ChessBase Magazine Extra 202

Opening videos

Robert Ris: Sicilian Four Knights

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.e5 Nd5 8.Ne4 Qc7 9.f4 Rb8!?/Bb7 !?

Using current games by Mamedyarov and Aronian, IM Robert Ris examines alternatives to the well-analyzed main line 9… Qb6 with 9… Rb8 and 9… Bb7. Black often sacrifices a piece for a pawn, a strong center and an extremely weak white king!

Mihail Marin: English Opening

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 Bc5

At the Superbet tournament in Bucharest, it was Fabiano Caruana who tested 3… Bc5 against Wesley So after 1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2. In his analysis of this game, Mihail Marin repeatedly goes into alternative moves orders and recurring motifs from related lines. Caruana's concept in this line - especially pushing the a-pawn to a4 - appeals to the English expert: "Maybe the main way to continue for Black!"

This time Elisabeth Pähtz contributes “The brilliany” of this issue! The German number one analyses her win against Nana Dzagnidze from the FIDE Women's Grand Prix in May in Gibraltar.

In the “Lucky bag” you will find another 28 extensively commented games! These include analyses by Peter Heine Nielsen, Praggnanandhaa, Mariya Muzychuk, Elisabeth Pähtz, Michal Krasenkow, Igor Stohl and others.

Michal Krasenkow's choice contains ten encounters from the FIDE World Cup Europe Hybrid qualifier in which he participated himself. Here are some highlights:

Matlakov,M - Alonso Rosell,A 1-0 sees a model Rossolimo Sicilian - did you know that in the above position both 11...0-0 and 11...Bf6 almost lose by force?

Try to evaluate 57...a2?? 58.g8Q?? from Krasenkow,M - Alekseenko,K ½-½ - with only seconds on the clock!

Artemiev,V - Hracek,Z 1-0 saw the positional pawn sacrifice 21.Nce2!? Bxe3 22.Bxe3 Qxe3+ 23.Qxe3 Rxe3 24.Nd4! with a perfect blockade.

And last but not least: the Update Service delivers over 44,000 new games for your database. Once again, almost all top players are represented! The games from the Update Service are also included in the 2021 Mega Update Service, which can be used with the programs ChessBase 15/16 (Mega 2021 key required).