ChessBase Magazine Extra 223

Opening videos

Leon Mendonca: French

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6

On his way to the Tata Steel Masters 2025, Leon Luke Mendonca stopped off in Hamburg, among other things to record one of his best games from the past year in video format in the ChessBase Studio. His choice was his White win against Harika Dronavalli at the Chennai GM Challengers 2024. Against the French Defence, Mendonca went for the Advance Variation, in which his opponent followed up 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 with 5...Qb6. With 6.a3 c4 7.Nbd2 Na5 8.Rb1 Bd7 9.h4 0-0 10.b3 and an early exchange of queens Mendonca gained a long-term strategic advantage.

Nico Zwirs: King’s Indian

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.Nc3 d6 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.0-0 e5

In January, Magnus Carlsen played his game for his new club, FC St. Pauli, in the German Bundesliga. In the encounter with Max Warmerdam, the Fianchetto Variation of the King's Indian Defence with 6...Nd7 came onto the board via a transposition of moves from the English Opening. Nico Zwirs analyses the game, in which his compatriot – in keeping with his enterprising style – chose 8.Qc2 instead of the main continuation 8.e4, thus steering the game into relatively unfamiliar territory. After 8...Re8 9.Rd1 Carlsen forced the issue with 9...e4. So, what to do with the knight on f3? Nico Zwirs looks at White’s three options: 10.Nd2 is natural, attacks the advanced e-pawn and is well playable. 10.Ng5 allows Black the pawn sacrifice 10...e3 with roughly equal practical chances. And 10.Ne1, the move from the game which after 10...Nb6 11.c5? (better is 11.Bg5!) Nd5 12.cxd6 Qxd6 13.Bg5 e3! played into the hands of the world no. 1.

“Lucky bag": Analyses from Romain Edouard, Surya Ganguly, Anish Giri, Abhijeet Gupta, Spyridon Kapnisis and many more.

Extra #223 provides 50 annotated games from various tournaments in the “Lucky bag”.

Surya Ganguly, who will provide a comprehensive video analysis of the Sicilian with 2...e6 3.d4 exd4 4.Dxd4 in the upcoming CBM #224, contributes “The brilliancy” of the issue - a great attacking game against Sergei Movsesian from the French League 2024, in which Black was already lost after his 14th move: “14...Qd5? After that move there was no chance of saving the game.”

The “Update service” again delivers over 50,000 new games for your database!

The games of the update service are also included in the Mega Update Service 2025, which can be used with the programs ChessBase 17/18 (and a corresponding subscription).