ChessBase Magazine Extra 229

Opening videos

Daniel King: Caro Kann

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6 exf6

The main move in this variation is 6.c3, which protects the pawn on d4 and prepares 7.Bd3. Daniel King's analysis focuses on the sideline 6.Be3 – ‘a very reliable system!’. White's concept is convincingly simple: bishop to the centre, short castling, rooks to the centre and then forward with the d-pawn!

‘Mikhalchishin's Miniatures’ (Part III)

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

Sicilian Najdorf Variation 6.h3

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 e6 7.g4 d5

6.h3 is one of many options available to White today against the Najdorf Variation. In the game Narva-Bashylina, the game transitioned into the Scheveningen Variation after 6...e6 7.g4. Black continued consistently in the centre with 7...d5 and surprised her opponent after 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.Nde2 with 9...h5!?. In his video, Mikhalchishin explains why he finds this advance convincing and shows how Black can achieve full compensation without any major complications.

Petroff

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Be7 7.0–0 Bf5

The Petroff is interpreted very differently today than it was in the days of Kasparov and Karpov. In this video, Mikhalchishin presents an example of the modern approach using the game Dominguez Perez vs. Esipenko. After 6.Bd3, the Russian responded with 6...Be7, followed by 7...Bf5. In his analysis, our author shows that after 8.Re1 Nc6 9.Nbd2 Nxd2 10.Qxd2, Black should have no trouble achieving equality with both, Esipenko's 10...Qd7 as well with 10...Bg6.

Scotch Game

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.g3

In the Scotch Game, the move 8.g3 offers the possibility of leaving the long variations of the main line with 8.c4. Mikhalchishin shows that after 8...g6 9.c4 Ba6 10.b3 Bg7 11.Bb2 d6 12.Bg2, Black can hope for equality after both short and long castling. However, 10...0-0-0 is the ambitious choice, as our author shows using the example of Jones-Cheparinov (2023). In that game, the Bulgarian GM missed the opportunity to initiate a surprising and dangerous attack on White’s king.

Move by Move

The ‘Move by Move’ column is an integral part of ChessBase Magazine. For the first time, Robert Ris is also contributing an interactive training session with video feedback on your move suggestions to CBM Extra. The IM from the Netherlands presents the game Fressinet-Adams (2025), which began with an interesting variation of the Spanish Opening – 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.Bd2!?.

‘Lucky bag’: Analyses by Romain Edouard, Surya Ganguly, Max Illingworth, Suri Vaibhav and many more.

Extra #229 delivers 37 annotated games from various tournaments in the ‘Lucky bag’.

And the Update Service delivers almost 50,000 new games for your database! The delivery includes games from almost all of the world's top players. Top events: The 2025 World Blitz and Rapid Chess Championships!

The games from the Update Service are also included in the Mega Update Service 2026, which can be used with a current ChessBase programme (and a corresponding subscription).