Lichess Game of the Month February 2026 - Contest

@Lichess said ^

Share your best Lichess game from February 2026 (only from February 2026, only standard games, no variant games, and only one game per player — additional games will be ignored!) until March 12th in a comment to this post! The winner will be announced here in this forum thread on March 24th, followed by a Lichess blog post with commentary on the game. Good luck!

[Event "rated rapid game"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/rWiXvLNG"]
[Date "2026.03.01"]
[Round "-"]
[White "hulk20122013"]
[Black "Nithilavanan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "rWiXvLNG"]
[UTCDate "2026.03.01"]
[UTCTime "17:40:11"]
[WhiteElo "1871"]
[BlackElo "1840"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+9"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-5"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "600+0"]
[ECO "A40"]
[Opening "Englund Gambit: Hartlaub-Charlick Gambit"]
[Termination "Normal"]
[Annotator "lichess.org"]

1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 d6 { A40 Englund Gambit: Hartlaub-Charlick Gambit } 3. exd6 Bxd6 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. e3 Qe7 7. Bd3 O-O-O 8. O-O Ne5 9. Be2 Nxf3+ 10. Bxf3 Bxh2+ 11. Kxh2 Rxd1 12. Bxg4+ Kb8 13. Rxd1 Nf6 14. Bf3 Qe5+ 15. Kg1 a6 16. Bd2 g5 17. Nd5 Nxd5 18. Bxd5 Rd8 19. Bc3 Qf5 20. Bb3 Rxd1+ 21. Rxd1 Ka7 22. Rd8 h5 23. Bd4+ b6 24. Bd5 { Black resigns. } 1-0

[Event "Feb. Matches Scholastic: K-12"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/PXKEPRkI"]
[Date "2026.02.21"]
[Round "-"]
[White "TanujNimmagadda123"]
[Black "srihasg"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "PXKEPRkI"]
[UTCDate "2026.02.21"]
[UTCTime "19:50:43"]
[WhiteElo "1455"]
[BlackElo "1224"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+12"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-13"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "1500+5"]
[ECO "B01"]
[Opening "Scandinavian Defense: Gubinsky-Melts Defense"]
[Termination "Normal"]
[Annotator "lichess.org"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 { B01 Scandinavian Defense: Gubinsky-Melts Defense } 4. h3 Bf5 5. Nf3 e6 6. Bc4 Nc6 7. d3 a6 8. Be3 Nf6 9. Qd2 b5 10. Bb3 Be7 11. a3 a5?? { (-0.27 2.89) Blunder. Na5 was best. } (11... Na5 12. Ba2 c5 13. Nh4 Bg6 14. f4 Ne4 15. Nxe4 Bxh4+ 16. Bf2 Bxf2+ 17. Nxf2) 12. Nxb5 Qd7 13. Nc3?! { (3.02 2.32) Inaccuracy. Ba4 was best. } (13. Ba4 O-O 14. Nbd4 Nxd4 15. Bxd7 Nxf3+ 16. gxf3 Nxd7 17. Bd4 e5 18. Bc3 Nc5) 13... Bd6?! { (2.32 3.66) Inaccuracy. O-O was best. } (13... O-O 14. Ba4 Qd6 15. O-O Ne5 16. Nd4 Ng6 17. Bc6 Rab8 18. Ncb5 Rxb5 19. Bxb5) 14. Ba4 O-O 15. Nd4 Ra6 16. Bb5 Rb6 17. Nxf5 exf5 18. Bxb6 cxb6 19. O-O-O Qc7 20. Bxc6?? { (2.33 -0.70) Blunder. Kb1 was best. } (20. Kb1 Nd4 21. Ba4 Bf4 22. Qe1 Qb7 23. Nb5 Nxb5 24. Bxb5 Qxg2 25. Qc3 Qd5) 20... Qxc6?? { (-0.70 2.07) Blunder. Bf4 was best. } (20... Bf4 21. Bb5 Bxd2+ 22. Rxd2 Qd6 23. Bc4 Re8 24. Kb1 Kf8 25. Rhd1 Qh2 26. f3) 21. Kb1?! { (2.07 1.04) Inaccuracy. Ne2 was best. } (21. Ne2 Rc8 22. Kb1 b5 23. c4 b4 24. Nd4 Qb6 25. Nxf5 bxa3 26. Nxd6 Qxd6) 21... b5 22. Na2 Re8?? { (1.06 3.38) Blunder. b4 was best. } (22... b4 23. a4 Qxa4 24. c4 Qd7 25. Qe3 Rc8 26. Rhe1 a4 27. Re2 Qb7 28. Qg5) 23. f3?? { (3.38 1.06) Blunder. Qxa5 was best. } (23. Qxa5 Qxg2 24. Qb6 Bh2 25. Nb4 Re2 26. Rhf1 h5 27. Qxb5 Qxh3 28. d4 Qf3) 23... Qc7? { (1.06 2.83) Mistake. b4 was best. } (23... b4 24. c4 bxa3 25. Qxa5 Ra8 26. Qb5 Qc7 27. Rd2 Qa7 28. d4 Bf4 29. Rd3) 24. Rde1?! { (2.83 1.88) Inaccuracy. c4 was best. } (24. c4 b4 25. a4 b3 26. Nc3 Bb4 27. Rc1 h6 28. Qd1 Qg3 29. Rg1 Nh5) 24... Be5?? { (1.88 4.11) Blunder. Rb8 was best. } (24... Rb8 25. Qc3 Qb6 26. d4 g6 27. Qd3 b4 28. a4 Qc6 29. b3 Nd5 30. g4) 25. d4 Bf4 26. Rxe8+ Nxe8 27. Qe2?! { (4.53 3.51) Inaccuracy. Re1 was best. } (27. Re1 Kf8 28. Qc3 Qxc3 29. Nxc3 Bg3 30. Rd1 Nd6 31. a4 bxa4 32. Nxa4 f4) 27... Qd7 28. Re1 Nf6 29. Nc3?! { (4.83 3.62) Inaccuracy. Qe7 was best. } (29. Qe7 Qxe7 30. Rxe7 g5 31. Nc3 g4 32. Ne2 Bh2 33. fxg4 fxg4 34. hxg4 Nxg4) 29... b4 30. axb4 axb4 31. Na2 Bd6 32. Nc1 h6 33. Nb3 Bg3 34. Rd1 Nd5 35. Nc5 Qc6 36. Qa6 Qe8 37. Qd3 g6 38. Qf1 Ne3 39. Qe2 f4 40. Rd3 Qb5? { (3.90 7.42) Mistake. Qd8 was best. } (40... Qd8 41. d5 Bh4 42. d6 Kh7 43. d7 Be7 44. Nb3 Bf6 45. Rd6 h5 46. Qb5) 41. Ne4? { (7.42 4.03) Mistake. Rxe3 was best. } (41. Rxe3 Qxc5 42. Re8+ Qf8 43. Rxf8+ Kxf8 44. Qe5 Kg8 45. Ka2 Bf2 46. Kb3 Be3) 41... Nd5 42. Nxg3 fxg3 43. Qe5?! { (3.15 2.09) Inaccuracy. Re3 was best. } (43. Re3 Qxe2 44. Rxe2 h5 45. Ka2 h4 46. Kb3 g5 47. Kc4 Nf4 48. Rd2 f5) 43... Nc3+?? { (2.09 7.19) Blunder. Kh7 was best. } (43... Kh7 44. Qd6 g5 45. Qf8 Qd7 46. Qb8 Nf4 47. Rd1 Qd5 48. Qc7 Qe6 49. d5) 44. bxc3 bxc3+? { (7.58 Mate in 6) Checkmate is now unavoidable. Qxe5 was best. } (44... Qxe5 45. dxe5 bxc3 46. Rxc3 g5 47. Rc7 h5 48. Kb2 Kf8 49. Kc3 Kg8 50. Kd3) 45. Kc1?? { (Mate in 6 0.00) Lost forced checkmate sequence. Qxb5 was best. } (45. Qxb5 g5 46. Qe5 Kf8 47. Rxc3 f6 48. Qxf6+ Kg8 49. Rc8+ Kh7 50. Qf7#) 45... Qb2+ 46. Kd1 Qb1+ 47. Ke2 Qxc2+ 48. Ke3 Qf2+ 49. Kf4 g5+?? { (0.00 7.08) Blunder. c2 was best. } (49... c2 50. Qb8+ Kg7 51. Qc7 Qxg2 52. Rc3 Qd2+ 53. Kxg3 Qe1+ 54. Kg2 Qe2+ 55. Kg1) 50. Kf5 Qc2?! { (4.99 7.43) Inaccuracy. Qb2 was best. } (50... Qb2 51. Qe8+ Kg7 52. Qe1 Kf8 53. Rxc3 Qb5+ 54. Qe5 Qd7+ 55. Ke4 Qb7+ 56. Ke3) 51. Kf6 Qxd3?? { (6.60 Mate in 3) Checkmate is now unavoidable. Qa4 was best. } (51... Qa4 52. Rxc3 Qa6+ 53. Ke7 Qa7+ 54. Rc7 Qa3+ 55. Kd8 Qa8+ 56. Rc8 Qb7 57. d5) 52. Qe8+ Kh7 53. Qxf7+ Kh8 54. Qg7# { White wins by checkmate. } 1-0