20...Rd1+? [This move only helps White to improve his position. Black should have activated his knight to obtain equality:]

[20...Na5! 21.Qc2™ Nc4 △Nd2 22.gxh6 Nd2+ 23.Kg2 gxh6 24.Bxd2 Rxd2 25.Rad1 Rxc2 26.Rxd7 Rxf2+ 27.Kh3 Rxb2 28.Rh2 Rxh2+ 29.Kxh2 Re8 30.Rxb7=]

21.Kg2 Rxh1 22.Kxh1 Bxf2 23.gxh6! Bxh4 24.Be3 Na5 25.Qd5! [Obviously, White is much better and has a decisive initiative.]

25...Qc7 26.Rg1 Bf6 27.Qd1 Qc4 28.Qf3 Nc6 29.hxg7+– [△B3]

1–0

⚫️#126 (Strategy-Black to Move)
🔸Maletina,Tatiana (2270)
🔸Ponkratov,P (2630)
🔸ch-RUS Rapid GP Final 2018

13...Rxf3! [A typical exchange sacrifice in order to destroy the opponent's King's pawn cover.]

[13...Bg4 14.Ne5 Be6 15.dxc5 bxc5 16.Rac1 Rb8 17.b3 Nxe5 18.Rxe5 Bf7 19.Bf1 Nc6 20.Rxd5 Bxd5 21.Qxd5+ Qxd5 22.Nxd5 Rd6 23.Rxc5„; 13...Rb8 14.dxc5 bxc5 15.b3 Bg4 16.Ne5 Be6 17.Rad1 Qc7 18.Qg5 h6 19.Qg3 Nxe5 20.Qxe5 Qxe5 21.Rxe5 Nc6 22.Ree1 Rd8 23.f3 Kf8 24.Na4 c4 25.bxc4 dxc4 26.Be4²]

14.gxf3 Nxd4 15.Qf4 Ng6? [15...Bf5 16.Rxe7 Qxe7 17.Bxf5 Qf8 18.Bxh7+ (18.Nxd5?? Ne2+–+ (18...Nxf5?? 19.Qxf5! Qxf5 20.Ne7+ Kf8 21.Nxf5+–) ) 18...Kxh7 19.Qxf8 Rxf8 20.Nxd5 Rxf3 21.Rd1 Kg6 22.Re1 Rf6 23.Kg2 Rd6 24.Nc3 Rd7=/+]

16.Bxg6 hxg6 17.Rad1 Bb7=

0–1

⚪️ #126 (Endgame-‌White to Move)
🔸Ju Wenjun (2568)
🔸Krush,I (2434)
🔸WCh Women 2018 Khanty-Mansiysk RUS

26.g5! [26.Kf4 Rd7 27.g5 Rd2 28.gxh6 gxh6 29.Rg1 h5 30.Rg8+ Ke7 31.Rh8 Kf7 32.b4 (32.Rxh5 Kg7³) 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.Rc1+/=]

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

⚫️#127 (Strategy-Black to Move)
🔸Zhai Mo (2352)
🔸Girya,O (2481)
🔸WCh Women 2018 Khanty-Mansiysk RUS

Unity Chess Strategy Multiple Choice 127
public poll

C) c5 – 19
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 100%
@mahyarebrahimi1983, future, @Zamani9899, Gavin, Jayden, @SteveWongso, Vincent, Drew, @Somebody_Sophia, @RichardPeng, Jaikrishnan, @Lornyellor, @AryanLeekha, @Miladdark79, Hansika, Daniel, Alan, Matthew, Kasyap

A) Nf6
▫️ 0%

B) a4
▫️ 0%

👥 19 people voted so far.

⚫️ #127 (Endgame-‌Black to Move)
🔸Lei Tingjie (2457)
🔸Gara,A (2370)
🔸WCh Women 2018 Khanty-Mansiysk RUS

Unity Chess Endgame Multiple Choice 127
public poll

A) Bd1 – 8
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 47%
@mahyarebrahimi1983, Drew, @Somebody_Sophia, @RichardPeng, @AryanLeekha, Vedant, Hansika, Alan

C) h5 – 8
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 47%
future, Gavin, Jayden, @SteveWongso, Vincent, Jaikrishnan, @Lornyellor, Matthew

B) Rd7 – 1
👍 6%
@pooya_chess15

👥 17 people voted so far.

🔴 Today is birthday of Rogelio Barcenilla
♦️ Filipino chess Grandmaster

👏👏👏👏👏 Happy birthday 🌺💐☘️💐🌸🌷
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
@unitychess

“Good offense and good defense both begin with good development”

🔸 Bruce A. Moon

@UnityChess

Moscow, 21st May 1944. The opening round of the 13th USSR Championship final. On the stage in the Hall of Columns in the House of Unions, Kotov is in play v. Veresov; behind him, Smyslov is in play v. Mikėnas.

@UnityChess

UNITY CHESS INFOGRAPHIC

🔵 Chess History - Tournaments
🔹 Moscow 2001/02
🔹 FIDE World Championship Knockout

#chess_history_tornaments
#Moscow2001-02
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@unitychess

🔵 Chess History - Tournaments
🔹 Moscow 2001/02
🔹 27 November 2001 -23 January 2002
🔹 FIDE World Championship Knockout


🔰 CHAMPION: Ruslan Ponomariov


📚 The FIDE World Chess Championship 2002 was held in Moscow, Russia. The first six rounds were played between 27 November and 14 December 2001, and the final match started on 16 January and ended on 23 January 2002. The Ukrainian Grandmaster Ruslan Ponomariov, aged 18, won the championship and became the youngest FIDE World Champion.
At the time of this championship, the World title was split. The Classical World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik, did not participate, as well as the previous Classical Champion and world's highest-rated player, Garry Kasparov. However, all other strongest players of the world took part, including the top seed and winner of the previous FIDE World Championship Viswanathan Anand.

📚 The championship was a knockout tournament similar to other FIDE World Chess Championships between 1998 and 2004: the players were paired for short matches, with losers eliminated. The field of 128 participants was reduced to one winner over seven rounds.

Rounds 1–5 consisted of a two game match, followed by tie breaks at faster time controls if required. The time control for regular games was 75 minutes for the first 40 moves and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with 30 seconds added after each move. Tie breaks consisted of two rapid chess games (20 minutes each + 10 seconds per move); followed by two blitz games if required (5 minutes + 10 seconds per move); followed by a single Armageddon chess game if required (white has 6 minutes and must win, black has 5 minutes and only needs to draw). The semifinals (round 6) were best of four games, and the final was best of eight games, with the same conditions for the tie-breaks.

In addition to previous criticisms of the knockout format, this tournament was criticised by Garry Kasparov for using a faster time control, which Kasparov claimed was lowering the standard of the games.

🌐 SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA & CHESSGAMES.COM

🔹 The final standings and crosstable was as above👆
🔹 Download " Moscow 2001/02 Games Database " by PGN format👇
🔹 Review our selected game from this tournament👇

#chess_history_tornaments
#Moscow2001-02
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@unitychess

♦️ Review our selected game from Moscow 2001/02 FIDE World Championship Knockout tornament👇
▪️ Ruslan Ponomariov vs Vassily Ivanchuk
▪️ FIDE World Championship Knockout Tournament (2001/02), Moscow RUS, rd 1, Jan-16
▪️ French Defense: Classical. Burn Variation Main Line (C11)

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@unitychess

🔹 " Moscow 2001/02 Games Database "
🔹 PGN format
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@unitychess

Tata Steel Chess on Tour Leiden is on its way!

@UnityChess