⚫️#248 (Strategy-Black to Move)
🔸Sonis,Francesco (2499)
🔸David,Alb (2555)
🔸78th ch-ITA 2018

17.Bf4! [Increasing the pressure on the weak d6–pawn.]

[17.a5!? Nb5 18.Bf4 Bxc3 19.bxc3 Nxc3 20.Qd2 Nb5 (20...Nxe4 21.Qc2 Qh4 22.Rxe4 Rxe4 23.Qxe4 g5 24.g3 Qh3 25.Kg1 gxf4 26.Qxf4+–) 21.Bg3 f6 22.f4±; 17.f3 b5 18.Na5 Nb6 19.Qc2 Qd7 20.b3 f5!? 21.Bg5 fxe4 22.fxe4 Qg4 23.Be3 Rf8 (23...Bxc3?? 24.Qxc3 Qxe4 25.Bh6) 24.Nc6=]

17...Ne5 18.Bxe5! Bxe5 19.Nb6?! [19.Nxe5 dxe5 (19...Qxe5 20.f4 Qg7 21.e5±) 20.a5 Rad8 21.Qc4+–]

½–½

⚫️#248 (Endgame-Black to Move)
🔸Sonis,Francesco (2499)
🔸David,Alb (2555)
🔸78th ch-ITA 2018

23...Bxe5! [23...Rfd8 24.Bxf6 gxf6 25.Red1 Ra5 26.Bd3 Bg4 27.b4 axb3 28.axb3 Rxa1 29.Rxa1 Rxd4³; 23...Bg5 24.h4 Bh6 25.Kf2 Rfd8 26.Bf3 Rd7 27.Red1 g6 28.b4 Bc4 29.Bd6³ /=]

24.dxe5 Ra5 25.Rec1 Rd8 26.b4 axb3 27.axb3 Rb5 28.Rc3 g6 29.Rb1 Rd2 30.Bd3 Ra5 31.Rbc1 Bd5 32.Bc4 Rxc5 33.b4 Rxc4 34.Rxc4 Bxc4 35.Rxc4 Rd5–+

0–1

🔸Baku Open 2018
🔸Round 6
⚪️Gasanov,E (2502)
⚫️Aleksandrov,A (2599)
🔸1-0

24...Ndf6?? [Black overestimates his attacking chances and allows White to win material.]

[Instead, he should have played for equality with 24...Bxd1! 25.Rcxd1 Rh5 26.h3 Qg5 27.Ne2 Rh6=]

25.f3! Rh5 26.h3™ Bxh3 27.gxh3 [27.Nxh3!? Ng5 28.f4!‚ Nxh3 29.Bxh5 Qxh5 30.gxh3 Qxh3+ 31.Kg1+–]

27...Ng5 28.f4!+– [Black has insufficient compensation for his material deficit.]

[28.h4!? Nd7 29.Rb3 c5 30.f4 Ne4 31.Bxh5+–]

⚪️#249 (Strategy-White to Move)
🔸Guliev,L (2312)
🔸Fier,A (2553)
🔸Baku Open 2018

Unity Chess Strategy Multiple Choice 249
public poll

B) Nf1 – 11
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 85%
Jonas, Majid, @blossom_75, @SophiaCat_does_Chess, @A_Somewhat_Cool_Guy, Srikar, @Qwerty123Tseries, @Sadeghi_SE, Matthew, @Vicky143, Sidney

A) Nf3 – 1
👍 8%
@Steve1234567890qwerty

C) b4 – 1
👍 8%
@sepehr_j7

👥 13 people voted so far.

⚪️#249 (Endgame-White to Move)
🔸Moroni,L (2559)
🔸Garcia Palermo,C (2391)
🔸78th ch-ITA 2018

Unity Chess Endgame Multiple Choice 249
public poll

B) Rb3 – 8
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 62%
Jonas, Nikhil, Majid, @SophiaCat_does_Chess, @A_Somewhat_Cool_Guy, Srikar, @abist10102008Qwerty, Sadeghi

A) Rb4 – 3
👍👍👍 23%
Mohammad, @Steve1234567890qwerty, Matthew

C) R×b6 – 2
👍👍 15%
اوین, @Vicky143

👥 13 people voted so far.

Winners at the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal: left to right, Bent Larsen, Mikhail Tal, Vasily Smyslov & Boris Spassky, together with Folke Rogard, president of FIDE.

@UnityChess

"The beauty of a game of chess is usually assessed according to the sacrifices it contains."

🔸 Rudolf Spielmann

@UnityChess

Amsterdam, 31st July 1968. The 13th round of the IBM tournament. David Bronstein is in play v. Leonid Shamkovich, as Lubosh Kavalek looks on.

@UnityChess

A very young Boris Spassky. This photo appears in volume 1 of the 2-volume work 'Boris Spassky' (Ts. K. N. B., Moscow, 2000; edited by N. V. Krogius). The date and credit is not indicated.

@UnityChess

Move of the day :

21...Bf3!! -+ (mate in 4 moves is inevitable) 0-1

Yasser Seirawan - Alexander Beliavsky, Brussels World Cup 1988

Morphy the Legend 😎

July 1 FIDE rating list is out:

After his great blitz performance at
Norway Chess
, Maxime Vachier Lagrave
is the new blitz #1 with 2948, while
Magnus Carlsen
is #2 with 2920.

In standard, Magnus Carlsen is far ahead with superb 2872.