🔸Nakhchivan Open 2018
🔸Round 1
⚪️Safarli,Eltaj (2657)
⚫️Guliev,Sarhan (2373)
🔸1-0

A finishing combination by Eltaj Safarli against the former coach of Iran national team.
24.Nb5! a×b5 25.B×b5+ Kf8 26.Qh8+ Ke7 27.Qe8#

🔸Nakhchivan Open 2018
🔸Round 2
⚪️Mousavi,Seyed Khalil (2460)
⚫️Safarli,Eltaj (2657)
🔸0-1

9.Bf4?
White should have prevented Black from playing 9...d5 by 9.c4!.
9...d5! 10.e5 Nh5 11.Bc1 Bh4+ 12.Kd1 Bg5 13.g3 B×c1 14.N×c1 0-0 -+

🔸Nakhchivan Open 2018
🔸Round 3
⚪️Sanal,Vahap (2505)
⚫️Bernadskiy,Vitaliy (2589)
🔸0-1

25.R×e5??
20-year old Turkish grandmaster Vahap Sanal made a blunder.
25.R×c8 B×c8 26.N×e5 Q×e5 27.Bf1
The only continuation which holds White in the game.
25...Q×b4 26.N×b4 B×f3! 0-1

🔸Nakhchivan Open 2018
🔸Round 5
⚪️Ghaem Maghami,Ehsan (2531)
⚫️Abdulov,Orkhan (2401)
🔸1-0

26...Qd6??
Azerbaijan International master has Made a blunder under pressure. Ehsan grabs this golden opportunity.
27.Q×d6! c×d6 28.Rb7! R×c6 29.R×b8+ 1-0

⚪️#419 (Strategy-White to Move)
🔸Timman,J
🔸Huebner,R
🔸Tilburg, 1988

15.c4
Attacking the center and heading for a good knight vs bad bishop endgame.
15...Nxb4 16.Rxb4 Qc6 17.0-0 0-0 18.Qf4! Bb7?! 19.Bxf5 exf5 20.Nd4+/-.

⚪️#420 (Strategy-White to Move)
🔸Short,N
🔸Kasparov,G
🔸Amsterdam, 1996

White has a clear static advantage. His isolated e5-pawn is a strength rather than a weakness as it controls key squares in the heart of Black's camp, denying access to the defender's pieces. Additionally White has more territory under his control as well as the advantage of the two bishops. Therefore the plan should be to prevent counterplay, improve the position to its maximum and then the winning combination should come about by itself. So the first part of the plan is to prevent counterplay. The only way for Black to gain any is to eliminate the bishop on d4, hence White's next.
19.b4! (19.Qe3? Rxd4! 20.cxd4 Qxc2-+) 19...Ng7 20.g4!+/-
Not to be allowed is ...Ng7-f5xd4 etc. Now Black's counterplay has been nipped in the bud, leading us to the improvement phase.

⚪️#421 (Strategy-White to Move)
🔸Timman,J
🔸Portisch,L
🔸Antwerp 1989

Unity Chess Multiple Choice 421

B: Ba2 – 5
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 63%

C: a4 – 2
👍👍👍 25%

A: Rf1 – 1
👍 13%

👥 8 people voted so far.

⚪️#422 (Strategy-White to Move)
🔸Portisch,L
🔸Timman,J
🔸Antwerp 1989

Unity Chess Multiple Choice 422

B: Qc4 – 5
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 71%

C: d6 – 2
👍👍👍 29%

A: a4
▫️ 0%

👥 7 people voted so far.

Carl Schlechter playing blindfolded in Vienna, December 1898. On the right, Georg Marco is writing notes on his pad.

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Botvinnik and Flohr at the 1935 Moscow international tournament. They shared 1st place ahead of Lasker and Capablanca. Ragozin is spectating.

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