Happy Birthday to Ian 'Nepo' Nepomniachtchi

who turns 29 today! 🥳 🎉

Currently #6 in the world with 2775, Russian GM is the overall leader of #GrandPrixFIDE after winning the leg in Moscow.

13-year-old Javokhir Sindarov wins the 2019 Uzbekistan Championship with impressive 10/12 points undefeated. Congrats on a convincing victory!

BREAKING NEWS: Grandmaster Igors Rausis is under investigation for cheating

Full story here: (link: https://bit.ly/2XYvfSd) bit.ly/2XYvfSd

Sergey Karjakin and Yu Yangyi eliminated Anish Giri and Levon Aronian in Armageddon (Yu had Black in the final game)!

FIDE Grand Prix in Riga, Round 2 pairings:

🇷🇺 Karjakin - So 🇺🇸
🇵🇱 Duda - Mamedyarov 🇦🇿
🇷🇺 Grischuk - Yu 🇨🇳
🇧🇬 Topalov - Vachier-Lagrave 🇫🇷

Tune in at 3pm local time (GMT+3) on July 15!

⚪️#257 (Strategy-White to Move)
🔸Guliev,Sarh (2354)
🔸Suleymanli,Aydin (2313)
🔸Baku Open 2018

16.Ra3! [Guliev correctly transfers the rook to the kingside, which is where all the action is taking place.]

[16.f5 Na6 17.Qf3 c4 18.Ra3+–; 16.Qf3 Qe7 17.Kh1 Rc8 (17...c4) 18.Nb1 Re8 19.N1c3 Na6 20.f5±]

16...Na6 17.Raf3 [17.Rh3! Nc7 18.Nc3 Nd7 (18...f5 19.exf5 gxf5 20.Qh5 Qd7 21.Qxh7+ Kf8 22.Nf3 Bd4+ 23.Nxd4 Qxh7 24.Ne6+ Nxe6 25.Rxh7 Nd4 26.Rxb7 Rab8 27.Rh7 Nc4 28.Nb5 Nxb5 29.axb5 Rxb5 30.Rh5 Nxb2 31.Rxf5+±) 19.Nc4 Ra6 20.Qf3+–]

17...c4 18.b3+/=

1–0

⚫️#257 (Endgame-Black to Move)
🔸Guseinov,G (2664)
🔸Asadli,Vugar (2471)
🔸Baku Open 2018

38...Rc3+! [38...Ke6 39.Ke4 Rc2 40.Ra1 Rc7 41.a6 Ra7 42.Ra5 Kd6 43.b4 g6 44.f4 exf4 45.Kxf4 Ke6 46.Kg5 Kf7 47.Ra1 Kg7 48.g3 Kf7 49.Rf1+ Kg7 50.Rf6 Re7 51.Rxg6+ Kf7 52.Rb6+–; 38...Rc7 39.b4 Ke6 40.a6 Ra7 41.Ra1 h4 42.Ke4 Kd6 43.Ra3 Ke6 44.Ra5 Kd6 45.Kf5 Rf7+ 46.Kg4 Ra7 47.Kxh4+–]

39.Rd3= [39.Kd2 Rxb3 40.Ra1 e4 41.a6 Rd3+ 42.Ke2 Rd8 43.fxe4+ Kxe4 44.Rb1 Rb8 45.a7 Ra8 46.Rb4+ Kd5 47.Rxb5+ Kc6 48.Ra5 Kb6 49.Rxh5 Rxa7=]

½–½

⚪️#258 (Strategy-White to Move)
🔸Aliyev,Ravan (2351)
🔸Gasimov,Parviz (2303)
🔸Baku Open 2018