| | Introductory videos |
 |
In his 16 minute introductory video, GM Karsten Müller
outlines the main points of this DVD and presents in
Carlsen’s first round victory over Leko from Nanjing and
Bacrot’s strong innovation in the popular Anti-Meran against
Aronian two star games from this issue. At the same time he
summarises in the Caro-Kann with 3.f3 and a compact
repertoire for Black against the French Tarrasch Variation,
two of the total of 12 openings articles in this issue.
Click here or on the image of the video on
the left and let Karsten Müller get you in the mood for CBM
133! |
 |
GM Dorian Rogozenco reviews in chronological order
and on two videos the four tournament highlights of the past
autumn. From the super-tournament in Nanjing he explains
Carlsen’s victories over Topalov and Jakovenko. In his
remarks describes in exemplary fashion the qualities of the
young Norwegian. And the European Cup in Ohrid also offered
a plethora of theoretically significant games that are also
worth seeing; Rogozenco introduces one game each from
Motylev and Sargissian. To finish, Rogozenco describes the
decisive moment in the
European Championship in
Novi Sad. |
 |
In Rogozenco’s evaluation the Tal memorial in Moscow
represents the strongest tournament of the year and not just
because it included in Anand and Kramnik a World Champion
and an ex World Champion. As an example of the high level of
the theoretical work prepared for the opening, he introduces
the game Anand - Leko with a surprising innovation in a
popular variation of the Anti-Meran. A further example is
Kramnik’s innovation against Svidler’s Grünfeld Defence.
Rogozenco’s analysis of the game Ivanchuk – Kramnik, which
comes at the end of this second
video, makes clear just how
open the result of the Tal Memorial was until the very last
minute. The Ukrainian had built up a brilliant attacking
position and with the correct continuation could have
wrested the tournament victory away from Kramnik. |
| 05.11.-14.11.2009 
Vladimir Kramnik:
back to his old class
| Tal Memorial in Moskau
This high point of the season in Moscow saw at the start,
apart from Topalov, the complete and absolute world elite
including Carlsen, Anand, Kramnik, Aronian, and Ivanchuk.
Added to that were Gelfand, Leko, Svidler, Morozevich and
Ponomariov. After Carlsen’s triumph in China there was great
excitement: would the Norwegian be able to continue his
triumphal procession in Moscow? But in the very first round
Kramnik’s game against the Norwegian revealed that he was
full of ideas and ambition. After his third round victory
over Morozevich he reined in Svidler in round 4 in the
latter’s special opening, the Grünfeld Defence. Two rounds
later Kramnik managed another convincing win with White over
Ponomariov and this almost decided the tournament victory.
You will find all the games from the Tal Memorial as well as
a tournament report here or
via "Tal Memorial" in the left-hand column. |
Carlsen,M - Ponomariov,R
Position after 19.Nfxe6
|
For a long time in Moscow, Magnus Carlsen was not able to
tap into his outstanding form from Nanjing (see below),
obviously this was also on account of a viral illness.
All
his games from rounds 1 to 7 ended in draws.
In last two rounds the Norwegian got going once more and
scored wins in his games against Ponomariov and Leko. In
Carlsen - Ponomariov the
Norwegian innovated in the English Attack against the
Najdorf Variation with 11.Qe1 and then went on to start a
successful attack on the black king. His belated victories
raised Carlsen at the end of the Tal Memorial to a shared
second place. What was even more significant was the
circumstance that Carlsen had gone past Topalov to occupy
the first place on the FIDE world ranking list. |
Kramnik,V - Anand,V
Position before 18...Nxf3
|
Romanian GM Mihail Marin has surveyed and commented
on the DVD on the most important theoretical developments
and discussions in the opening during the super-tournament
in Moscow. The main focus was on the 1.d4-openings, above
all the Grünfeld Defence, against which Kramnik, amongst
others, had to play twice and had mixed success. Anand was
again successful against Svidler with the modern 5.Bd2 and
was also able to achieve draws with three of his games as
Black with the Grünfeld Defence, including a strong
innovation in Kramnik - Anand
(see diagram). Other major focal points in Marin’s
theoretical survey are the Ragosin Defence in the Queen’s
Gambit, the Catalan and the Semi-Slav. |
| 28.09.-09.10.2009 
Magnus
is the greatest
| Pearl Spring Turnier in
Nanjing
Sometimes numbers simply say more than words. With 8 out of
10, an Elo performance of 3002, 5 out of 5 with the white
pieces, not a single defeat and a lead of 2.5 points,
Magnus Carlsen celebrated his first tournament victory
of the year. A triumphal procession in the former Chinese
imperial city of Nanjing for the young Norwegian dressed in
red brocade. On the DVD Carlsen annotates his first round
victory against Peter Leko, against whom he employed one of
the weapons of his new trainer, Garry Kasparov: the Scotch. |
Carlsen,M - Leko,P
Position after 15.d5
|
For Leko, Carlsen’s choice of opening obviously came as a
real surprise. And also with the positional pawn sacrifice
10.f4 and 13.g3 Carlsen chose a rather out-of-fashion
variation and in doing so followed Morozevich’s game against
Kramnik from 2001. Two moves later and the Norwegian had on
the board the position he had wanted to have in this game
and which he had analysed beforehand (see diagram). For the
pawn he has sacrificed, White has an advantage in space and
the bishop pair and it is not clear how Black can plan the
coordination of his pieces. In any case the black queenside
looks rather susceptible already on account of White’s
threatened piece play. Click here or
on the link under the diagram and let Magnus Carlsen explain
the key moments in this game to you. |
Radjabov,T - Topalov,V
Position after 21...Qxd6
|
There was another high class Scotch game in the encounter
Radjabov - Topalov, in
which both sides first followed their game from the Grand
Slam Finale in Bilbao 2008. This time, however, Radjabov
managed to set his opponent serious problems in the opening.
Just when Topalov was setting about freeing his position,
Radjabov missed a clear way to a win and, beginning with
22.Bf5+, went on to exchange off the queens.
Can you see how, in the position on the board, White could
have decided the game in his favour? In the game Radjabov
obtained the superior endgame with rook + distant passed
pawn against bishop + knight, but in the long run deviated
from the path to a win. In his analysis Radjabov turns the
microscope on the game from A to Z and demonstrates the
possible ways to a win, both in the middlegame and in the
endgame. |
| 22.10.-30.10.2009 
Their first ECh victory: Azerbaijan
|
European Team Championship in Novi Sad
Geographically Azerbaijan is on the western shores of the
Caspian Sea and thus on the extreme edge of Europe. From the
point of view of chess, the country has come right into the
middle of Europe with its victory in the ECh in Novi Sad.
Whereas on board 1 Radjabov was going through a slight
crisis in his form, Gashimov, Mamedyarov and Mamedov were
according to ELO performance amongst the six best players in
the ECh. Vugar Gashimov has annotated two of his
games for this CBM, including the decisive victory over
Stellwagen in the final round. |
Gashimov,V - Roiz,M
Position after 25.c5
| In Gashimov
- Roiz
the error 24...b4? was followed by the decisive attack on
the black king, starting with the subtle 25.c5 (see
diagram). Instead of embarking on damage limitation with
25...Nc6 the Israeli grandmaster captured on c5, which led
to a clear deterioration in the structure of his position.
You really should not miss how Gashimov went about the win,
including his exchange sacrifice. |
Gashimov,V -
Stellwagen,D
Position after 36.g4
|
The spectators experienced a dramatic showdown in the final
round. Russia only required a victory over Spain, but with
Alekseev’s defeat at the hands of Salgado and Morozevich’s
victory over Vallejo they only managed to achieve 2:2. So
the team from Azerbaijan got the chance to get through to
first place with a victory over the Netherlands. With the
score at 1.5:1.5 the decision would come in the game Gashimov
- Stellwagen. The Dutch player
came out of the opening with a slightly passive position,
but, e.g., had a very stable position thanks to his
excellent knight outpost on d5. Gashimov, in all his efforts
all the way to a rook ending, could not manage to achieve a
bankable advantage and he mentions in his commentary that
just before Stellwagen’s blunder on move 70 he felt he was
heading for a draw. Click on one of the links and play
through the decisive game of
Novi Sad with the comments of the match winner himself. |
Eljanov:
flying high after his wedding
|
The Ukraine had to do without their top board Ivanchuk in
Novi Sad. However, with a bit of luck, they even managed to
finish up with the bronze medal. This was in no small
measure due to Pavel Eljanov. Since his marriage withWIM Olena Dvoretska in May
of this year, there seems to be nothing to stop him. Still
under ELO 2700 in April, he has now reached 11th place in
the world ranking list. As in earlier issues of ChessBase
Magazine, Eljanov has once more sent in analysis of his
games, this time a total of three: his game
against Navara from Novi Sad
and two games from Ohrid (see below), where he led his team
to victory in the Europa Cup. |
Navara,D - Eljanov,P
Position after 19...Nb8
|
Eljanov was successful as Black against the number one of
the Czech Republic in a Catalan. Navara had – of course not
an unusual thing – sacrificed a pawn on c4, although he had
already moved his dark-squared bishop to d2. Eljanov takes a
critical look in his analysis at his opponent’s opening
choice and comes to the conclusion that after only 10 moves
Black has an advantage. In fact, in the middlegame he
managed to hold on to the extra pawn. In the position in the
diagram opposite, the Ukrainian found in 19...Nb8 a strong
continuation, because the knight can not only defend the
pawn on c6, but afterwards go via a6 to the active square
b4. |
| 04.10.-10.10.2009 
Europas neue Nr. 1: Economist Saratov
| European Club Cup in
Ohrid
Seven rounds, seven victories – this majestic result won for
the team of Economist Saratov the European Club Cup in Ohrid.
The Russian team with Alekseev, Eljanov, Ni Hua, Bu Xiangzhi,
Moiseenko etc. displayed good nerves right up until the end
and secured the gold medal in the
last round with a 3.5:2.5 victory over Ashdod Illit from
Israel. Top scorers for the victorious team were Alexander
Moiseenko and - once more - Pavel Eljanov. |
Eljanov,P - Giri,A
Position after 11...f5
| IIn
the second round the Ukrainian had White against the just 15
year old Dutch GM Anish Giri. In a Queen’s Gambit Accepted,
both sides got to work energetically, In the variation with
6.Nh4 Giri chose the unusual 6...Bd7 and poured more oil on
the fire with the innovation 11...f5 (see diagram). In his
analysis Eljanov praises his opponent’s new idea, because
any other, passive continuation would leave White with a
powerful initiative.
In the game there followed 12.Ng5 Qxd4 13.Qh5+ Kd8 with a
very madcap position and two shaky kings on a full board. In
this phase Eljanov kept his eye on everything and remained
calm, first winning back the sacrificed pawn and then
another pawn, and then liquidating to a favourable endgame
via an exchange of queens. At this critical moment Giri
reacted too passively and allowed his opponent to decide
the game in
his favour thanks to a tactical trick. |
Eljanov,P - Akopian,V
Position after 18.Ra2
| The game
Eljanov - Akopian
from round 6 is an absolute model for attacking chess. In a
modern Catalan with 4.Nc3 Eljanov early on offered his
opponent a second pawn sacrifice. But although Akopian
turned down this offer, he once more found himself very much
under pressure after the opening, and with e4, f4, g4 and g5
White drummed up a pawn storm against the opposing king.
With 18.Ra2 (diagram) White is preparing more than the
doubling of rooks on the f-file. From there the rook is
aiming for f3, because from that post it will be making
dangerous threats to swing over to the g-file or even the h-file.
Click here or on the link under the diagram
and Eljanov will explain to you the subtleties of his
winning plan. |
Timofeev,A - Volokitin,A
Position after 14.Ne5
|
Measured by ELO performance it was Andrei Volokitin
in Ohrid who had the best result after Peter Svidler. For
this issue of ChessBase Magazine he has analysed three of
his games from the Europa Cup and tells us, e.g., about his
first experiences with the Dutch. In the game Timofeev - Volokitin
it was the popular Leningrad Variation that was up for
discussion – according to Volokitin the best reply to 1.d4
at the moment, if one wants to win. In the game, just as he
successfully completed the development of his pieces, he was
surprised by Timofeev’s attack with the knight 14.Ne5 (see
diagram). Black must now either give up the pawn on c6 or
separate himself from his bishop d7. Volokitin decided on
the pawn sacrifice and showed in the game, that the advance
on the kingside offers Black sufficient compensation.
Volokitin has annotated this game in depth from start to
finish – it comes highly recommended, and not only for
friends of the Leningrad Variation! |
Andrei Volokitin:
the Dutch is ok!
| In Sakaev -
Volokitin
too, the young Russian opted for the Dutch Defence. This
time his opponent decided on an unorthodox Anti-Dutch and
tried to break up the black pawn chain in the centre with
the typical thrust g4. But the young Russian kept a cool
head and after his king had wandered to the queenside he
obtained the better game thanks to his bishop pair and the
c-file. He finally decided the game in his favour in a rook
ending. Volokitin - Kuzubov is also
interesting form the point of view of opening theory. In a
rare variation of the Caro-Kann with 3.Nc3 Kuzubov chose in
10...Bxf4 more than a dubious continuation. He was,
presumably unknowingly, following the game Volokitin -
Predojevic from 2007 (1-0). After a few inaccuracies on both
sides, Volokitin dominated the game and forced the decision
by means of the central thrust d5. |
|
The Opening Trap:
11...Qc7 was a mistake, why?
| From the
opening trap to the endgame study Training
in ChessBase Magazine starts with the very first moves and
takes in all the phases of a game of chess.
The 12 up-to-date openings articles with their
numerous ideas and suggestions for your repertoire can be
found here or
above among the links. On this occasion Rainer Knaak has
selected his opening traps - exclusively from the
European Cup. For Dragon fans, the main interest will be the
two contributions in video format: Leonid Kritz has
investigated a sub-variation of the main line with 9.Bc4 and
Dorian Rogozenco concentrates on the move order 9.0-0-0 d5.
You will find these and other videos in the column Fritztrainer.
In his Strategy column Peter Wells casts some light
on the theme of “The safety of the king in simplified
positions”. In Daniel King’s long running Move by Move
there is an instructive game from the Europa Cup there for
training. And in the Tacticsand Endgame columns
Oliver Reeh and Karsten Müller have once more assembled for
you all that is best in recent tournament praxis. |
| |
