Surprise as Anish Giri draws a game... It really was a surprise as Alina Kashlinskaya is rated 333 points less than him.

Aronian won his game by a fantastic combination.

⚪️#38 (Strategy-White to Move)
🔸Muzychuk,Mariya (2533)
🔸Javakhishvili,Lela (2475)
🔸Olympiad Women 2018 Batumi

13.axb4! [An exchange sacrifice that shuts the queen out of play for a long time.]

[13.Bf4!? 0–0 14.Ra2 Be7 15.b4 Nxb4 16.axb4 Qxa2 17.Nxc3 Nxc3 18.Qxe7 Ne4 (18...Rf7 19.Qd8+ Rf8 20.Qc7 Ne4 21.Bd6 Nxd6 22.Qxd6 Rf6 23.Qd8+ Rf8 24.Qc7 Be6 25.Ng5²) 19.Bxe4 dxe4 20.Ng5 Rf7 21.Nxf7 Qxf7 22.Qd8+ Qf8 23.Qa5²; 13.Ne5 Nxe5 14.dxe5 Bc5 15.Kh1 Qb6 16.Bxe4 fxe4 17.Nxc3 Qc6 18.Ne2 0–0 19.Be3 Bg4 20.Nd4 Bxd4 21.Bxd4 Qxc2 22.Qe3=]

13...Qxa1 14.Ba3 [14.b5!? Nb4 15.Ba3 a5 16.bxa6 Nxd3 17.cxd3 Rxa6 18.Qc1 Nd2 19.Nfxd2 Rxa3 20.Nxa3 Qxc1 21.Rxc1 cxd2 22.Rd1= (22.Rxc8+?? Kd7–+) ]

14...a5! 15.bxa5 Rxa5 16.Bc5 [16.Bd6 Kf7 17.Ne5+ Nxe5 18.Bxe5=]

16...Rxc5 17.dxc5 0–0 18.Qe3 f4 19.Qe1 Nxc5 20.Nxc3 Qxe1 21.Rxe1 Nxd3 22.cxd3 Bf5 23.Nxd5 Bxd3 24.Ne7+ Nxe7 25.Rxe7 Ba6 26.Ng5 h6 27.Ne6 Rf7 28.Re8+ Kh7 29.Nf8+ Kg8 30.Ng6+ Kh7 31.Nf8+ Kg8 ½–½

⚫️#38 (Endgame-‌Black to Move)
🔸Supi,Luis Paulo (2548)
🔸Howell,David W L (2689)
🔸World Chess Olympiad 2018 Batumi

45...g5! [45...Rc2 46.g3 Nxe2 47.Rxe2 Rxc3 48.Rb2 Rc7³; 45...Rb7 46.c4 Rb3 47.g3 (47.Rc1 Rb2 48.Bd1 Rd2 49.Rb1 e3 50.fxe3 Nxg2 51.c5 Nxe3+ 52.Ke1 Rd5 53.c6 Nxd1 54.Rxd1 Rc5 55.Rd6 Kh6µ) 47...Nxe2 48.Kxe2 Rc3=]

46.Bd1 Rb1 47.Bc2 [47.g4 Nd3 48.gxf5 Nxe1 49.Kxe1 Rb2 50.c4 Rb4–+]

47...Rxe1+ 48.Kxe1 Nxg2+ 49.Ke2 Kg6 50.f3 [50.c4 Nf4+ 51.Ke3 Kf6 52.c5 Ke5 53.f3 Nd5+ 54.Ke2 e3 55.c6 f4 56.Bb3 Nc7 57.Ba2 Kd6–+]

50...e3 51.c4 Kf6 52.c5 f4 53.Be4 Ke5 54.Kd3 Nh4 55.Kc2 Nf5 56.Kc3 Nd4 [56...Nd4 57.Ba8 Ne6 58.c6 Kd6 59.Kd3 Kc7 60.Ke2 Nd4+ 61.Kd3 Nxf3–+] 0–1

⚫️#39 (Strategy-Black to Move)
🔸Rodriguez Vila,Andres (2477)
🔸Vachier-Lagrave,Maxime (2780)
🔸Olympiad 2018 Batumi

Unity Chess Strategy Multiple Choice 39
public poll

A) 21...Qc4 – 7
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 88%
@Shadowoffhollow, Jayden, @Khalil_mousavi, @RichardPeng, Vedant, @jodchess, Zhenrui

C) 21...Nc6 – 1
👍 13%
Vincent

B) 21...o-o-o
▫️ 0%

👥 8 people voted so far.

⚪️#39 (Endgame-‌White to Move)
🔸Martinovic,Sasa (2567)
🔸Pascua,Haridas (2435)
🔸World Chess Olympiad 2018 Batumi

Unity Chess Endgame Multiple Choice 39
public poll

A) 51.Rd7 – 7
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 78%
Jayden, Vincent, mehdi, @RichardPeng, @mikeyshaw, @jodchess, Zhenrui

B) 51.h5 – 1
👍 11%
Vedant

C) Rb7 – 1
👍 11%
@Shadowoffhollow

👥 9 people voted so far.

🔹 chess.com IoM Masters
🔹 PGN format

@UnityChess

The #HoogeveenOpen is taking place from 20-27 October as part of the 22nd Hoogeveen Chess Festival in the Hoogeveen Town Hall in the Netherlands.

GM Amin Bassem (2686) will be the top seed of the tournament. See the top 10 participants below.

https://www.hoogeveenchess.nl/en/live/open

Sam Shankland and Peter Svidler and Jorden van Foreest vs Vladimir Fedoseev will be part of the 22nd Hoogeveen Chess Tournament running from 20-27 October in Hoogeveen Town Hall in the Netherlands.

https://www.hoogeveenchess.nl/en/players%E2%80%99-portraits-hoogeveen-2018

The #iomchess Round 2 pairings are out, with some fascinating battles ahead... plus Kramnik, So & Nakamura down on the probably non-live boards 33-35!

Isle of Man - The Extraordinary Story (Full Length)

@UnityChess