Another Olympiad is over and plenty of interesting games have been played. So many, in fact, that one hardly knows what to look at. In the open section alone there were more than 3000 games. Are you feeling overwhelmed by this number? Then have a look at the following selection of great games!

In this third column on beauty in chess, I have decided to present my personal "top ten". These games have caught my eye for one reason or another and they are all pretty amazing in some way. Quite a lot of different themes are covered, from surprising opening ideas to great endgame play. I hope that there's something for everybody to enjoy.

My presentation is meant mainly for entertainment, therefore the analysis is rather light. Please note that exclamation marks are sometimes awarded for boldness and creativity, not for objective correctness!

You will probably notice that there are no games from the women's section. No, I'm not being sexist. I just haven't looked at the women's games yet. But if you ask me politely, I might do another selection with their games!

Update: as our editor-in-chief decided to leave in the game Halkias-Arakhamia, we can treat that last one as a bonus game (actually won by a female player, although it still was in the open section).

Previous articles in this series:

• Beauty in chess I
• Beauty in chess II