Taking some time out to go see the famous historical landmarks of Berlin!

🔗 Hikaru Nakamura (@GMHikaru)

Wesley So: "I have to go home, which is not ideal, but that’s what chess is: you train so hard & then everything really depends on that crucial few seconds of decision-making that determines what will happen in your tournament"

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/berlin-grand-prix-7-so-knocked-out-as-dominguez-rapport-advance

It's Nakamura-Rapport and Aronian-Dominguez in the FIDE Grand Prix semi-finals after Wojtaszek and So were knocked out in tiebreaks!
https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/fide-grand-prix-2022-leg-1-all-groups/8/1/2

Richard Rapport advances to the semifinals of Berlin #FIDEGrandPrix to face off with Nakamura after winning the tiebreak against Radosław Wojtaszek 1.5-0.5.

Richard Rapport and Radosław Wojtaszek after the tie-breaks of the FIDE Grand Prix 2022

FIDE GP 1 Pool B TB

Rapport (2784.6, World Rapid #5 ↑2) beats Wojtaszek 1.5-0.5 on tie-breaks and will meet Nakamura in the #FIDEGrandPrix semi-finals https://2700chess.com/games/wojtaszek-rapport-r1-berlin-ger-2022-02-11

Leinier Dominguez is the fourth semifinalist of Berlin #FIDEGrandPrix.

First, he won on demand against Alexei Shirov yesterday to reach the tiebreak against Wesley So and today defeated So 1.5-0.5 in the rapid games.

Wesley So: "That's what chess is. You train so hard and then everything depends on that crucial few seconds of decision making."

Leinier Dominguez: "It feels a bit surreal after losing the classical game against Wesley. I felt that I'd go home by Saturday and yet I was able to make a comeback. It took a lot of energy so I'll try to get some rest and then I'll think about the next match."

Wesley So and Leinier Dominguez after the tie-breaks of the FIDE Grand Prix 2022

FIDE GP 1 Pool D TB

The semifinals start tomorrow. Who will you be rooting for?

Russian chess player and writer Evgeny Sveshnikov would have turned 72 today!

The joint Moscow Champion Sveshnikov twice won the Latvian Chess Championship and was the World Senior Champion in the 65+ section.

Try to solve the Friday Puzzle by Evgeny Sveshnikov, who was born On This Day in 1950.

White mates in 2.

Game: Evgeny Sveshnikov vs Morten Ligaard, Roskilde, 1998.

French Team at the 4th Chess Olympiad in Prague. Aristide Gromer (2nd board), Marcel Duchamp (reserve player), Alexander Alekhine (1st), Victor Kahn (3rd), and Louis Betbeder (4th). Alekhine won the gold medal scoring 75% of the points.

🔗 David Llada ♞ (@davidllada)

"Chess is the art of analysis."

🔸 Mikhail Botvinnik

@UnityChessClub

The gold-medal-winning USSR team from the 1982 Women's Olympiad in Lucerne, Switzerland. All 4 members of the team - Maia Chiburdanidze, Nana Alexandria, Nona Gaprindashvili, & Nana Ioseliani - were from the Georgian SSR.

🔗 Douglas Griffin (@dgriffinchess)