ChessBase Magazine Extra 227

Opening videos

Mihail Marin: English Opening

1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e6 6.g3 Qb6 7.Ndb5 Ne5 8.Bf4 Ng4 9.Qb3

At the Saint Louis Rapid 2025, Caruana shocked his opponent Dominguez Perez with the novelty 9.Qb3 – a move inviting the queen to strike on f2 – with check! The Cuban GM resisted the temptation and continued with 9...a6. Mihail Marin examines the complications after 9...Qxf2+ 10.Kd2 g5 and tries to figure out what Caruana might have had in mind here.

"Mikhalchishin's Miniatures"

With this edition of CBM Extra, master trainer GM Adrian Mikhalchishin launches another series of short videos on new opening ideas. Enjoy!

Sicilian O'Kelly Variation

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6 3.c4

The O'Kelly Variation (2...a6) is a poisonous variation of the Sicilian Defence. White players who are unfamiliar with it often play 3.d4, but after 3.cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5, Black quickly gains an active game. Therefore, White should continue with either 3.c3 or 3.c4. In this video, Mikhalchishin gives a recommendation against 3.c4: After 3…Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4, Black can continue with 5…e5. “Very interesting system, very simple.”

Classical Sicilian

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Nd5

Pawn sacrifices in the opening are becoming increasingly popular. The “old theory” considered the sacrifice 7.Nd5 inadvisable also because the knight is moved for the second time before development is even close to complete. Incidentally, in order to accept the sacrifice, Black must not play 7….Nxe4?? – because this would be followed by 8.Nb5 with immediate gain for White. The correct move is the forced variation 7...Nxd5 Qa5+ 8.Bd2 Qxd5 9.Nb5 Qe6+ 10.Be2 Qd7 – White gains a long-term positional initiative after 11.c4, but whether this is sufficient for full compensation remains to be seen in practice.

Queen's Gambit Exchange Variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.f3

Magnus Carlsen is always good for a surprise in the opening. With 5.f3 in the Queen's Gambit Exchange Variation, he certainly threw the opponent off his opening book for sure. Mikhalchishin discusses the continuation 5...c5 as well as the alternatives 5...Nc6, 5...c6, and 5...Bb4. 5.f3 – “an absolutely interesting idea.”

‘Lucky  bag’: Analyses by Emanuel Berg, Romain Edouard, Michal Krasenkow and many more.

Extra #227 delivers 39 annotated games from a wide variety of tournaments in the ‘Lucky bag’.

And the "Update service" delivers almost 50,000 new games for your database!

The games from the Update service are also included in the Mega Update Service 2025, which can be used with ChessBase 17/18 (and a corresponding subscription).