| Introductory
videos
To set the tone for this edition, GM
Karsten Müller,in his introductory video
casts an eye over an important victory each by tournament
winners Boris Gelfand (Khanty Mansiysk) and Magnus Carlsen
(London). Of the total of 12 openings articles on the DVD,
the grandmaster from
Hamburg presents three: including an idea for Black
in the Ruy Lopez which can be traced to Aronian and
Rogozenco’s repertoire suggestion of 5.Nbd2 against Albin’s
Countergambit. |
 |
In two video surveys, GM Dorian Rogozenco introduces
the top tournaments of the last two months and takes a look
at some selected key games. The Romanian grandmaster first
presents two impressive wins by 16 year old GM Wesley So
from the FIDE World Cup in Khanty Mansyisk; he did after all
put the likes of Ivanchuk and Kamsky out of the race.
Rogozenco specifically honours the performance of the
tournament victor Boris Gelfand in this first
video and offers as an
example of his ultra-solid style one of the rapid chess
games from the final against Ponomariov. |
 |
In his second videoRogozenco
takes a look back at the London Chess Classic, the Russian
Superfinal and the World TCh in
Bursa in Turkey. From the London tournament he analyses one
win each by the tournament victor Magnus Carlsen and the
runner-up, Vladimir Kramnik. From Bursa we have a strong
innovation by the Greek GM Hristos Banikas in the Queen’s
Indian and a grandiose attacking victory by Hikaru Nakamura
over World Cup winner Gelfand. |
| 21.11.-14.12.2009 
Boris Gelfand
A victory for solidity
| FIDE World Cup in Khanty
Mansiysk
128 players were in the starting blocks for the FIDE World
Cup in Khanty Mansiysk in Russia. The tournament was once
more played in KO mode and thus promised many surprises and
a whole host of exciting games. In every round, two normal
games were followed by rapid and, if required, blitz games
in order to get a decision. After 24 strength-sapping days,
the finalists Boris Gelfandand Ruslam Ponomariov
took their places on a large stage in front of a lot of
empty seats and went on to decide the tournament finally in
the blitz chess games. The happy victor of this duel,
Boris Gelfand, thus celebrated in Khanty Mansiysk one of
the greatest successes in his long career. |
Karjakin,S - Gelfand,B
Position after 11...Ra6
|
For his colleagues and friends in ChessBase Magazine
Gelfand’s success is just as pleasurable. Because the 41
year old has for many years been annotating his own games
for CBM. For this DVD Gelfand has selected a game from the
semi-final in Khanty Mansiysk. In the first game of the duel
Karjakin-Gelfand he had with Black an attacking
victory which is well worth seeing and that gave him the
lead in the battle to get into the final. In view of
Gelfand’s super-solid scores with the Petroff, Karjakin
decided on 2.Bc4. But Gelfand soon took the initiative in
the centre with 6...d5 and went on to develop his pieces in
optimal positions. 8...a5 (already tested by Kasparov
against Kramnik) prepares the lovely rook lift Ra8-a6-g6. In
the position in the diagram Karjakin should have been able
to accept the piece sacrifice on d5 and with correct defence
draw the game by perpetual check. Instead, he took the risk
of 12.Qh5 – a bold decision which was not rewarded. Click on
the link under the diagram and play through the game
with the comments of the World Cup winner. |
World Cup -
Theoretical survey
by Mihail Marin
|
Chess lovers who are interested in opening theory should not
miss Mihail Marin’s summing up of the opening trends
in the World Cup. In ChessBase Magazine 133 the Romanian GM
had compiled the trends from the Tal Memorial in Moscow and
on this DVD he examines the latest ideas from Khanty
Mansiysk. In view of the great number of games, Marin has
found interesting games in almost all the classical
openings. The spectrum covers the Grünfeld, the King’s and
Nimzo Indians as well as the Bishop’s Opening, the Scotch
and the various Sicilians. |
Sergey Karjakin
Eliminated in the semi-final
|
On his way to the semi-final Sergey Karjakin had his
back to the wall when facing the Czech GM David Navara in
round 3. He had already lost the first game. In the second
game his opponent surprised him with the Rubinstein
Variation of the French Defence. Karjakin decided on the
more rarely played variation with 7.Be3 and came out of the
opening with a slightly advantageous position. In his
analysis of the game Karjakin,S -
Navara,D the young Ukrainian
examines, e.g., the critical moment when his opponent, who
apparently had his eyes too firmly fixed on a draw, was
over-hasty in aiming to simplify matters by exchanging
pieces. |
Karjakin,S - Mamedyarov,S
Position after 49...Rb2
|
Two rounds later Karjakin faced Shakhriyar Mamdyarov who had
been playing brilliantly up until then. In a main line Ruy
Lopez, the Ukrainian innovated with 15.b4 – not the sort of
novelty that catches one’s eye, but Mamedyarov promptly
committed an inaccuracy with the "normal" move 16...Qd5. In
his analysis, Karjakin explains how he could immediately
have exploited the unfortunate placing of the white queen to
obtain a clear advantage with the logical follow-up.
But the game was not decided
until an exciting moment in the endgame. Mamedyarov had just
played 49...Rb2? (diagram) and in doing so had unexpectedly
given his young opponent the opportunity to decide the game
with the surprising 50.f4 (50...gxf4 is followed by the
quiet 51.Re5 with mate). Click on the link under the diagram
and play through the game with Karjakin’s comments. |
Wesley So
Favorite killer
|
One of the greatest surprises of the World Cup was provided
by the 16 year old Wesley So. Firstly, the Philippino
dismissed the Azerbaijani Gadir Guseinov in round 1. And
after that he put out of the running in Ivanchuk and Kamsky
two candidates for tournament victory. On this DVD Wesley So
annotates for the first time for ChessBase Magazine – on one
hand his very first game from Khanty Mansiysk (against
Guseinov) and then his spectacular victory over Ivanchuk. |
So,W - Guseinov,G
Position after 12.Qe2
|
Wesley So's preparation for Khanty Mansiysk had concentrated
primarily on his first-round opponent Guseinov and the
King’s Indian which is very popular among the top players
from Azerbaijan. To his surprise the Azeri chose once more
in the Classical System with 6.h3 the side line with
9...Qe7+. According to So this is a very dubious
continuation. In the game the young GM actually did manage,
by means of simple development and after exchanging queens,
to reach a slightly superior ending. At first So did not
manage to achieve a decisive advantage, but with the help of
his strong pieces and space advantage on the queenside, he
maintained a constantly high level of pressure on the black
position. High enough to cause his opponent to make a
decisive mistake on move 40 when he was short of thinking
time. Click on the link under the diagram and follow Wesley
So's analysis. |
Ivanchuk,V - So,W
Position after 14...Ne4
|
In the following round against Ivanchuk, So had Black in the
first game. In a French Defence with 3.Nc3 Bb4 the Ukrainian
chose, to the surprise of his opponent, to play 4.exd5 and
make the transition to the less turbulent Exchange
Variation. The complications started with So's ambitious
12...Qb6. After 14...Ne4 (see diagram) there begins a sharp
line, in which all that is left for White at the end, if he
plays correctly, is a perpetual check. But Ivanchuk wanted
more and despite being under extreme time pressure, bet
everything on a single card. In his analysis Wesley So picks
his way through the tactical complications and explains his
opponent’s decisive mistakes. After losing this game and
then being eliminated, the Ukrainian was so dissatisfied
with his own play that he spontaneously announced the end of
his chess career. Fortunately he withdrew this announcement
on the very next day. |
Gashimov,V -
Caruana,F
Position after 21...Rd4
|
We can also count among the ranks of challengers for the
title from the younger generation Fabiano Caruana and Vugar
Gashimov. Both of them could look back on a strong year in
2009. But neither of them made it into the final, the
Italian going down in their face to face encounter in the
last 16, whilst for Gashimov everything was over in the
following round. Fabiano Caruana has annotated one of
his games against the Azeri, in which we see an interesting
opening idea in the main line Ruy Lopez. The move 11.a4 may
not be an innovation but had only been played once at the
top (Morozevich-Carlsen 2007). Caruana admits in his
analysis that he had never analysed the move and plunged in
head-first with his reply 11...b4. However, in the game the
Italian managed to keep the position level with accurate and
active play. |
| 08.12.-15.12.2009 
| London Chess Classic
A good month after the Tal Memorial in Moscow Magnus Carlsen
and Vladimir Kramnik met again in the Chess Classic in
London. This time the young Norwegian managed to turn the
tables and end up a nose in front - not least thanks to his
first round victory over Kramnik. The two super-stars set
the pace during the tournament and at the end each of them
had notched up three wins. English eyes would have been
pleased to see the performance of the up and coming talent
David Howell. The 19 year old remained undefeated and ended
the tournament on +1. |
Carlsen-Kramnik
|
One of the absolute high points on this DVD is the inclusion
of excerpts from the press conferences, in which the actors
themselves reviewed their games. There is at least one
commentary for every day in Fritztrainer format
(audio). This amounts to a total of more than 6.5 hours of
analysis and commentary. You will find the complete
collection here.
However, the supremely important one is Magnus Carlsen’s
analysis of his victory over Kramnik.In his
conversation with the English IM Lawrence Trent we learn
more than just a host of things about the key moments in the
game. All the way through there are very entertaining
moments which show the engaging character of the young
Norwegian. Click on the picture on the left to start Magnus
Carlsen’s analysis. |
Carlsen,M - Kramnik,V
Position after 26...Na5
|
In addition to this spontaneous live analysis, Carlsen has
also annotated the game in depth in classical form. Carlsen
came out of the opening (an English Four Knights) with the
complex position which he was wanting and by means of a
series of precise positional moves he achieved an advantage.
And that although Kramnik, as Carlsen points out in his
analysis, actually did not make a mistake. In the position
in the diagram Kramnik decided to give up his a-pawn with
26...Na5 apparently in the hope of curbing White’s
initiative and achieving some counterplay. However, what
decided the game was Kramnik’s unsuccessful attempt to
develop any activity on the kingside after his sacrifice.
Carlsen easily fended off Black’s attempts and went on to
win the game shortly thereafter. Click on the link under the
diagram in order to play through the game with Carlsen’s comments. |
Kramnik-Ni Hua
| Vladimir Kramnik did not display any shock
after his first round defeat and set off to play catch-up
right from round 2. Against Ni Hua he made the most of his
preparation in a sharp variation against the Slav with
4...a6. Kramnik had already prepared the innovation 13.Qg4
for the match against Topalov in 2006. He was now able to
make use of it and his opponent Ni Hua understandably chose
the less sharp but probably objectively weaker continuation.
In hislive
analysisin
audio format Kramnik turns to the question of the innovation
and explains the surprising twists and turns right up till
Ni Hua’s final mistake in an endgame at which he was in any
case at a clear disadvantage. |
Adams,M -
McShane,L
Position after 39.e5
|
In round 7 the spectators were treated to highly tactical
mêlée in the all-English duel between Adams and McShane.
Michael Adams, who, like his compatriot Howell, was able
to finish the London tournament undefeated and on +1, has
annotated this game on the DVD. In the Ruy Lopez Breyer
Variation Adams prepared his pieces for an attack on the
black king, but it was McShane who opened the ball in a
highly complex position by means of the knight sacrifice
33...Nxg2. In what followed, a mutual attack developed
against extremely exposed kings, and finally Adams’ king
turned out to be less vulnerable on h4 than was that of his
opponent on h7. |
Short-Carlsen
|
When in the final round Kramnik had already agreed a draw
against Nakamura and when Carlsen only needed a draw for
sole lead in the tournament, the young Norwegian continued
to play for a win against Nigel Short - typical Carlsen. He
had chosen the Dragon Variation against the experienced
English player and had temporarily sacrificed an exchange.
In the endgame the Norwegian more and more took the
initiative and for a while it actually seemed that the
number one in the world ranking list was going to win again.
Nigel Short has provided together with Chris Ward
some very entertaining commentary on this game. "For me,
actually, a draw was quite okay" admits Short at the start
of the recording. The draw with Carlsen represented for the
English player some slight consolation at the end of an
otherwise disappointing tournament. |
| 05.01.-13.01.2010 
World Champion again:
The Russian team
| World Team Championship
in Bursa
Whenever favourites measure up to underdogs, sympathies are
often clearly divided. In the World Team Championship in
Bursa in Turkey things will have been a bit like that. After
all such tournaments are made by surprise victories and
favourite killers. In this respect, this championship had
plenty to offer. The traditional ELO favourites at the
start, Russia, went down in round 2 to the fearless Greeks.
And in spite of that they still managed at the end to emerge
as victors in one of the major team championships, because
their rivals from Armenia and Azerbaijan also displayed
unaccustomed weakness. |
Gelfand,B - Nakamura,H
Position after 22...Nh4
|
Occupying second place were the USA, which actually for a
time even had genuine chances of taking the title thanks to
the brilliant play of Hikaru Nakamura. With his 6 out
of 8 Nakamura achieved the best result on board one and
defeated amongst others the freshly crowned World Cup victor
Gelfand in a fantastic King’s Indian game. The key moments
in Gelfand-Nakamura have already been explained in
his second introductory video by Rogozenco. In addition GM
Ftacnik has also annotated the game in classic format.
Gelfand, himself a reputed connoisseur of the King’s Indian,
sharpened the position a bit more with 21.d6. But the
US-American didn’t let himself be confused and logically
continued his attack on the kingside. The move 22...Nh4 (see
diagram) sets up the subtle mating threat 23...Bh3 and then
24...g2. Gelfand was able to fend off this mate, but could
not find an antidote to the attack which would break over
him after the entry of the knight by 23...Nxg2. |
Mamedyarov,S - Sutovsky,E
Position after 36.Nxe5
|
The team from Azerbaijan was not able to follow up on its
recent success in the European championship, certainly
partly because their top board Vugar Gashimov was off form
on this occasion. So this time the Azeris could not even
manage the bronze medal. However their team had in
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov the most successful player in the
tournament (8 out of 9). The Israeli GM Postny has annotated
for the DVD his game against Emil Sutovsky. From what is
reputed to be a relatively harmless variation of the
Grünfeld there gradually developed a high class game, in
which White tried his luck in the play against the black
king and Black pushed forward to promote his passed a-pawn.
Consequently there arose a sharp endgame, which both sides
were able to hold level with precise play despite having
their backs to the wall. In the position in the diagram
Sutovsky found the only defensive move. What would you play
here as Black? |
Can,E -
Shulman,Y
Position after 23.f4
|
Hosts, Turkey, put out a young team, which as might be
expected came in at the bottom of the table. They
nevertheless managed a team victory over the experienced
Israeli team. In individual games too, the potential of the
Turks could be recognised. In the very first round Emre
Can defeated the American Yuri Shulman in the French
Defence Tarrasch Variation. Can played a variation (3.Nd2
Be7), which Hannes Langrock analysed in depth in ChessBase
Magazine, issues 126-129. After the classic bishop move to
h7, Can started his attack on the king and after the strong
text move 23.f4 Shulman went wrong in the position in the
diagram with 23...Qxb2. Can went on to win the black queen
and simple technique was sufficient to wrap up the game. |
Move by Move
Position after 24...Rh7.
How do things continue?
| From the opening trap to
the endgame study
Training in ChessBase Magazine begins with the very first
moves and includes all the phases of a game of chess. The
latest 12 openings articles with numerous ideas and
suggestions for your repertoire can be found here or
above among the links. This time the opening trap comes as
early as move 4. Click here, to
reach that column (including its Fritztrainer video) by
Rainer Knaak. You will also find in video format the
openings contributions from Dorian Rogozenco (Trompowsky
Attack) und Adrian Mikhalchishin (Ruy Lopez, Archangelsk).
These videos and other recordings in Chess Media format can
be found in the column Fritztrainer. Peter Wells’
subject in his Strategy column this time is called: "The
well-motivated but surprising advance of the h-pawn". In
Daniel King’s ever popular Move by Move it is a
positional brilliancy on the menu this time (see diagram).
And in the Tactics and Endgamecolumns Oliver Reeh and Karsten Müller have once
more collected for you all that is best in current
tournament practice. |
Opening Surveys
Marin: Alekhine Defence B04 1.e4
Nf6
2.e5 Nd5
3.d4 d6 4.Nf3
g6 5.Be2
Bg7
6.0-0 0-0 7.c4 Nb6
8.Nc3
Nc6
9.exd6 cxd6 
| |
In this line White is not aggressive and
develops with standard moves; of course he
cannot hold the e5-point either. However, as
Marin’s investigations show, Black must play
very accurately to hold things level. |
Schandorff: Caro-Kann B12
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 dxe4 4.fxe4 e5 5.Nf3
Bg4
6.Bc4
Nd7
7.0-0 Ngf6
8.c3 Bd6  | |
In CBM 133 Sergey Erenburg introduced the
variation with 3...e6, but not every
Caro-Kann player wants to have positions
which are related to those from the French.
Schandorff shows you how to achieve
satisfactory play with 3...dxe4. |
Grivas: Sicilian B33
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3
Nc6
3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4
Qb6
5.Nb3
Nf6
6.Nc3
e6 7.Qe2  | |
The setup with 4...Qb6
is called the Grivas Sicilian – so the
author is writing about his own system. He
is not only a theoretician but also the
greatest practitioner of the move 4...Qb6.
Part 1 of his series deals with the Hera
Variation. |
Kritz: French Defence C10 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3
dxe4 4.Nxe4
Nbd7
5.Nf3
Ngf6
6.Nxf6+
Nxf6
7.c3  | |
Since Kasparov’s great game against
Ponomariov (Linares 2002) 7.c3 has been
considered the most ambitious attempt to
demonstrate an opening advantage for White.
Kritz shows how, with exact play, Black can
more or less achieve equality. |
Marin: Bishop's Opening C24 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4
Nf6
3.d3 c6 4.Nf3
d5 5.Bb3
Bd6  | |
The variation with 3...c6 against the
Bishop’s Game is a safe choice. As the
author shows, White can perhaps achieve a
mini advantage, but it should not be enough
to win the game. |
Stohl: 2 Knights Game C58 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3
Nc6
3.Bc4
Nf6
4.Ng5
d5 5.exd5 Na5
6.Bb5+ c6
7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Bd3  | |
The move 8.Bd3
immediately sets Black a problem, because
the experts are not yet in agreement as to
the best reply for Black in this as yet
relatively infrequently played variation.
Igor Stohl gives you a few answers. |
Kuzmin: Ruy Lopez C60 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3
Nc6
3.Bb5
Nge7  | |
Levon Aronian successfully employed Cozio’s
move 3...Nge7
in the World Blitz Championship. This
prompted the author to put under the
microscope the game played by the Armenian. |
Postny: Ruy Lopez C65 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3
Nc6
3.Bb5
Nf6
4.0-0 Bc5 5.Ne5  | |
In 4...Bc5
Black has an excellent alternative to 4...Nxe4
(the Berlin Wall). The critical variations
arise after 5.Nxe5,
but according to Postny’s analysis Black can
hold his own. |
Langrock: Ruy Lopez C69
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3
Nc6
3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6
dxc6 5.0-0 f6 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4
c5 8. Ne2
Qxd1
9.Rxd1
Bd7 10.Be3!
0-0-0 11.Nbc3  | |
Langrock’s investigations demonstrate that
Black can perhaps not achieve equality in
this main line of the Exchange Variation. |
Rogozenco: Albin's Countergambit D08 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3
Nc6
5.Nbd2  | |
In recent years the usual 5.g3 has very much
gone done in the world. On the other hand,
Rogozenco’s repertoire suggestion based on
5.Nbd2
is looking good – White gets a safe
advantage everywhere. |
Karolyi: Queen's Gambit Accepted D20 1.d4
d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3
c5 4.Nc3  | |
It seems that White cannot achieve a
superior position in any of the variations
examined involving an early transition to an
endgame, in spite of appearing to have an
initiative. |
Krasenkow: King's Indian Defence E90 1.d4
Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.h3
e5 7.d5 a5  | |
In his third and last contribution
on the 6.h3 king’s Indian, Michael
Krasenkow examines the main line
with 7...a5. Here too, he describes
a lot of subtleties which procure
for the person who is in the know a
clear advantage over his opponent. |
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