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| Introductory videos
Once more GM Karsten Müller takes a look in his introductory video at a few selected highlights from this DVD, e.g. the decisive moment in Dortmund in the game Kramnik-Carlsen or the tricky final combination of the victor in Poikovsky, Alexander Motylev, against Alexei Shirov. He also refers briefly to two opening articles from this issue which will certainly be received with special interest: Grivas' "Sicilian with 3.Bb5 – a repertoire for Black" and Kuzmin’s "The new Anti-Grünfeld" (with the move 5.b4). |
 | Dorian Rogozenco casts his eye back over recent tournaments; this will be of interest since in recent months Sofia, Poikovsky, Bazna and Dortmund were four top tournaments. Out of the tournament in Sofia the Romanian GM has chosen to explain, e.g., the decisive moments in the final round game Shirov-Carlsen. Rogozenco goes into the tournament in Bazna in detail; it was the first world class tournament on Romanian soil. From it he presents the game Ivanchuk-Shirov, in which the future tournament victor first of all played a strong innovation and then surprised all with some fantastic resources which he found in the endgame. |
| 13.05.-23.05.2009 
Victor in Sofia:
Alexei Shirov
| M-Tel Masters Sofia Grounds for joy for Alexei Shirov: it was not the serial winner of past years, Veselin Topalov, but the friendly naturalised Spaniard who won the tournament in Sofia this year and in doing so qualified for the Grand Slam Final in Bilbao. The decision as to who would win the tournament did not come until the final round. Magnus Carlsen, after wins in rounds 7 and 9, was half a point ahead of Shirov and Topalov. Since in his final round game Topalov could manage no more than a draw against Wang Yue, it was the Shirov - Carlsen game which would decide victory in the tournament. |
Shirov - Carlsen
Position after 21.b3
| Alexei Shirov annotated this exciting game in video format only a few days after Sofia. He describes the circumstances and his strategic thoughts before the final round. Decided not to shrink from any complications and happy with Carlsen’s choice of opening (Sveshnikov) Shirov went in for the sharper 9.Bxf6. He then deviated with 15.Qh5 from the present main line 15.Qf3 with which, e.g. Anand had been successful against Radjabov in Linares 2009 (see Anand’s audio analysis in CBM 130). The position on the board on the left had been part of Shirov’s preparation, but in the video he admits that after 21...Kh8 22.Nc2 Be5 Black has a strong initiative for the pawn he has sacrificed. Don’t miss Shirov’s extensive analysis of this highly tactical game. |
Video Shirov - Dominguez
| In spite of his success in Sofia Shirov was not totally satisfied with the quality of his play. As he explains at the start of his second video, the part of his success which was due to home preparation was far greater than that of fantasy and creativity over the board. For his best game in the tournament Shirov has selected his draw with Dominguez, because in it both sides did not always make the objectively correct moves but the game was full of ideas. Dominguez surprised his opponent in the Najdorf Variation with 6.Bg5 firstly by playing the not very modern 7...Be7 and later with the double-edged 10...h6. In his video Shirov goes deeply into the opening phase and explains how he decided on the central push and pawn sacrifice. In an apparently critical position, Dominguez found in 18...0-0-0 a defensive resource, which Shirov praises very highly. |
Carlsen,M - Topalov,V
| With his first round victory over Topalov Magnus Carlsen made it clear right from the start that it would be difficult for the Bulgarian to defend his title this time. Carlsen annotates this game in depth on the DVD. In the Moscow Variation of the Queen’s Gambit Topalov missed on move 21 a good opportunity to equalise immediately and even to obtain a slight initiative. Only a few moves later the Bulgarian – probably as a result of a tactical miscalculation – committed a major strategic error. Carlsen didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth and exploited the weakening of the black position logically with an attack on the king. |
| 03.06.-12.06.2009 
Tournament victor
Alexander Motylev
| Karpov tournament in Poikovsky The next tournament highlight began two weeks after Sofia in Poikovsky in Russia. There at the start was: Alexei Shirov. But the victor of Sofia got off to a classic bad start. In the first round he lost an extremely tactical game, which has been annotated in depth on the DVD by the victor Ernesto Inarkiev (Inarkiev,E - Shirov,A). This was immediately followed by three further defeats for Shirov including one against the future winner of the tournament Alexander Motylev, who for the first time was able to push his Elo rating above 2700 thanks to his success in the tournament. |
Motylev,A - Shirov,A
Position after 17.Qf3
| In this issue Motylev annotates two of his wins from Poikovsky. In the game against Shirov, Motylev did not feel at all happy about the opening. As has happened in some previous games between these two opponents, it was the Four Knights Game that was played. In view of the lack of promising prospects, Motylev chose on move 12 the innovation Ne3. A dubious move, as the 30 year old Russian concedes in his analysis, because Black then gets the initiative and could have gained an advantage in the position in the diagram by 17...Nxb3 followed by 18...f5. But instead Shirov went in for the complications after 17...Nxd3 and went on to underestimate on several occasions the potential of White’s position. After only 25 moves he had to lay down his arms. |
Motylev,A - Gashimov,V
Position after 15.c5
| The decision as to victory in the tournament came in round 8 in the game Motylev,A - Gashimov,V. Before the game, they both led the table with 5.5 out of 7. Gashimov chose the Petroff Defence and would presumably have been quite happy to share the point. On move 14 Gashimov omitted the standard exchange on c4, and Motylev took advantage of the opportunity to play 15.c5. In his analysis he expresses his surprise that this logical move had only twice before been tried out at tournament level. Because after the said move, what is the rook actually doing on c8? In his analysis Motylev points out that that if White continues accurately, then thanks to his space advantage on the queenside and his pressure down the b-file he will obtain the advantage. In the game there followed a long strategic battle around the black pawn weaknesses on the queenside, examined in great detail by Motylev in his analysis. |
Gashimov,V - Bologan,V
Position after 12.Be3
| As well as the tournament winner, four other participants (Bologan, Gashimov, Inarkiev and Onischuk) have annotated their best games from Poikovsky. You can access all of these games and a tournament report here. Obviously the Philidor defence is back in fashion. In Poikovsky both Bologan and Gashimov played a theoretically interesting game, one with and one against the said classical system. In the first round game Gashimov,V - Bologan,V Black chose in 8...a5 a plan, which does not suit the position according to the analysis by Shirov. Gashimov invested a lot of time in the innovation 12.Be3 – a successful piece of provocation. It was so because Bologan succumbed to the temptation to play 12...Nxe4 and then d6-d5, and only a few moves later he was obliged to surrender the exchange without any compensation whatsoever. |
Efimenko,Z - Bologan,V
| But in the very next round Bologan had the opportunity to improve on things. He once more had Black against 1.e4 and again chose the setup with 8...a5, but on this occasion inserted the move 9...Nb6 before the exchange on d4. Efimenko did go on to have strong control over the black squares, but Bologan managed by careful play to equalise the position. In his analysis the experienced Moldavan GM explains amongst other things the decisive turning point in the game shortly before the first time control. |
| 14.06.-25.06.2009 
Wieder oben auf:
Vassily Ivanchuk
| "The Kings Tournament" in Bazna Unpredictability appears to be the motto of Vassily Ivanchuk. For months his Elo curve had been heading steeply down hill, and in Sofia he was even last with 3 out of 10. It was being mentioned by many that the much-loved Ukrainian player was in urgent need of a rest from tournament play. But then came the tournament in Bazna in Romania, a majestic start to finish victory by Ivanchuk with four victories and not a single defeat. On the DVD you will find all the games from Bazna, the most interesting of which have been annotated by grandmasters Krasenkow, Rogozenco, etc. |
Gelfand,B - Nisipeanu,L
Position before 21...Nxe4
| Boris Gelfand has been in good form for quite some time. The new Elo list from FIDE puts him in 9th place – the last time he was so high in the list was in 2006. His Elo gains have resulted above all from top results in various leagues. But in Bazna too he confirmed his latest performances by finishing on +2 (also without losing a game). On the DVD Gelfand annotates his victory over Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. In a King’s Indian with f5-f4, both sides started off by following classical plans, a white advance on the queenside and a push by Black on the kingside. After 21.Nb6 (see diagram) Gelfand was very happy with his position. The key black piece (the Bc8) appears to be under control – what can happen? But Nisipeanu countered with the strong knight sacrifice 21...Nxe4. Gelfand analyses the resulting tactical complications and in doing so presents a marvellous defensive resource for White. |
| 02.07.-12.07.2009 
| Sparkassen Chess-Meeting Dortmund Vladimir Kramnikn has won nine times in Dortmund, a unique performance. This year he was convincing in his generally good preparation and a series of brilliant attacking games. The foundation for his success was his double win over the top German GM Arkadij Naiditsch, who in the previous year had inflicted a painful defeat on him. However the decisive game for Kramnik came in round 8 against Magnus Carlsen who had been leading till then. |
Kramnik,V - Carlsen,M
Position after 18.f5
| GM Igor Stohl annotated the game Kramnik,V - Carlsen,M immediately after Dortmund. In his analysis he also goes in depth into Kramnik’s choice of an opening (Queen’s Gambit with 5.Bf4) and gives his evaluation of the latest theoretical discussion. In the game Kramnik went back with 10.Rd1 to a classical idea, which has been enjoying renewed popularity over the last few years. With his positional pawn sacrifice 18.f5 (see diagram) Kramnik increased the pressure on the as yet not fully developed black position, but at first Carlsen found an adequate defence. However, like he did against Shirov in Sofia the young Norwegian made a serious error in a critical position (after 25.Rd6) and allowed his opponent to decide the game in his favour with an attack on the king which is worth seeing. |
Jakovenko,D - Kramnik,V
Position after 20...f6
| In the following, the ninth, round Kramnik had another hard battle with Black against the young Russian Dmitrij Jakovenko. And things could once more have become really exciting in Dortmund. Because the young Brazilian GM Alexandr Fier demonstrates in his analysis of this game, that in the position in the diagram Jakovenko had an excellent position on the board and with the correct continuation he could have been looking at the full point. Can you see how White could decisively exploit to his advantage the weakness of the position of Black’s king? It was not the text move, 21.Na4 which finally led after a hard-fought battle to a level rook ending. |
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Meier - Dominguez
(in German language)
| Georg Meier in Havana In the middle of June in the Cuban capital, there was the traditional Capablanca Memorial Tournament. The victor was the local hero and Elo favourite Leinier Dominguez. The young German grandmaster Georg Meier was taking part and with 5 out of 10 finished in 3rd place. Meier annotates his two games against Dominguez in video format on the DVD. For his game as White Meier had prepared an innovation in an extremely symmetrical variation of the English Opening and he explains it in detail in his analysis. But Dominguez found an adequate and splendid reply. By means of a positional pawn sacrificed he maintained the coordination between his pieces and kept the position level. |
Dominguez - Meier
Position after 17...Qc6
(in German language)
| In the return round the young German had Black and had to be on the defensive against Dominguez. Meier may have lost the game, but as he points out at the start of his analysis it was the most interesting of his games in Havana. As expected, the opening was a Rubinstein Variation in the French Defence. In his presentation Meier not only goes into detail about the variation which Dominguez had already tried out on several occasions (11.Bb5) but also into basic considerations, e.g. what was Kasparov’s idea in 2002 when he introduced the move 7.c3. In the position in the diagram Meier played the new move 17...Qc6 with the idea of posting the queen more actively and getting more control over the white squares. But the Cuban once more showed a subtle feeling for the position and secured himself a slight long term advantage by creating an asymmetrical distribution of pawns with a pawn majority on the queenside. You should not miss Georg Meier’s video analysis of the game and Dominguez’ masterly handling of the bishop ending. |
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Repertoire against 1.d4
| The Two Knights Tango as a weapon against 1.d4 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6 – these moves bring about the so-called Two Knights Tango, which was created in the 90s and which since then has been on trial in practice. GM Lubomir Ftacnik presents in his video analysis White’s attempts at a refutation. Whereas 3.Nf3 gives Black the possibility of transposing to various well-known systems (e.g. from the Nimzo- or Bogo-Indian), Ftacnik recommends to White the move 3.Nc3. This leads to less well-known territory and offers plenty of room for creativity. His conclusion: for the moment there is no sign of a refutation of the Tango, and possibly, who knows, there may well never be one. In the Fritztrainer column you will find two further opening contributions in video format: Grünfeld Defence with 5.Bd2 by Mikalchishin and a repertoire idea 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 by Rogozenco. |
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The trap: Which "normal move" would be a mistake?
| From the opening trap to the endgame study Training in ChessBase Magazine begins with the very first moves and takes in all phases of the game of chess. The Opening trap by GM Rainer Knaak can be used as early as move six this time. What would you play as White in the position in the diagram? Peter Wells' renowned Middlegame column is given over to the subject 'There is tension in the centre'. Recent master games constitute the basis of the Tactics column by Oliver Reeh and the Endgame column by Karsten Müller. And in Daniel King’s Move by Move the game Kosintseva–Bocharov from the Aeroflot Open 2009 adds yet another game with the Philidor Defence to your training plan. |
