ChessBase Magazine Extra 200

Opening videos

Jan Werle: Sicilian Rossolimo Variation

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.c3 Nf6 6.Re1 0-0 7.d4

In the first game of the 2018 WCh match in London, Caruana tried the continuation 4.Bxc6 against Carlsen’s Sicilian after 3.Bb5 g6 and encountered a perfectly prepared champion. This demonstration may be one reason why in recent times White has often refrained from exchanging the bishop and instead opted for rapid development and the establishment of a strong center with 4.0-0 g6 5.c3 Nf6 6.Re1 0-0 7.d4. GM Jan Werle examines the two main lines with 7… d5 and 7… a6. In both lines, our author has new concepts and recommendations for White that contain a clear plan and bring promising positions up on the board!

Mihail Marin: Italian Game duels Carlsen vs. So

1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 a5 7.Re1 0-0

Mihail Marin followed the final between Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So at the “Opera Euro Rapid” with particular interest. In two of these games the Italian Game with an attack on the kingside was used quite successfully. About a year ago, Marin published a detailed strategy article on exactly this topic in ChessBase Magazine #192. In this video he takes a close look at the two mentioned games and deals with several topics, e.g. which pieces the opponents should try to swap from the board. In his analysis, Marin is quite astonished that it is still possible at top level to achieve a huge advantage with this attacking strategy. However, as seen in these games as well, the execution of such an advantage in tactical positions of this kind remains anything but trivial!

With “The brilliancy” we are highlighting one of the 33 extensively commented games in this issue. Sagar Shah was so enthusiastic about a game of his young compatriot Nihal Sarin that he simply had to analyse it for CBM Extra!

In the “Lucky bag” you will find the brilliant game by Nihal Sarin along with another 32 extensively commented games! These include analyses by Anish Giri, Romain Edouard, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Dejan Bojkov, Erigaisi Arjun, Davorin Kuljasevic and others.

By far the largest share is contributed by Romain Edouard: the GM from France has put together no less than 20 games for your chess entertainment, including some hits great games from the German Bundesliga. Here are three examples:

19.Bg5! (Bacrot, E - Demuth, A 1-0).

31 ... Rxh2! (Van Wely, L-Rapport, R 0-1).

18.Rf2! (Kryvoruchko, Y - Van Foreest, J 1-0, one of four games in the Mega with the mistake17 ... Nd7?).

And the “Update service” delivers over 47,000 new games for your database. Once again, almost the entire world class is represented!