2280 Hive (last season it was 1450 and the season before that it was 960 Hive)! As always, all prizes will be transferred in a week, after the payout of this post (and any other posts using @chesspricepool as beneficiary).
Thank you all for your participation! Without you we could not run this tournament!
There will be now a longer break to wait for the Hive price to recover and to rethink the format, but watch out for some fun tournaments and the monthly Chess960 tournaments from @sammy00!!
Mention List
Potentially of interest to:
@aakrist @abelarte @abimbola753 @acidtiger @africanchess @agreste @aiuna @ajumaa @alberto0607 @alexmag1988 @almightymelon @ambarvegas @anadello @andzhi @anli @anomadsoul @apy @arsenal49 @artistparthoroy @artsbreezy01 @astrolabio @awesomeintrigue @b0s @behiver @beyondhorizonmm @bitsignal @bostonadventures @brijwhiz @burnoutawesome @camiloferrua @castm2 @cerati @chessbrotherspro @chessdev17 @chesthetica @cositav @cryptogee @cryptoniusraptor @cryptoph0823 @ctrpch @dadapizza @dakods @dalods @darruiz @detectblock @dhilan04 @diegofitness92 @digitalis @djbravo @doctorfate @dovycola @draco2 @duskobgd @ebingo @eenriquerivas @elcholitosanto @eliaschess333 @elprofe62 @emeka4 @emerald09551 @elcholitosanto @engilhramn @eniolw @ernestopg @evgsk @ezemhugo @fcastro177 @fiona777 @flaws @franciscomarval @franu @fredaig @gabotask @geo52rey @giacomone @gingerbyna @good-karma @grafo07 @grigorijj @hierro21 @hildemaro @hirohurl @iamchessguy @iammanythings1 @ibizaki @idksamad78699 @inuke @iobates @ironshield @ismeris @jaki01 @jay12y @jesusmgl1995 @jesustiano @jkms @johannfrare @juanmi96 @justfavour @justola1 @katerinaramm @kaungsett8388 @kintokris @konquest @kreur @lailawrites @levitant @lighteye @llag @lucianosky @maciejficek @madchess64 @maestroask @marcusantoniu26 @mario89 @masterswatch @maverieux000 @mdasein @meedo @memess @mendelito @menati @mrsarri @mstafford @mundharmonika @mundocuriosidad @mypathtofire @nanixxx @nftland1989 @nikoszzz @oadissin @odic3o1 @officialrosh1 @og-gamershub @olujay @omonomo @onthewayout @pamboy27 @parung76 @perpz @petreius @philipp87 @phoennix09 @pokerarema @pokermaria @poseout87 @pravesh0 @precab @psicologopoeta @purapapita @queenofthesqrs @rafaelaquino @ram9612 @ramonchis @razzor @reiseamateur @renerondon @rexplanet @rheda @rodrook @ropavejero @rosmarly @roswelborges @sahi1 @salaks.chess @salomijale @sammy00 @samostically @sanjamkapoors @schamangerbert @seki1 @soluce07 @southgamer @spacetoon @spartano @stranger27 @stuffings @suisver @syndmitrij @tangibleay @techstyle @tenny-trigah @teooo @the01crow @thedoc07 @therealflaws @timix648 @timofey @tobijob @toluwayme @tomasguitar @tony1294 @tungphong @uliseshb @ulisesjavier22 @uniforced @vaipraonde @vasigo @victorbch2 @vjap55 @volkiceper @walner @wealthgrammy @web-gnar @wegflexor @xoflox @yazp @yinjuolu @yf95 @yonnathang @zacherybinx @ziabutt3836 @zlater
❤️If you like what you read, please vote for me as a witness ❤️
Congrats to @maestroask @rosmarly and @justola1 for top 3 finish this round
Congratulations on overall winners @maestroask @stayoutoftherz @giuatt07 and @salomijale
Organization of season 21 was top notch - super work @stayoutoftherz
This season was suitable for me and that showed in my participation - summer may be different
For now all seems good for me - having competitive group is motive extra
Like you said it would be nice for players to express what possible solutions can be done that would ensure more of their participation
Maybe alternate time can be helpful toward future tournaments if time is issue - some weeks time would change if thats the case
Thank youu.
Congratulations to everyone !
Thank you @stayoutoftherz, I had such a great time.
I'm especially grateful because you gave me that opportunity to compete for rewards, which is something I actually love.
I'm from Nigeria, and in the part where I'm from, we hardly have such opportunities, it's incredibly rare.
Chess is a game I love indescribably, hence, I'm genuinely so grateful.
It's a shame it's gonna be stopped for a while, but I guess there's a world out there after all.
Congratulations to the Winners! 🎊
To your questions;
I think the rating-categorization is generously okay. I mean we're not even much yet we have 4 tiers.. that imbalance of "effortless win" and "unfair competition" can't be offset given the broad difference between our individual ratings, so I'd say that part is okay.
Regarding the length: it's okay for me actually... It's a means to relax after having a long serious week. I mean time passes by so quickly you wouldn't even be counting how many rounds left. That said, I think a shorter duration either more that one round a week or lesser number of rounds will give it more "life."
That brings us to the last part: time of the day. I believe this one is outside your control.. it's either too late for someone somewhere or cutting into someone's schedule. I missed some days and preformed really badly in some because of business and I still can't even suggest a better time. Life can be really unpredictable.
P S (edit): What if moving forward there's individual tournament for all 4-tiers??
Like, instead of having a 1300 face-off some 2500.. there's a separate tournament for <1500, 1500- 1799.. all happening at the same time for the same duration?
Thanks for your feedback! Appreciated!
@stayoutoftherz, I enjoyed every bit of the tournament. Thank you for hosting this tournament and bringing we chess lovers together ! 💯 🤝🏾
Greetings friend, congratulations to the winners
Thank you @stayoutoftherz for organizing, and thank you to all the players for participating!
I don't have any particular ideas what could be improved next season. Scoring system, number of tournaments and their start time are already familiar, everything is as usual. Perhaps this low participation is due to low Hive price, but we cannot influence it in any way...