ChessBase Magazine 204

Highlights

On the start page of ChessBase Magazine #204 you will find the special recommendations of the editors - the highlights of the issue to click on and enjoy!

Analyses from the European Individual Championship by the new Champion Anton Demchenko as well as Alexey Sarana, Viktor Erdos, Maxime Lagarde, Ivan Saric, Rasmus Svane, Niclas Huschenbeth, Daniel Fridman and others. Markus Ragger examines Magnus Carlsen's new idea in the Sicilian with 3.Bb5+ (video). Or how about a clear attacking plan against the French Rubinstein Variation? Don't miss the interactive training sessions with Robert Ris!

Special: My favourite Polgar game

CBM authors comment on their favourite games of the great Hungarian. Exclusive collection of 23 wins from 1989 to 2014.

Top games and master analyses

Norway Chess 2021: The runner-up, Alireza Firouzja, comments on two of his winning games, plus analyses by Romain Edouard.
European Individual Championship 2021: The new Champion, Anton Demchenko, analyses his win against Matthias Blübaum. Many other players comment on their best games.
World Cup 2021 revisited: Anish Giri and Peter Heine Nielsen analyse the games of the match for third place between Carlsen and Fedoseev.

"All in one"

Here you can find out everything you need to know about a specific opening line. And all this on the basis of only one extensively annotated game!

Igor Stohl examines a fresh way for Black in the Queen’s Gambit Declined: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 a6!?, which was introduced into chess practice around 1899 by Dawid Janovsky and recently has seen a revival. And Tanmay Srinath scrutinises a line of the Closed Ruy Lopez: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0–0, and now 9.d4.

Opening videos

In his first video for CBM, Markus Ragger presents an idea of the World Champion in the Sicilian with 3.Bb5+ from the World Cup: 3… Nd7 4.d4 cxd4 and now 5.Nxd4!? Nf6 6.0-0!?. Daniel King has identified a new trend in the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit – the trendsetter here is Alireza Firouzja. And Mihail Marin shows Judit Polgar's concept
against the Ruy Lopez Breyer Variation from 1993.

Markus Ragger: Sicilian with 3.Bb5+ Nd7
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4
Daniel King: Queen's Gambit  Exchange Variation
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 Be7 8.Bd3 0-0 9.Nge2 Re8 10.Qc2 Nbd7 11.f3 b5
Mihail Marin: Ruy Lopez Breyer Variation
with 15.b3 d5 16.Bg5 h6 17.Bh4

New ideas for your repertoire

CBM #204 offers many exciting ideas for your next games with 11 opening articles:

Spyridon Kapnisis: Larsen Opening 1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6
Krisztian Szabo: English Botvinnik System with 6.e4 f5
Petra Papp: Caro-Kann Advance Variation 8...Qxb2
Andrey Sumets: Sicilian Paulsen 6...Qb6 7.Nf3 (Part III)
Robert Ris: Sicilian Four Knights with 9.Bd3
Imre Hera: Sicilian Najdorf 6.Be2 e5 7.Nf3 Be7 8.Bg5
Martin Lorenzini: French Rubinstein Variation 7.Be3
Evgeny Postny: Vienna Game 3.Bc4 Nxe4 4.Qh5 Nd6
Alexey Kuzmin: Queen's Gambit 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 h6!?
Sergey Grigoriants: Gruenfeld with 5.Na4 e5
Roven Vogel: King's Indian Fianchetto Variation 8.Na3

Topical opening traps

"A surprising number of Queen's Gambits!" Our expert Rainer Knaak presents ten current traps, three of which are also in video format. This time the focus is on different lines of the Queen's Gambit.

Move by move

"An absolute master piece!" Recap the brilliant Fedoseev-Carlsen game from the World Cup 2021 move by move together with IM Robert Ris!

"Judit Polgar, the strategist"

Mihail Marin examines the games of the former world-class player with regard to various aspects, from pawn play to positional struggles. Incl. detailed video introduction!

The Classic

Almost 130 years old and yet absolutely modern! The former coach of the German national team, Dorian Rogozenco, presents the fourth game of the World Championship match from 1892 between Wilhelm Steinitz and Mikhail Chigorin.

Tactics: "Lots of mate pictures!"

Train your eye for spotting mates with Oliver Reeh’s collection of 37 games studded with numerous training questions as well as three interactive videos! And "My Favourites" is best solved together with the International Master in the interactive analysis!

"Endgame highlights by Judit Polgar" and more

Endgame expert Karsten Müller provides three articles in this issue. In addition to the article on Judit Polgar (incl. video), the GM from Hamburg presents the most beautiful endgames from the Chessable Masters 2021 and deep analyses in "Readers write".