| Introductory videos
Once more GM Karsten Müller
takes a look in his introductory video at
a few selected highlights from this DVD, e.g. the decisive
moment in Dortmund in the game Kramnik-Carlsen or the tricky
final combination of the victor in Poikovsky, Alexander Motylev,
against Alexei Shirov. He also refers briefly to two opening
articles from this issue which will certainly be received with
special interest: Grivas' "Sicilian with 3.Bb5 – a repertoire
for Black" and Kuzmin’s "The new Anti-Grünfeld" (with the move
5.b4). |
 | Dorian Rogozenco casts his eye back over recent
tournaments; this will be of interest since in recent months
Sofia, Poikovsky, Bazna and Dortmund were four top tournaments.
Out of the tournament in Sofia the Romanian GM has chosen to
explain, e.g., the decisive moments in the final round game
Shirov-Carlsen. Rogozenco goes into the tournament in Bazna in
detail; it was the first world class tournament on Romanian
soil. From it he presents the game Ivanchuk-Shirov, in which the
future tournament victor first of all played a strong innovation
and then surprised all with some fantastic resources which he
found in the endgame. |
| 13.05.-23.05.2009 
Victor in Sofia:
Alexei Shirov
| M-Tel Masters Sofia
Grounds for joy for Alexei Shirov: it was not the serial winner
of past years, Veselin Topalov, but the friendly naturalised
Spaniard who won the tournament in Sofia this year and in doing
so qualified for the Grand Slam Final in Bilbao. The decision as
to who would win the tournament did not come until the final
round. Magnus Carlsen, after wins in rounds 7 and 9, was half a
point ahead of Shirov and Topalov.
Since in his final round game Topalov could manage no more than
a draw against Wang Yue, it was the Shirov - Carlsen game which
would decide victory in the tournament. |
Shirov - Carlsen
Position after 21.b3
| Alexei Shirov annotated this exciting game in
video format only a few days after Sofia. He describes the
circumstances and his strategic thoughts before the final round.
Decided not to shrink from any complications and happy with
Carlsen’s choice of opening (Sveshnikov) Shirov went in for the
sharper 9.Bxf6. He then deviated with 15.Qh5 from the present
main line 15.Qf3 with which, e.g. Anand had been successful
against Radjabov in Linares 2009 (see Anand’s audio analysis in
CBM 130). The position on the board on the left had been part of
Shirov’s preparation, but in the video he admits that after
21...Kh8 22.Nc2 Be5 Black has a strong initiative for the pawn
he has sacrificed. Don’t miss Shirov’s extensive analysis of
this highly tactical game. |
Video Shirov - Dominguez
|
In spite of his success in Sofia Shirov was not totally
satisfied with the quality of his play. As he explains at the
start of his second video, the part of his success which
was due to home preparation was far greater than that of fantasy
and creativity over the board. For his best game in the
tournament Shirov has selected his draw with Dominguez, because
in it both sides did not always make the objectively correct
moves but the game was full of ideas. Dominguez surprised his
opponent in the Najdorf Variation with 6.Bg5 firstly by playing
the not very modern 7...Be7 and later with the double-edged
10...h6. In his video Shirov goes deeply into the opening phase
and explains how he decided on the central push and pawn
sacrifice. In an apparently critical position, Dominguez found
in 18...0-0-0 a defensive resource, which Shirov praises very
highly. |
Carlsen,M - Topalov,V
|
With his first round victory over Topalov Magnus Carlsen
made it clear right from the start that it would be difficult
for the Bulgarian to defend his title this time. Carlsen
annotates this game in depth on the DVD. In the Moscow Variation
of the Queen’s Gambit Topalov missed on move 21 a good
opportunity to equalise immediately and even to obtain a slight
initiative. Only a few moves later the Bulgarian – probably as a
result of a tactical miscalculation – committed a major
strategic error. Carlsen didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth
and exploited the weakening of the black position logically with
an attack on the king. |
| 03.06.-12.06.2009 
Tournament victor
Alexander Motylev
| Karpov tournament in Poikovsky
The next tournament highlight began two weeks after Sofia in
Poikovsky in Russia. There at the start was: Alexei Shirov. But
the victor of Sofia got off to a classic bad start. In the first
round he lost an extremely tactical game, which has been
annotated in depth on the DVD by the victor Ernesto Inarkiev (Inarkiev,E
- Shirov,A). This was immediately followed by three
further defeats for Shirov including one against the future
winner of the tournament Alexander Motylev, who for the
first time was able to push his Elo rating above 2700 thanks to
his success in the tournament. |
Motylev,A - Shirov,A
Position after 17.Qf3
|
In this issue Motylev annotates two of his wins from
Poikovsky. In the game against Shirov, Motylev did not feel at
all happy about the opening. As has happened in some previous
games between these two opponents, it was the Four Knights Game
that was played. In view of the lack of promising prospects,
Motylev chose on move 12 the innovation Ne3. A dubious move, as
the 30 year old Russian concedes in his analysis, because Black
then gets the initiative and could have gained an advantage in
the position in the diagram by 17...Nxb3 followed by 18...f5.
But instead Shirov went in for the complications after 17...Nxd3
and went on to underestimate on several occasions the potential
of White’s position. After only 25 moves he had to lay down his
arms. |
Motylev,A - Gashimov,V
Position after 15.c5
|
The decision as to victory in the tournament came in round 8 in
the game Motylev,A - Gashimov,V. Before
the game, they both led the table with 5.5 out of 7. Gashimov
chose the Petroff Defence and would presumably have been quite
happy to share the point. On move 14 Gashimov omitted the
standard exchange on c4, and Motylev took advantage of the
opportunity to play 15.c5. In his analysis he expresses his
surprise that this logical move had only twice before been tried
out at tournament level. Because after the said move, what is
the rook actually doing on c8? In his analysis Motylev points
out that that if White continues accurately, then thanks to his
space advantage on the queenside and his pressure down the b-file
he will obtain the advantage. In the game there followed a long
strategic battle around the black pawn weaknesses on the
queenside, examined in great detail by Motylev in his analysis. |
Gashimov,V - Bologan,V
Position after 12.Be3
|
As well as the tournament winner, four other participants (Bologan,
Gashimov, Inarkiev and Onischuk) have annotated their best games
from Poikovsky. You can access all of these games and a
tournament report here. Obviously the
Philidor defence is back in fashion.
In Poikovsky both Bologan and Gashimov played a theoretically
interesting game, one with and one against the said classical
system. In the first round game Gashimov,V -
Bologan,V Black chose in 8...a5 a plan, which does not
suit the position according to the analysis by Shirov. Gashimov
invested a lot of time in the innovation 12.Be3 – a successful
piece of provocation. It was so because Bologan succumbed to the
temptation to play 12...Nxe4 and then d6-d5, and only a few
moves later he was obliged to surrender the exchange without any
compensation whatsoever. |
Efimenko,Z - Bologan,V
|
But in the very next round Bologan had the opportunity to
improve on things. He once more had Black against 1.e4 and again
chose the setup with 8...a5, but on this occasion inserted the
move 9...Nb6 before the exchange on d4. Efimenko did go on to
have strong control over the black squares, but Bologan managed
by careful play to equalise the position. In his analysis the
experienced Moldavan GM explains amongst other things the
decisive turning point in the game shortly before the first time
control. |
| 14.06.-25.06.2009 
Wieder oben auf:
Vassily Ivanchuk
| "The Kings Tournament" in
Bazna
Unpredictability appears to be the motto of Vassily Ivanchuk.
For months his Elo curve had been heading steeply down hill, and
in Sofia he was even last with 3 out of 10. It was being
mentioned by many that the much-loved Ukrainian player was in
urgent need of a rest from tournament play. But then came the
tournament in Bazna in Romania, a majestic start to finish
victory by Ivanchuk with four victories and not a single defeat.
On the DVD you will find all the games from Bazna, the
most interesting of which have been annotated by grandmasters
Krasenkow, Rogozenco, etc. |
Gelfand,B - Nisipeanu,L
Position before 21...Nxe4
| Boris Gelfand has been in good form for quite
some time. The new Elo list from FIDE puts him in 9th place –
the last time he was so high in the list was in 2006. His Elo
gains have resulted above all from top results in various
leagues. But in Bazna too he confirmed his latest performances
by finishing on +2 (also without losing a game). On the DVD
Gelfand annotates his victory over Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. In a
King’s Indian with f5-f4, both sides started off by following
classical plans, a white advance on the queenside and a push by
Black on the kingside. After 21.Nb6 (see diagram) Gelfand was
very happy with his position. The key black piece (the Bc8)
appears to be under control – what can happen? But Nisipeanu
countered with the strong knight sacrifice 21...Nxe4. Gelfand
analyses the resulting tactical complications and in doing so
presents a marvellous defensive resource for White. |
|
02.07.-12.07.2009 
| Sparkassen Chess-Meeting Dortmund Vladimir
Kramnikn has won nine times in Dortmund, a unique performance.
This year he was convincing in his generally good preparation
and a series of brilliant attacking games. The foundation for
his success was his double win over the top German GM Arkadij
Naiditsch, who in the previous year had inflicted a painful
defeat on him. However the decisive game for Kramnik came in
round 8 against Magnus Carlsen who had been leading till then. |
Kramnik,V - Carlsen,M
Position after 18.f5
|
GM Igor Stohl annotated the gameKramnik,V -
Carlsen,M immediately after Dortmund. In his analysis
he also goes in depth into Kramnik’s choice of an opening (Queen’s
Gambit with 5.Bf4) and gives his evaluation of the latest
theoretical discussion. In the game Kramnik went back with
10.Rd1 to a classical idea, which has been enjoying renewed
popularity over the last few years. With his positional pawn
sacrifice 18.f5 (see diagram) Kramnik increased the pressure on
the as yet not fully developed black position, but at first
Carlsen found an adequate defence. However, like he did against
Shirov in Sofia the young Norwegian made a serious error in a
critical position (after 25.Rd6) and allowed his opponent to
decide the game in his favour with an attack on the king which
is worth seeing. |
Jakovenko,D - Kramnik,V
Position after 20...f6
|
In the following, the ninth, round Kramnik had another hard
battle with Black against the young Russian Dmitrij Jakovenko.
And things could once more have become really exciting in
Dortmund. Because the young Brazilian GM Alexandr Fier
demonstrates in his analysis of this game, that in the position
in the diagram Jakovenko had an excellent position on the board
and with the correct continuation he could have been looking at
the full point. Can you see how White could decisively exploit
to his advantage the weakness of the position of Black’s king?
It was not the text move, 21.Na4 which finally led after a
hard-fought battle to a level rook ending. |
Meier - Dominguez
(in German language)
| Georg Meier in Havana
In the middle of June in the Cuban capital, there was the
traditional Capablanca Memorial Tournament. The victor was the
local hero and Elo favourite Leinier Dominguez. The young German
grandmaster Georg Meier was taking part and with 5 out of 10
finished in 3rd place. Meier annotates his two games against
Dominguez in video format on the DVD.
For his game as White Meier had prepared an innovation in an
extremely symmetrical variation of the English Opening and he
explains it in detail in his analysis. But Dominguez found an
adequate and splendid reply. By means of a positional pawn
sacrificed he maintained the coordination between his pieces and
kept the position level. |
Dominguez - Meier
Position after 17...Qc6
(in German language)
|
In the return round the young German had Black and had to be on
the defensive against Dominguez. Meier may have lost the game,
but as he points out at the start of his analysis it was the
most interesting of his games in Havana. As expected, the
opening was a Rubinstein Variation in the French Defence. In his
presentation Meier not only goes into detail about the variation
which Dominguez had already tried out on several occasions
(11.Bb5) but also into basic considerations, e.g. what was
Kasparov’s idea in 2002 when he introduced the move 7.c3. In the
position in the diagram Meier played the new move 17...Qc6 with
the idea of posting the queen more actively and getting more
control over the white squares. But the Cuban once more showed a
subtle feeling for the position and secured himself a slight
long term advantage by creating an asymmetrical distribution of
pawns with a pawn majority on the queenside. You should not miss
Georg Meier’s video analysis of the game
and Dominguez’ masterly handling of the bishop ending. |
Repertoire against 1.d4
| The Two Knights Tango as
a weapon against 1.d4
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6 – these moves bring about the so-called Two
Knights Tango, which was created in the 90s and which since then
has been on trial in practice. GM Lubomir Ftacnik presents in
his video analysis White’s attempts at a refutation.
Whereas 3.Nf3 gives Black the possibility of transposing to
various well-known systems (e.g. from the Nimzo- or Bogo-Indian),
Ftacnik recommends to White the move 3.Nc3. This leads to less
well-known territory and offers plenty of room for creativity.
His conclusion: for the moment there is no sign of a refutation
of the Tango, and possibly, who knows, there may well never be
one. In the Fritztrainer column you will find two further
opening contributions in video format: Grünfeld Defence with
5.Bd2 by Mikalchishin and a repertoire idea 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 by
Rogozenco. |
The trap:
Which "normal move" would be a mistake?
| From the opening trap to
the endgame study
Training in ChessBase Magazine begins with the very first moves
and takes in all phases of the game of chess. The Opening
trap by GM Rainer Knaak can be used as early as move
six this time. What would you play as White in the position in
the diagram? Peter Wells' renowned Middlegame column
is given over to the subject 'There is tension in the centre'.
Recent master games constitute the basis of the Tactics
column by Oliver Reeh and the Endgame
column by Karsten Müller. And in Daniel King’s Move by
Move the game Kosintseva–Bocharov from the Aeroflot
Open 2009 adds yet another game with the Philidor
Defence to your training plan. |
