Highlights
From the Tata Steel Masters & Challengers 2025 to Robert Ris' training column ‘Move by Move’ and Felix Blohberger's opening video on 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 h6 to Dorian Rogozenco's ‘The Fortress’ to ‘Fundamental Endgame Knowledge’ with Dr Karsten Mueller.
Over 7 hours of video playing time with Felix Blohberger, Surya Ganguly, Daniel King, Jan Markos, Karsten Mueller, Oliver Reeh, Robert Ris and Dorian Rogozenco – Tata Steel 2025: Analyses by the tournament winners, Praggnanandhaa and Nguyen, as well as Abdusattorov, Giri, Harikrishna, L'Ami, Mendonca, Suleymanli, Van Foreest and Yakubboev + video review by Blohberger - Chess legend Viktor Kortschnoj: exclusive collection of 24 annotated games from 1960 to 2006 plus video by David Navara – Modern Petroff: Balázs Csonka sheds light on the Damiano Variation 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nxe4!? - “The fortress - rien ne va plus!”: Dorian Rogozenco shows a classic fortress motif with queen + pawn against rook + pawn - The cheeky queen: Surya Ganguly shows in the video that 4.Qxd4 is also an option against the Sicilian with 2...e6! and much more.
Top games and master analyses
At the traditional tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Praggnanandhaa prevailed in the Masters against world champion Gukesh, who was tied on points after 13 rounds, in the tiebreak. Abdusattorov, who also performed very well, secured third place. In the Challengers, Nguyen took first place thanks to the Sonneborn-Berger system ahead of Suleymanli. The Tata Steel 2025 winners, Praggnanandhaa and Nguyen, as well as Abdusattorov, Giri, L'Ami, Van Foreest et al. comment on their best games from Wijk aan Zee. In a video summary, Felix Blohberger looks back at the tournament and presents the decisive moments in a video summary.
Opening videos
Surya Ganguly shows that 4.Qxd4 is an option not only in the Sicilian Defence with 2...d6, but also in the setup with 2...e6 - look forward to many interesting ideas and deep variations! Is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 h6 a new opening? Gukesh, Keymer, Maghsoodloo and many more. have already tested the move 3...h6 – Felix Blohberger summarizes the state of things. And Daniel King explains the motives of the move 7...Bg4 ("The poke!") in the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit.
Surya Ganguly: Sicilian
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4 Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qe3
Felix Blohberger: Anti-Queen's Gambit 3...h6
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 h6
Daniel King: QG Exchange Variation
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 Bg4
Special: Viktor Kortschnoj
CBM authors (Berg, Edouard, Krasenkow, Markos, Pelletier et al.) comment on their favourite game. Exclusive collection of 24 games from 1960 to 2006. David Navara presents the King's Indian classic Kortschnoj - Nijboer in the video!
“The fortress”
Under what circumstances can you build a fortress with rook + pawn against queen + pawn? What techniques do you need to know and what tricks are there to prevent the fortress from being built? Continuation of the interactive training series with GM Dorian Rogozenco.
"Kortschnoj's strategic skills revealed in his duels with Karpov"
Mihail Marin illustrates Kortschnoj's qualities as a positional player using only games against Karpov. With one exception, they were all played between 1974 and 1978. With lots of training questions, an introductory video and two interactive training videos!
New ideas for your repertoire
From the English Opening to the King's Indian - ChessBase Magazine #224 offers 10 opening articles with new ideas for every repertoire!
Tanmay Srinath: English 1.c4 e5 2.d3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.a3
Krisztian Szabo: Sicilian 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 and 5.Bd3
Yago Santiago: French 4...dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bd7
Balazs Csonka: Petroff 3.Nxe5 Nxe4
Alexey Kuzmin: Italian 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6!?
Petra Papp: London System 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2
Robert Ris: Queen's Gambit 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c5 3.cxd5 Nf6
Evgeny Postny: QG Ragozin 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qb3 a5
Sergey Grigoriants: Gruenfeld 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.h4 dxc4
Spyridon Kapnisis: King's Indian 5.h3 0–0 6.Be3 Nc6
Opening traps
Our new author Michael Prusikin demonstrates three traps for White in the French Advance Variation in the video and also discusses strategic ideas in this opening.
“Move by Move”
Robert Ris chose the game of Tata Steel winner Praggnanandhaa against Sarana for his interactive training session. Prove that you also have a great positional understanding and make Black's defence collapse in a brilliant attack!
“Modern Classics”
Typical Judit Polgar! The Hungarian was feared primarily because of her excellent attacking technique. Dorian Rogozenco presents a very clear example of this with the game Polgar-Smirin from the 2000 Chess Olympiad.
“All in One”
Everything you need to know about a variation in a single, extensively annotated game: Romain Edouard shows an ambitious variation against 6.Bg5 in the Najdorf Variation: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 Nbd7.
Practical Tips for the Tournament Player: “Be as patient as Magnus Carlsen“
“Being patient is not as simple as it seems!” To introduce you to the art of patience, Jan Markos presents two game fragments from Magnus Carlsen. Afterwards watching Markos’ video, you can put your own patience to the test with a small collection of exercises!
Tune your tactics: "Pawn sacrifices - small price, big effect"
40 games peppered with lots of training questions await you in Oliver Reeh's tactics article. You can solve his three favourite combinations – recorded in interactive video format - move by move together with the IM from Hamburg!
Fundamental Endgame Knowledge (Part 14) – Knight vs. bishop
In the introductory video, the endgame expert from Hamburg presents the most important techniques. Then it's your turn - prove your technical skills in two interactive training videos! Dr Karsten Mueller also presents a selection of Viktor Kortschnoj's best rook endgames (video plus several analyses).
