“Short of actual blunders, lack of faith in one's position is the chief cause of defeat. To be sure, it is easy to recommend faith and not so easy to practice it.”

🔸 Fred Reinfeld (1961). “Great Short Games of the Chess Masters”

@UnityChess

Happy 50th Birthday to the great Vassily Ivanchuk!🎂🎉🎈
He is a four-times Olympic Champion: 1988, 1990 (USSR) 2004, 2010 (Ukraine). He was the 2007 World Blitz and 2016 World Rapid Champion. He was World #2 in Jul 1991, Jul 1992, Oct 2007. His peak live rating was 2791.5 in July 2008.

Следите за мыслью Иванчука

The 2019 European Individual Championship #EICC2019 begins today with Vladislav Artemiev (2736) as top seed fighting for the €20,000 first prize.
Last year's champion Ivan Saric (2703), GMs Tomashevsky (2705), Dubov (2703), Kovalev (2703), etc. take part in the event.

🔹 20th ch-EUR Indiv 2019
🔹 PGN format

@UnityChess

🔸Tata Steel India Rapid 2018
🔸Round 4
⚪️Aronian,L (2765)
⚫️So,W (2765)
🔸1-0

26.Rc6!+– [The winning move. Black's bishop has no proper square to retreat.]

26...Be7? [¹26...Ne8 27.h3! h6 28.Qc2 Ndf6 29.Bb6 Qd7 30.Nxf6+ Nxf6 31.Qd1 Ne8 32.Qd5!+–; 26...Bb8? 27.Nxf6+ Nxf6 28.Qxd8 Rxd8 29.Bb6 Re8 30.Bxa5+–; 26...Nxd5? 27.Rxd6 N5f6 28.g4 h6 29.h4 e4 30.Be2+– △g5]

27.Nxf6+?? [Aronian who has played very well up to this point, now throws away all his advantage.]

[27.Rc8! Nxd5 28.Rxd8 Rxd8 29.Qxd5+–]

27...Nxf6 28.Qxd8 Rxd8=

⚪️#167 (Strategy-White to Move)
🔸Munguntuul,B (2422)
🔸Dushyant,Sharma (2289)
🔸chess.com IoM Masters Douglas ENG 2018

12...c5! [Opening lines on the queenside brings Black a decisive advantage.]

[12...a4 13.a3 Bxa3 14.bxa3 b4 15.Qe3 bxc3 16.Bxa6 Rxa6 17.Bd6 Nb6 18.Bb4 Nc4 19.Qxc3 Qc7 20.Nf2 Rb8 21.Nd3 Rab6 22.g4 Qg3 23.Rdf1 dxe4 24.Rhg1 Qh2 25.Rh1 Qe2 26.fxe4-0.66/24; 12...Nf6 13.g4 a4 14.g5 Nxh5 15.gxh6 Nxf4 16.Nxf4 g6=]

13.dxc5 Bxc5 14.Nxb5 [14.exd5 b4 15.Nb5 Nxd5–+]

14...e5 15.Bd2 Bxb5 16.Qxb5 Bd4 [16...Rb8 17.Qxa5 Bb6 18.Qb4 (18.Qa6?? Ra8! 19.Qd3 Rxa2–+; 18.Qa3 Ra8 19.Qb3 Nc5 20.Qb5 Rxa2–+) 18...Bd4-/+]

17.c3 Rb8-/+

1–0

⚪️#167 (Endgame-White to Move)
🔸Erdogdu,M (2406)
🔸Soysal,Serkan (2415)
🔸ch-TUR 2018 Belek TUR 2018

51.Ng2? [51.g5! Bc8 52.Ng4+ Kf5 53.Rf6+ Kxg5 54.Rf8 Rxg7 55.Rxc8 Nh4 56.Nce3 Rf7 57.Rg8+ Ng6 58.Rd8 Nh4 59.Rxd6 Rf3+ 60.Kh2 Nf5 61.Nxf5 Rxf5 62.Nh6 Rf2+ 63.Kg1 Rf3 64.Kg2 Rxa3 65.Nf7+ Kf5 66.Re6 Rb3 67.Nd6+ Kf4 68.Rxe4+; 51.Nf1? Nd4 52.Nxd4 cxd4 53.Nd2 d3 54.Rg5+ Kd4 55.Kf4 e3 56.Nf3+ Kxc4 57.Kxe3 Kc3 58.Nd2 Be8 59.Ne4+ Kc2 60.Rf5 Rxg7 61.Rf2+ Kb3 62.Nxd6 Bg6 63.Nf5 Rd7 64.Kd4 Kxa3 65.Ne3 d2 66.Rxd2 Kb3 67.Rf2 a3 68.Nc4 Bf7 69.Rf3+ Kb4 70.Nxa3 Rxd5+ 71.Ke4 Be6 72.Nc2+ Kc5=]

51...Nd4 52.Nce3 Be8 53.Rh6 Rxg7= 54.Nf4 Bf7 55.Rh8 Rg8 56.Rh7 Kf6 57.Rh6+ Ke5

½–½

⚫️#168 (Strategy-Black to Move)
🔸Zhao Xue (2478)
🔸Lujan,C (2364)
🔸WCh Women 2018

Unity Chess Strategy Multiple Choice 168
public poll

B) Nd7 – 9
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 56%
Gavin, ........, @A_Wild_Richard, Adhvaith, Sahil, Hansika, Abhi, Matthew, Kasyap

C) B×f3 – 4
👍👍👍 25%
عباس, Drew, Srikar, @Miladdark79

A) Bd6 – 3
👍👍 19%
@mahyarebrahimi1983, @Sophia_On_The_Loose, Michael

👥 16 people voted so far.

⚪️#168 (Endgame-White to Move)
🔸Ozen,Deniz (2411)
🔸Sevgi,V (2296)
🔸ch-TUR 2018 Belek TUR 2018

Unity Chess Endgame Multiple Choice 168
public poll

A) a3 – 9
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 53%
Gavin, Sahil, Srikar, @Miladdark79, Hansika, Pravin, Abhi, Matthew, Kasyap

C) Bc5 – 7
👍👍👍👍👍 41%
@mahyarebrahimi1983, زهره, Drew, @Sophia_On_The_Loose, @A_Wild_Richard, Michael, Daniel

B) Qb5 – 1
👍 6%
Mohammad

👥 17 people voted so far.

🔸Tata Steel India Rapid 2018
🔸Round 4
⚪️Mamedyarov,S (2817)
⚫️Nakamura,Hi (2746)
🔸0-1

32...Bg1+!? [Although this move also gives Black an advantage, it is better for him to activate his knight first and attacks with all his pieces.]

[¹32...Nf6! 33.Rb7 Bg1+ 34.Kh1 Rd1 35.Nxe5 Nh5–+]

33.Kh1 f6 34.Ne1 Bd4! 35.Kh2 Ng7 [¹35...Rxa2! 36.Nd3 a5 37.Rd8 Kf7 38.Rd7+ Ke6 39.Rd8 Nd6 40.h4 Nc4–+]

36.h4 Rxa2–+

0–1