#IOMchess Round 10, top:
1. (6½) Caruana 1-0 Anton (6½)
2. (6½) Nakamura ½-½ Aronian (6½)
3. (6) Carlsen 1-0 Matlakov (6)
4. (6) Anand 0-1 Wang (6)
5. (6) Karjakin 0-1 Alekseenko (6)
6. (6) Howell 1-0 Grischuk (6)
7. (6) Vitiugov 1-0 Rakhmanov (6)
8. (5½) Le 1-0 Maghsoodloo (6)

With just 1 round to go, Fabiano Caruana (2812) is the leader of #IOMchess with 7½ points.

There are 7 players on 7/10:
Wang Hao (2726)
Alekseenko (2674)
Carlsen (2876)
Aronian (2758)
Vitiugov (2732)
Nakamura (2745)
Howell (2694)

There will be a great fight tomorrow!

🔸4NCL Div 1b 2018–19
🔸Round 1
⚪️Hawkins,Jo (2579)
⚫️Suarez Real,A (2438)
🔸1-0

21.Qa5! [A multi-purpose move: 1.defending the c3–pawn 2. attacking the b5–pawn 3.putting the d8–rook under attack]

[21.Qb6?! Qd7 22.Bc6 Qd6 23.Qxb5 Bh3! △Qd1 24.Qd3 Qc7 25.Qe4 Qd6 △Qd1 26.Qa4 Bxc3!²]

21...Be6 22.Bb7! [22.Qxb5!? Bc4 23.Qb2 Qa6 24.Bf3±]

22...Qd7 23.Bc6 Qxc6 [23...Qc8 24.Bxb5+– △c4]

24.Qxd8+ Kg7 25.Qd2+–

🔸4NCL Div 1b 2018–19
🔸Round 2
⚪️Plat,V (2543)
⚫️Jackson,J (2383)
🔸1-0

This position has arisen from the Scotch opening and it seems that Black is well-prepared for it.]

13...fxe5! [opening up good prospects for his bishop on g7.]

[13...Bb7?! 14.exd6! Qxe2+ 15.Kxe2 f5 16.Nd2 Bxa1 17.Rxa1 cxd6 18.Bxd6 0–0–0 19.c5 Ba6+ 20.Kf2 △Nf3–e5 20...Rhe8™ 21.Nf3 Re2+ 22.Kg1= △Nd4]

14.Bxc6+ Bd7 [△e×f4]

15.Bxd7+? [White should have exchanged queens with the following continuation:]

[¹15.Bxa8 exf4! 16.Qxe7+ Kxe7 17.Bf3 fxg3 18.hxg3 Bxa1 19.c5 Nc8³]

15...Qxd7 16.Nd2 0–0 17.fxe5 Rae8! [△R×e5]

18.0–0–0 Rxe5‚ 19.Qd3 Ra5?!-/+[Black is completely better, But the rush to attack decreases his advantage. He could have obtained a huge advantage with:]

[19...Rfe8!–+ △Re2]

The brilliant trio of FIDE http://Chess.com Grand Swiss winners:
🥇 Wang Hao (his second trophy is for the qualification to the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2020)
🥈 Fabiano Caruana
🥉 Kirill Alekseenko

Kirill Alekseenko, a 22-year-old player from Saint Petersburg, has drawn with Alexander Grischuk, Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So, and Vishy Anand, has beaten Sergey Karjakin and he's currently fighting for a spot in the Candidates tournament. Quite an ascent.

Wang Hao, a 30-year-old Chinese grandmaster, secures a sensational spot in the 2020 Candidates tournament with a fine performance in the FIDE Grand Swiss, an event filled with many superstars. Notably, two Chinese players in a Candidates tournament is a historic first.

The proud holders of GM norms for their #IOMchess performance (from L to R):
Jonas Buhl Bjerre (15-year-old)
Raunak Sadhwani (13-year-old)
Vincent Keymer (14-year-old)
Dinara Saduakassova
Soumya Swaminathan

Congratulations! 👏👏👏

The top women’s prize of #IOMChess ($10,000) was shared by Harika Dronavalli 🇮🇳 and Dinara Saduakassova 🇰🇿 who both scored 5½ points, with the Indian player receiving the trophy on a better tie-break.

One of the earlier encounters between Karpov and Kasparov. This one is from Moscow 1981. And they had no idea how big will be the rivalry between them.

@UnityChess

"It so often happens that, after sacrificing a pawn, a player aims not to obtain the initiative for it, but to regain sacrificed material."

🔸 Efim Geller

@UnityChess