Chessbase Magazine 212

Highlights

These are the editors' recommendations – from first-class analyses from the Tata Steel Masters and Challengers 2023 to the endgame series "Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" Part 2 by Dr Karsten Mueller:

Tata Steel 2023: The tournament winner of the Masters, Anish Giri, comments on his best games as well as Jorden van Foreest, Praggnanandhaa and many more. In addition, video analyses by Dorian Rogozenco – "Special" on Anthony Miles: exclusive collection of 21 commented games + contributions on strategy and endgame – "English for Attackers": Alexey Kuzmin shows the highly topical gambit 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 e4 4.Ng5 c6!? – "Theory Update from Wijk aan Zee I": Rustam Kasimdzhanov brings Spanish with 8.a4 b4 9.a5 up to date  – Endgame series "Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" Part 2: Learn the most important rules and techniques in the ending Rook + Pawn vs. Rook from Dr. Karsten Mueller and much more.

Top chess and master analyses

Tata Steel 2023: Anish Giri comments on three of his games, plus analyses by Praggnanandhaa, Jorden van Foreest, Peter Heine Nielsen, the winner of the Challenger, Alexander Donchenko and many others. Dorian Rogozenco presents two games in the video that were decisive for the outcome of the Masters!

Rapid Highlights: Anish Giri, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Peter Heine Nielsen analyse selected games from the Rapid Chess World Championship and the Meltwater Champions Chess Final 2022.

Special: Anthony Miles

CBM authors analyse their favourite game of the Englishman (1955-2001). Exclusive collection of 21 annotated games from the years 1978 to 2001.

Practical tips for the tournament player

When should you accept a draw offer and when not? Which emotional aspects can influence our decision, and how can we block them out as best we can? Don’t miss part 5 of the training series “Practical Tips for the Tournament Player” with GM Jan Markos. Video + small collection of exercises.

Move by Move

Robert Ris shows Magnus Carlsen's fantastic game against Nodirbek Abdusattorov from the 2022 Rapid World Championship. Can you find the moves of the triple world champion?

All in one

Spyridon Kapnisis presents the Scotch Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.Ng5!? After 5...Nh6 6.Nxf7 Nxf7 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qh5+ White wins back the piece on c5 and has in any case already achieved a partial success.

Opening videos

All three opening videos pick up current ideas from the top tournament in Wijk aan Zee! Rustam Kasimdzhanov examines the Ruy Lopez with 8.a4 b4 9.a5, which came on the board twice at the "Masters". Nico Zwirs examines Magnus Carlsen's idea of 7...Bg4 in the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit. And Mihail Marin puts the Evans Gambit from Beerdsen-Pechac from the "Challengers" to the test.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov: Ruy Lopez
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 b4 9.a5
Mihail Marin: Evans Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 d6 7.Qb3 Qd7 8.0-0 Bb6 9.Nbd2
Nico Zwirs: Queen’s Gambit Exchange Variation
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 Bg4

New ideas for your repertoire

From the Reti Opening to the King's Indian - ChessBase Magazine #212 offers 11 opening articles with new ideas for your repertoire!

Vogel: Reti Opening 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 b6
Kuzmin: English 1...e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 e4 4.Ng5 c6
Sumets: Caro-Kann Exchange 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6
Papp: Najdorf 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 h6 8.Bh4 Qb6 9.a3
Santiago: French 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 a6!?
Schandorff: Scotch with 4...Bc5 and 7...a5!?
Ris: Italian Ulvestad Variation 5...b5!?
Srinath: Open Ruy Lopez Part II
Postny: Nimzo-Indian 4.Nf3 0-0 5.Bg5 c5 6.Rc1
Grigoriants: Catalan 6...dxc4 7.Qc2 b5 8.a4
Szabo: King's Indian 5.Be2 0-0 6.Be3 e5 7.d5

Topical opening traps

“From the English Opening to the Queen’s Gambit” – Rainer Knaak takes a close look at eight traps from current tournament practice (incl. three FritzTrainer videos)

"Positional Milestones"

Mihail Marin presents the legend from England, Anthony Miles, as a universal player and explains how strategy and tactics worked together harmoniously in his best games. Including a detailed video introduction and – for the first time in CBM – two interactive training videos!

Modern Classics

Dorian Rogozenco shows one of the most spectacular games from the match "Soviet Union vs. the Rest of the World" in 1970: Bent Larsen came to blows on the first board of the world selection in only 17 moves. against world champion Boris Spassky! Part 3 of the new video series.

Tactics: "Queenless and happy"

Sometimes it is simply necessary to part with one's queen. Oliver Reeh's article contains 32 games, peppered with plenty of training exercises. Plus three interactive videos with our author’s favourite combinations.

Fundamental Endgame Knowledge II

The endgame expert Dr Karsten Mueller continues his training series with the topic "Rook + Pawn vs. Rook". Also: Endgame highlights of Anthony Miles.