"It was complicated but I felt like my moves were always easier. He was clearly quite uncomfortable - he was burning time and probably not finding the best defence."

Mariya Muzychuk beat Elisabeth Paehtz and Zhu Jiner defeated Natalija Pogonina. It means that Lei Tingjie is two points ahead of the field and she needs just one draw in the last two rounds to become the clear winner of the Women's #GrandSwiss2021.

Top standings in the Women's #GrandSwiss2021 with two rounds to go:

1. Lei Tingjie (🇨🇳 2505) - 8/9
2-6. Paehtz (🇩🇪 2475), M. Muzychuk (🇺🇦 2536), Zhu (🇨🇳 2455), Harika (🇮🇳 2511), Javakhishvili (🇬🇪 2446) - 6

Tomorrow the top clashes in the 10th round are Alireza Firouzja vs. David Howell and Vachier_Lagrave vs. Fabiano Caruana!

#GrandSwiss2021

Round 10 Pairings

1. Alireza Firouzja (6.5) - (6.5) David Howell
2. Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (6) - (6.5) Fabiano Caruana
3. Vitiugov Nikita (6) - (6) Oparin Grigoriy
4. Shirov Alexei (6) - (6) Yu Yangyi
5. Predke Alexandr (6) - (6) Anton Guijarro

Kasparov visits Baku Pioneer's Palace, where he started his chess career. You may recognize at least one more person on this photo. Spring'1984

🔗 Emilchess (@EmilSutovsky)

"To be champion requires more than simply being a strong player; one has to be a strong human being as well."

🔸 Anatoly Karpov

@UnityChessClub

With great sadness, we learned of the passing of
Liudmila Belavenets. She was 81.

The daughter of master Sergey Belavenets, she dedicated her whole life to chess and became one of the most famous chess trainers of Russia. GMs Morozevich, Vyzmanavin, Sokolov were her students.

Lyudmila (b. 1940) was USSR Women's Champion in 1975.

Liudmila Belavenets (1940-2021) Passes Away

https://ruchess.ru/en/news/all/liudmila_belavenets_1940_2021_passed_away/

Moscow, 29th Sep 1966. The USSR Sporting Societies Team Championship; in the adjourned session Boris Spassky faces Mikhail Botvinnik on Board 1 of the 'Lokomotiv' v. 'Trud' match, as Mikhail Tal looks on. The endgame was won by Botvinnik.

🔗 Douglas Griffin (@dgriffinchess)

Mikhail Tal.

🔗 Olimpiu G. Urcan (@olimpiuurcan)

Once upon a time, when Grandmaster title was a sacred one, there was a chess aficionado, who collected signatures of every Soviet Grandmaster on one envelope. Year 1966. Everyone was still alive...

🔗 Emilchess (@EmilSutovsky)

Women's World Chess Champion Nona Gaprindashvili. Tbilisi, USSR. 1972.

🔗 Douglas Griffin (@dgriffinchess)

Daily chess puzzle
https://chesspuzzle.net/Puzzle/226815

Move of the Day!

Firouzja Wins FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss, Reaches Candidates With Caruana

Alireza Firouzja won the FIDE #GrandSwiss2021 as the only player to finish on 8/11 after all the key games ended in draws in the final round. Firouzja qualified for the #FIDECandidates together with
Fabiano Caruana
. Final report: