"I consider myself to be a genius who happens to play chess."

🔸 Bobby Fischer

@UnityChess

Schiphol, 1st July 1962. On his return from the Curaçao Candidates, the newly-crowned challenger for the World Championship, Tigran Petrosian with his wife, Rona Yakovlevna. Behind, Yuri Averbakh.

@UnityChess

A photo (uncredited) of Petrosian, taken during this event.

@UnityChess

15-year-old Iranian prodigy Alireza Firouzja stormed from 2618 in January to 2682 in May and is now #2 rated junior after Wei Yi, 2736.

Firouzja is also #56 in the world, although he joined top-100 just two months ago.

Best juniors:
https://ratings.fide.com/top.phtml?list=juniors

World champion is at 2861; 45 points ahead of #2 Fabiano Caruana! This is Magnus Carlsen highest since September 2016, and he will get 14 more rating points in the next list when #GRENKEchess is calculated.

Our new office in Lausanne is now fully operational. FIDE new headquarters are located within the "Maison du Sport International". This building is home to 30 international sports federations and 20 companies active in the field of sports.

In many countries May'1 is a celebration of spring and the rebirth of nature. And what can symbolize this better than planting trees? A lilac alley near Ugra Chess Academy was planted by the participants of FIDE Grand-Prix.

🔸Tournament of Peace 2018
🔸Round 10
⚪️Kozul,Z (2612)
⚫️Saric,Iv (2692)
🔸1-0

38.Rc8! [White has a huge advantage due to the opponent's exposed king and the weak d5–pawn.]

[38.b5!? Qg4 39.Qxg4+ fxg4 40.Kg3 Kh7 41.Rc6 Rf1 42.Rc7+ Kg6 43.Rxa7 Re1 44.Kf4! Rf1+ 45.Ke5 Rf5+ 46.Kd6 Rf3 47.Kxd5 Rxe3 48.Ra6+–]

38...Kh7 39.Rd8! [△R×d5]

39...Rg7 40.g3 Qg4 41.Rxd5! [41.Qxg4!? would also be strong: 41...fxg4 42.Rxd5+– △Re5]

41...Qxf4 42.gxf4! [42.exf4?! Rf7 43.b5 Kg6 44.Rd6+ Rf6 45.Rd8 Kf7²]

42...Rf7 43.b5 Kg7 44.Kg2 Kf8 45.Rd6 Ke8 46.Kf2+– [¹46.Rh6! Rg7+ 47.Kf2 Rc7 48.Rxh5+–]

⚪️#205 (Strategy-White to Move)
🔸Salem,AR (2660)
🔸Nassr,A (2263)
🔸Emirates ch-Arab 2018

19.Rd5! [With the threat of 20.Rf5. If Black exchanged the rook on d5, White's central pawns would be more dangerous.]

[19.Be2 Rxd1+ 20.Bxd1 (20.Qxd1? Rd8 21.Qc2 Rd2) 20...Ne1 21.e5 (21.Qe2 Qxf2 22.Qxf2 Nd3+ 23.Kd2 Nxf2 24.Bc2 Re8³) 21...Qxf2 22.Qxf2 Nd3+ 23.Kd2 Nxf2 24.Bc2 f5 25.exf6 Rxf6²; 19.Bd3 Ne5 20.f4 Rxd3 21.Rxd3 Nxd3+ 22.Qxd3 Qh4 23.Rf3 Rd8„]

19...Nh4 20.e5 Qe6 21.Qe4 Ng6 22.f4 Ne7 23.Bd3 g6 24.f5

1–0

⚫️#205 (Endgame-Black to Move)
🔸Maletina,Tatiana (2270)
🔸Yudin,S (2507)
🔸ch-RUS Rapid GP Final 201

44...e4! [44...Bb6 45.a5 Bxa5 46.Ra1 e4 47.Rxa5 Rc2+ 48.Ke3 exd3 49.Ra4 Rxg2 50.Kxd3 e5 51.Rxa6=; 44...Rxa4 45.Nc5 Rc4 46.Nb7 Rc8 47.Kd3 a5 48.g4 Bb6 49.Rb1 Bd8= 50.Ra1 Rb8 51.Nxa5 Bxa5 52.Rxa5 Rb6 53.Ke4 Rxd6 54.Rxe5=]

45.fxe4?! [45.Nf2 exf3+ 46.gxf3 Rxa4=/+]

45...Rxe4+ 46.Kf1 Rd4 47.Nb2? [47.Ke2 Rxd6-/+]

47...Rxd1+ 48.Nxd1 Ke5 49.Ke2 Kxd6 50.Kd3 Kc5 51.Nc3 Kb4 52.g4 h6 53.h3 Be7 54.Kc2 Bf6 55.Ne4 Be5 56.g5 h5 57.Kd3 a5 58.Nd2 Kxa4 59.Nf3 Bg3 60.Kc4 Bf4 61.h4 Bg3 62.Kc3 Kb5 63.Kd3 a4 64.Ke4 a3 65.Nd4+ Kc4 66.Nxe6 a2

0–1