We start with another of Yannick Pelletier's pearls, a classic of course.
After 15.Qc3 the theme in Alekhine,A - Kostic,B 1-0 was 'Alekhine and the c-file'.
The review of the Budapest 2024 Chess Olympiad opens with two analyses by Martin Lorenzini - Philidor was on the board in each case!
In Pichot,A - Almeida Quintana,O 1-0 White successfully tested the modern 5.Rg1!?.
And in Dragnev,V - Carlsen,M 0-1 17...Rxe5! was a typical fighting move á la Magnus Carlsen.
Nimzoindian with long white castling - Canadian WGM Maili Jade Ouellet comments Ouellet,M - Gaal,Z 1-0.
Diego di Berardino examines three of his own games.
After 15...Qc7! White collapsed on the dark squares (Ivic,V - Di Berardino,D ½-½) - but things remained complicated ...
In Mamedyarov,S - Di Berardino,D 1-0 26.Qe4! suddenly threatened mate in 2!
27...b4! decided Papp,G - Di Berardino,D 0-1 in Black's favour - 28.cxb4? Rxd4!.
Do you recognise the opening? In Kazakouski,V - Druska,J ½-½ Juraj Druska opted for the double-edged 19...f5!?.
With 15.Bd3 Shawn Rodrigue Lemieux pursued a clear goal in Rodrigue Lemieux,S - Yilmaz,M 1-0 - sacrifice on f5!
Italian with opposite castling - in Kadric,D - Yilmaz,M 1-0 Spyridon Kapnisis praises 15.Bxe5!.
The Greek also dissects three other top-class encounters from other tournaments.
Gukesh,D - So,W ½-½ saw an exchange sacrifice 19...cxd5! trademark Gukesh.
In Abdusattorov,N - Grischuk,A 1-0 the trade 29.Bxd7! was as simple as it was strong.
Bad Black knights - with 36.b5! White gained decisive initiative in Suleymanli,A - Niemann,H 1-0.
Zaven Andriasian looks back on half a dozen of his games at the Tsaghkadzor Open.
22...e6! left many white pieces badly placed in Sklokin,S - Andriasian,Z 0-1.
In Andriasian,Z - Davtyan,A 1-0 18.Bxh6! gxh6 19.Qd2 would have worked for White. Speaking of ...
Andriasian,Z - Ambartsumian,T 1-0 - White's move.
Also:
Gabuzyan,H - Andriasian,Z ½-½
Lysyj,I - Andriasian,Z ½-½
Andriasian,Z - Sahakyan,A ½-½
After Dante Beukes' 37...Re2! strange things were to happen in Takahashi,M - Beukes,D 0-1 ...
And on 19...Bxc3!?(Mwali,C - Beukes,D 0-1) he writes: 'I always thought games where Black gives up their dark-squared bishop for a knight were really cool. Sometimes I can't resist my romantic inclinations.'
In Cardoso Cardoso,J - Posthuma,J 1-0 Jose Gabriel Cardoso Cardoso uncorked the strong pinning move 14.Qc3!.
Romain Edouard watches six games from the French championship.
After the strong novelty 13...h6! White made the wrong decision with her bishop in Schippke,M - Milliet,S 0-1.
The commentator himself at the board - in Edouard,R - Demuth,A ½-½ White had the choice between 19.Qg3 and 19.Qd3. Speaking of ...
14.Qd3!+- (Maze,S - Moussard,J 1-0).
With 23.b4! White opened a second attacking front on the queenside in Maze,S - Moussard,J 1-0.
Also:
Droin,A - Gharamian,T 1-0
Boyer,M - Laurent Paoli,P 0-1
Lubomir Ftacnik checks two complicated high-calibre encounters.
After 24.Re3! Black had his back to the wall in Dominguez Perez,L - Sarana,A 1-0.
In Caruana,F - Shankland,S 1-0 the cards were on the table early: White on the queenside, Black on the kingside.
Abhijeet Gupta reviews five of his games.
'14.c6 - a nice way to make a mess!' (Krivoborodov,E - Gupta,A 0-1).
After 12...Be7? 13.Nb5! it was all over in Gupta,A - Sharma,D 1-0.
Gupta,A - Vignesh,N 1-0 saw the remarkable 13.Bh7+!? Kh8 14.Be4.
Also:
Gupta,A - Gagare,S 1-0
Gupta,A - Dragnev,V ½-½
Yago Santiago analyses six games from the Spanish championship.
26.Ng4!! crowned the white model attack in Korobov,A - Ibarra Jerez,J 1-0.
Tabatabaei,M - Aravindh,C 0-1 saw incredible complications after 19.f4.
The same applies to 14.b4! from Vokhidov,S - Suarez Garcia,C 1-0.
23.Bxh7!! Kxh7 24.Rd4! was not to be missed by chess legend Vassily Ivanchuk (Ivanchuk,V - Vallejo Pons,F 1-0).
16.Bd6! Nc6 17.Nf4! with an advantage for White (Tabatabaei,M - Puranik,A 0-1).
32.Bc5! - Yuffa,D - Illescas Cordoba,M 1-0 was a prime example of Yuffa's use of the bishop pair.
19...Nhxf4! should have led to victory in Nandhakumar,V - Wang,T ½-½. 'A chance that the mega-incompetent player with the black pieces missed miserably' - Tianqi Wang.
Instead, he scored the full point after 39...Rxf2+! in Wongso,S - Wang,T 0-1.
We conclude with two games by Vladimir Zakhartsov.
In Zakhartsov,V - Volkov,S 1-0 Black should have sacrificed a piece with 18...Ncxd4! but after 18...f3? 19.Nxf3! it was the other way round.
And in Levin,E - Zakhartsov,V 0-1 White could have played a promising novelty: 8.b4! cxb4 9.Nb5!.