ChessBase Magazine Extra 222

Opening videos

Felix Blohberger: Reti Opening

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.0-0 Be7 5.c4 0-0 6.b3

Felix Blohberger had already presented one of his games from the 2024 Chess Olympiad in video in ChessBase Magazine #222. In this Extra, he follows up with another game from Budapest, which of course fits in perfectly with this issue's ‘Special’ with 21 top-class Olympic analyses! The video also complements Blohberger's two-volume video course ‘1.Nf3 - A Reti Grandmaster Course’, which was published a few weeks ago!

Nico Zwirs: Sicilian Najdorf Variation

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Nbd7 9.g4 b5 10.Qd2 Be7 11.0-0-0

With a victory in the final round against the U.S. Junior Champion of this year, GM Christopher Yoo, Nico Zwirs secured the tournament victory at the Sparkassen Chess Trophy in Dortmund this summer and thus celebrated the greatest success of his career to date. The game with Yoo featured the Sicilian Najdorf Variation, an opening that the IM from the Netherlands likes and which he discusses in detail in his FritzTrainer series ‘How to Slay the Sicilian’ together with his compatriot GM Roland Pruijssers. However, Zwirs was surprised by Yoo’s 11...Nb6 and reacted with 12.Qf2, deviating from the recommendation in his video courses (12.g5 Nh5 13.Na5 b5 14.Ne2). Yoo took advantage of this inaccuracy to equalise a few moves later and bring an ending with queen and two rooks on both sides to the board after just 21 moves. But, as Zwirs explains in his analysis, his Najdorf experience paid off from this point on. ‘After the exchange exd5 it is White to play on the Queen's side’, is just one of several rules of thumb to remember!

‘Olympiad Special': Cheparinov, Deac, Howell, Meier, Nguyen, Pelletier, Pichot, Santos Latasa, Van Foreest, Vitiugov, Wojtaszek and others comment on their best games

With a total of 21 high-class annotated games from Budapest, Extra #222 offers a powerful follow-up to CBM 222, in which we already looked back on the 2024 Chess Olympiad with analyses and videos.

David Howell's game against Filip Haring was voted ‘The brilliancy’ of the issue, not least thanks to the high-quality analysis by the GM from England.

The Update Service once again provides almost 40,000 new games for your database!

The games from the update service are also included in the Mega Update Service 2024, which can be used with the ChessBase 16/17/18 programmes (and a corresponding subscription)