1/28/2015 – Round two of open events usually are still quite accessible for the top rated players, but when grandmasters face each other it really is anyone's game, no matter the rating difference. Topalov already had to concede half a point, and he did it in a wild, wild game. His opponent, Debarashi Das, was losing at some point, but he rallied together and was even close to winning.
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more. ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post. Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #225 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.!
Winning starts with what you know The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
Mastering piece setups in various pawn structures and transitioning to a dominant middlegame, this course equips you with the insight and flexibility to outmanoeuvre your opponents in the Closed Catalan.
€39.90
Dinner
A small gala dinner was hosted after the first round. The players had the chance to relax in a friendly atmosphere after a tough (or maybe not so tough) first encounter. Some players on the other hand decided to skip the event to relax.
If there is any tournament that tries hard to please the players, it is the Tradewise Gibraltar Festival
Venezuelan GM Eduardo Iturrizaga and his girlfriend Gabriela Gonzalez
Former Women's World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova and Mariya Muzychuk
Pia Cramling and her daughter, Anna
The Chinese, as usual, sending a strong delegation that travels in a pack
Kimiya Sajjadi and Kimia Moradi from Norway
Elizabeth Paethz, Jovana Vojinovic and her significant other, Richard Rapport
Youngster Kayden Troff always travels with his mother, Kim
Round Two
When there are duels between grandmasters, anything can happen. Even a "big" rating difference of 300 points is irrelevant when the players are of such strong caliber. However there were still relatively few upsets in today's round, though some top GMs got nicked for a draw.
Topalov was unable to keep his perfect score
Devashis Das took care of that with a draw, which was simply wild
New ...
New Game
Edit Game
Setup Position
Open...
PGN
FEN
Share...
Share Board (.png)
Share Board (configure)
Share playable board
Share game as GIF
Notation (PGN)
QR Code
Layout...
Use splitters
Swipe notation/lists
Reading mode
Flip Board
Settings
Move
N
Result
Elo
Players
Position not in LiveBook
Please, wait...
1.d4Nf62.c4e63.Nc3Bb44.e30-05.Bd3c56.Nf3d57.0-0dxc48.Bxc4Nc69.a3Bxc310.bxc3Qc711.h3e512.a4Bf5This tabiya of the Rubinstein Variation in the Nimzo-Indian always promises interesting games.13.Ba3b614.Bb5e415.Nd2Na516.Qe2Rfd817.Rfc1Be618.Rab1Rd5!? Topalov is always looking for aggressive chances. Here he is planning to swing his rook over to the kingside, with some serious threats.19.Qf1Rg520.Kh1Rd821.Be2White's kingside is holding, but he doesn't seem to be making any progress of his own.Rg622.f4Even though it is hard to come up with an alternative, this seems to weaken White's position too much.exf323.Bxf3Qd723...Rh6!?Was stronger to play first. The idea is actually quick simple; rip the game apart with g5-g4.24.Qf2g525.e4g426.Be2gxh327.g3Nc4‼sctacular, but not the only move28.Bxc4Bxc4and the piece is taboo because of29.Nxc4Nxe430.Qe3Nxg3+31.Kg1h2+32.Kg2Rg6-+24.Ra1Nd525.Qf2Bxh3!26.c426.gxh3Qxh3+27.Qh2Qe6-+leaves White's king too vulnerable to the attacks on the h and g files.26...Nf627.gxh3cxd427...Qxh3+28.Qh2Qe6was still very strong.28.e4Nb3!A nice distraction tactic.29.Bg229.Nxb3Qxh3+30.Qh2Qxf3+and mate29...Nxa130.Rxa1Re8?!From here on Topalov seems to lose the thread of the game a little.30...Qc7was stronger, with the idea of relocating the f6 knight to a more powerful square, either e5, c5 or h5.31.Bb2Nh532.Ra3d3?32...Rf633.e5Now White is fully back in the game. Black is not coordinated enough to push his d-pawn.Rg334.Kh2Qc735.Ne4Suddenly that rook on g3 is in serious problems.d236.Rxg3d1Q37.Nf6+Kh838.Nxe8A crazy position! Black has two queens and a knight against a queen, a rook, and three pieces. Black must exchange queens or he will get mated very soon.Qc539.Qxc5bxc540.e6fxe640...f6!41.Bxg7+41.Rg4!and then taking on g7 with the knight instead, kept some winning chances.41...Nxg742.Nxg7Qxa443.Nxe6Qxc444.Ng5a545.Ne4a446.Rc3Oddly enough the game fizzled into a draw. In this position some computers might claim that this is better for Black, but that is clearly not the case. As soon as White takes the pawn on c5 and sacrifices something for the a-pawn the position cannot be won, even if White sacrifices the rook!½–½
Some other important results involve the Chinese. Hou Yifan beat her opponent with good play. For the first time since 1989 (!) Judit Polgar does not top the live rating list.
Currently the reigning World Champion and the retired Judit Polgar are tied at 2675 as FIDE rounds down when doing calculations.
Also close to breaking records is Wei Yi. The youngster defeated the reigning u-16 World Champion, Alan Pichot, very convincingly. He sits at only one victory away from crossing the 2700 barrier. If he does so in this tournament, he becomes the youngest player ever to do so - even younger than Magnus Carlsen himself.
1.d4Nf62.c4e63.Nc3Bb44.e30-05.Bd3c56.Nf3d57.0-0dxc48.Bxc4Nc69.a3Bxc310.bxc3Qc711.h3e512.a4Bf5This tabiya of the
Rubinstein Variation in the Nimzo-Indian always promises interesting games.13.Ba3b614.Bb5e415.Nd2Na516.Qe2Rfd817.Rfc1Be618.Rab1Rd5!?
Topalov is always looking for aggressive chances. Here he is planning to swing
his rook over to the kingside, with some serious threats.19.Qf1Rg520.Kh1Rd821.Be2White's kingside is holding, but he doesn't seem to be making any
progress of his own.Rg622.f4Even though it is hard to come up with an
alternative, this seems to weaken White's position too much.exf323.Bxf3Qd723...Rh6!?Was stronger to play first. The idea is actually quick simple;
rip the game apart with g5-g4.24.Qf2g525.e4g426.Be2gxh327.g3Nc4‼sctacular, but not the only move28.Bxc4Bxc4and the piece is taboo
because of29.Nxc4Nxe430.Qe3Nxg3+31.Kg1h2+32.Kg2Rg6-+24.Ra1Nd525.Qf2Bxh3!26.c426.gxh3Qxh3+27.Qh2Qe6-+leaves White's
king too vulnerable to the attacks on the h and g files.26...Nf627.gxh3cxd427...Qxh3+28.Qh2Qe6was still very strong.28.e4Nb3!A nice
distraction tactic.29.Bg229.Nxb3Qxh3+30.Qh2Qxf3+and mate29...Nxa130.Rxa1Re8?!From here on Topalov seems to lose the thread of the
game a little.30...Qc7was stronger, with the idea of relocating the f6
knight to a more powerful square, either e5, c5 or h5.31.Bb2Nh532.Ra3d3?32...Rf633.e5Now White is fully back in the game. Black is not
coordinated enough to push his d-pawn.Rg334.Kh2Qc735.Ne4Suddenly that
rook on g3 is in serious problems.d236.Rxg3d1Q37.Nf6+Kh838.Nxe8A
crazy position! Black has two queens and a knight against a queen, a rook, and
three pieces. Black must exchange queens or he will get mated very soon.Qc539.Qxc5bxc540.e6fxe640...f6!41.Bxg7+41.Rg4!and then taking
on g7 with the knight instead, kept some winning chances.41...Nxg742.Nxg7Qxa443.Nxe6Qxc444.Ng5a545.Ne4a446.Rc3Oddly enough the game
fizzled into a draw. In this position some computers might claim that this is
better for Black, but that is clearly not the case. As soon as White takes the
pawn on c5 and sacrifices something for the a-pawn the position cannot be won,
even if White sacrifices the rook!½–½
The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Alejandro RamirezGrandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
The Trompowsky is especially suited for faster time controls as you don‘t have to memorise endless lines of theory, and you push your opponent out of their comfort zone after your second move.
Trompowsky Powerbook 2025 is based on 53,000 computer games from the engine room of playchess.com as well as 49,000 games from Mega and correspondence chess.
Trompowsky Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 8727 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 316 are annotated.
2025 European Championship with a German double victory and analyses by Bluebaum, Svane, Rodshtein, Yuffa, Navara and many more. Opening videos by Engel, King and Marin. Training sections “The Fortress”, “The Trap” and “Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" etc.
In this dynamic and practical video course, IM Andrew Martin arms you with powerful antidotes to White’s most annoying sidelines.
€34.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.