After 4 rounds in the US chess championship in St, Louis, Jeffery Xiong, Wesley So, Hikaru Nakamura, and Leinier Dominguez all lead with 2.5 out of 4. On the women's side, Jennifer Yu leads with 4 out of 4. Anna Zatonskih is in 2nd place with 3.5 out of 4.

https://new.uschess.org/news/wars-of-attrition/

🔸Tata Steel India Rapid 2018
🔸Round 9
⚪️Vidit,S (2702)
⚫️Harikrishna,P (2729)
🔸0-1

28...Qb1! [A clever move in order to launch a dangerous attack against the White's king via the first rank.]

[28...Ra1?! 29.Qe4! Qxe4+ 30.Rxe4 c5 31.Rb7 b4 32.Rc4 Rd8 33.Rxc5 Rd2+ 34.Kf3 Rxb2=/+]

29.Qxb5 Ra1‚ 30.Rf1™ [30.Kf3? h5!–+ △Qh1]

30...Qe4+! [Centralizing the queen!]

[30...Qc2+!? 31.Kg1 c6 32.Qd3 Rxf1+ 33.Kxf1 Qxb2–+]

31.Kh2 c6! [Keeping the important c-pawn.]

32.Qe2 Rxf1 33.Qxf1 Qxe3–+

⚪️#173 (Strategy-White to Move)
🔸Lei Tingjie (2457)
🔸Gara,A (2370)
🔸WCh Women 2018

23.Qb5! [This small trick leads to a material advantage for White.]

[23.Qb3 Qe7 24.Bg5 f6 25.Bf4 Ne5 26.Qb5 Rc8 27.Re1 f5 28.Ng5 h6 29.Bxe5 Qxe5 30.Nf3 Qe8=; 23.Qa6 Rfb8 24.Bf4 f5 25.Nxc5 (25.Bxb8? Nxb8 26.Qb5 fxe4³) 25...bxc5 26.Bxb8 Rxb8 27.Rxb8+ Nxb8 28.Qb5 Qc8 29.Rb1 Nd7 30.Qb7 Qxb7+ 31.Rxb7 Ne5=]

23...Rbb8 [23...Rfb8 24.Bf4 Ne5 25.Qxd7 Rxd7 26.Nxc5+–]

24.Bf4 f5 [24...Ne5 25.Qxd7 Nxd7 26.Bxb8+–; 24...Be5?? 25.Bxe5 Nxe5 26.Nf6++–]

25.Nxc5 [25.Bxb8! fxe4 26.Bf4+–]

25...bxc5 26.Bxb8 Rxb8 27.Qxc5 Rxb1 28.Rxb1 Bf8 29.Qb5+–

1–0

⚪️#173 (Endgame-White to Move)
🔸Ju Wenjun (2568)
🔸Krush,I (2434)
🔸WCh Women 2018

26.g5! [26.Kf4 Rd7 27.g5 Rd2 28.gxh6 gxh6 29.Rg1 h5 30.Rg8+ Ke7 31.Rh8 Kf7 32.b4 (32.Rxh5 Kg7=/+) 32...Rxa2 33.Rh7+ Kg8 34.Rxc7 b6 35.b5 Ra3 36.Re7 Kf8 37.Rb7 Rb3 38.Rxa7 Rxb5 39.Ra4; 26.Rd1+ Rd7 27.Rg1 c5 28.Rc1²]

26...hxg5 27.hxg5 fxg5 28.Rg1 Ke8 29.Rxg5 Kf7 30.Rg2 Rd7 31.e5 Rd1 32.Kf4 Rf1+ 33.Kg5 Ke7 34.e6 c6 35.Kg6 Rf3 36.b4 a6 37.Rd2 Rg3+ 38.Kh7 Rg5 39.Rd7+ Ke8 40.Rxb7 Rxf5 41.Kxg7 Rf4 42.Kg6 Kd8 43.Kg5 Rf2 44.a4 Rf1 45.a5 Rf2 46.Rd7+ Ke8 47.Rc7 Kd8 48.Rxc6 Rb2 49.Rb6 Ke7 50.Kf5

1–0

⚫️#174 (Strategy-Black to Move)
🔸Hoang Thanh Trang (2448)
🔸Danielian,E (2426)
🔸WCh Women 2018

Unity Chess Strategy Multiple Choice 174
public poll

A) Rac8 – 12
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 80%
@steve12345678910, @MerissaWongso, Daniel, @Sophia_On_The_Loose, @A_Wild_Richard, Sahil, Michael, Hansika, Pranav, Pravin, Matthew, Kasyap

C) Nb4 – 3
👍👍 20%
@PouyaMO1360, @fantastic45, Max

B) Rfc8
▫️ 0%

👥 15 people voted so far.

⚫️#174 (Endgame-Black to Move)
🔸Carlsen,M (2835)
🔸Caruana,F (2832)
🔸WCh Rapid 2018

Unity Chess Endgame Multiple Choice 174
public poll

A) Kf6 – 14
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 67%
@psa_42, Nikhil, @steve12345678910, @MerissaWongso, Daniel, @Sophia_On_The_Loose, @Yoneszar, @A_Wild_Richard, Sahil, Michael, Hansika, Pravin, Kasyap, Hari

B) Ra2 – 5
👍👍👍 24%
@PouyaMO1360, Masoud, @fantastic45, @raienr, Farshid

C) K×e4 – 2
👍 10%
Max, Karan

👥 21 people voted so far.

Boris Spassky Bucarest 1953

@UnityChess

Boris Spassky vs Vasily Smyslov
Bucharest (1953), Bucharest ROU, rd 1, Jan-??
Nimzo-Indian Defense: Leningrad Variation. Benoni Defense (E31) · 1-0