Game of the Week #574: V. Anand vs L. Aronian

6/29/2023 – In his Game of the Week show #574 Merijn van Delft enjoys a fine technical game in the Ruy Lopez, which Vishy Anand won against Levon Aronian at the Global Chess League in Dubai. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Dortmund: Kramnik beats Caruana, takes the lead

6/29/2023 – After his defeat in a spectacular game in the second round, Vladimir Kramnik bounced back on Wednesday with a brilliant positional performance. After the Mayor of Dortmund, Norbert Schilff, made the symbolic first move for him, Kramnik opted for a rather quiet approach with white and gained a small advantage against Fabiano Caruana. Slowly but surely, Kramnik increased his advantage and ended up scoring an important full point. | Photo: Michelle Lassak
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GCL Day 7: Carlsen wins an exquisite endgame against Anand

6/28/2023 – Vishy Anand vs Magnus Carlsen games are always the highly anticipated encounter of the day, no matter the event. The rematch between two of the greatest was arguably the game of the tournament so far. The endgame seemed to be heading towards a draw when the world no.1 went for a break. It actually allowed Anand to salvage a draw. However, time trouble induced a human error, turning things once again towards the Norwegian's favor. After an exchange of smiles, tha avoidance of a stalemate trap and an underpromotion, Carlsen defeated Anand in a stellar game. His and Praggnanandhaa's win ensured SG Alpine Warriors knocking off Ganges Grandmasters from the top of the leaderboard. Tomorrow will be the last day to feature two matches in the double round-robin stage, starting at 5:30 p.m. local time, 7 p.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
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Vidit Gujarathi: Master Advanced Tactics

6/28/2023 – ... and calculations like a Super Grandmaster – which he is. Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, born 1994, attained the GM title at the age of nineteen. In August 2022 he became the second highest rated player in India (behind Viswanathan Anand), crossing the Elo rating threshold of 2700. Today we are releasing his latest Fritztrainer, one in which he shares his secrets of success at the pinnacle of the chess world.
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Dortmund: Kollars beats Kramnik

6/28/2023 – Dmitrij Kollars can celebrate having beaten a former world champion. In the No-Castling Masters, the German grandmaster defeated Vladimir Kramnik. Ruben Gideon Köllner leads the Sportland NRW Cup, while Alexander Donchenko won the all-important against Frederik Svane in the A-Open. | Screenshot: Former tournament director Jürgen Grastat makes the ceremonial first move
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Prague, Round 6: Wang beats Gelfand

6/28/2023 – There was only one decisive game in round 6 of the Prague Chess Festival Masters Tournament: Wang Hao won with White against Boris Gelfand. Vincent Keymer missed good chances against Haik Martirosyan, but is still tied for first place with Ray Robson and Bogdan-Daniel Deac with 3.5 out of 6. Behind them are five (!) players with 3 out of 6 each - so with three rounds to go, eight players have a good chance of winning the tournament. In the Challengers, Benjamin Gledura is still the sole leader with 4.5 out of 6.| Photos: Petr Vrabec
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Niemann's $100 million lawsuit (with video)

6/28/2023 – Readers will recall the scandal that shook the chess world, when Magnus Carlsen stated he thought US GM Hans Niemann had cheated against him. In spite of endless amounts of speculation and hand-waving, no evidence was ever produced, and Niemann struck back with an eye-watering $100 million-dollar lawsuit. The verdict is in. Updated with video.

Tech Mahindra GCL Day 6: Chingari Gulf Titans move up as Anand's win goes in vain

6/27/2023 – Vishy Anand has defeated Jan-Krzysztof Duda twice in five days. The legend continues to make it look easy. The Poland no.1 sacrificed an exchange and things did not work out for him. Anand's win did not help the team though, as he scored the sole victory for Ganges Grandmasters. Yifan Hou had a great chance to win against Alexandra Kosteniuk. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't find a way in time trouble. Harika Dronavalli and Jonas Buhl Bjerre scored crucial victories for upGrad Mumba Masters to beat Triveni Continetal Kings. Both rematches had the inverse overall match result of their first encounter at this event. There will be two matches tomorrow, starting at 5:30 p.m. local time, 7 p.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
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Dortmund: Kramnik and Caruana with splendid starts

6/27/2023 – The 50th Dortmund Chess Festival is underway in Dortmund’s Westfalenhalle. Yesterday, Vladimir Kramnik and Fabiano Caruana started their no-casting experiment and were both successful from the get go, beating Pavel Eljanov and defending champion Dmitrij Kollars respectively. | Photo: Michelle Lassak
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The 21st ASEAN+ Age Group Championships 2023 have come to an end

6/27/2023 – It was just a question of how big Vietnam's win would be, and the final tally of 92 gold, 37 silver and 49 bronze spoke for itself! When second placed Philippines 'only' had 15 gold, 38 silver and 8 bronze, followed by India with 3 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze, the extent of their dominance becomes even more apparent. New Zealand were a surprise fourth on the senior medal tally, Myanmar fifth, followed by Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, China and Malaysia with medals. Read the ASEAN+ Age Group Championships 2023 final report by Peter Long directly from the venue in Bangkok, Thailand. | Photos: Peter Long
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ChessBase in Minutes: creating a base and entering a game

6/27/2023 – In this series of lightning videos, learn everything from the basics to mastery of ChessBase in bite-sized lessons with crystal clear explanations and demonstrations. In this lesson you will learn the most essential feature: creating your own base and entering games. It will turn you into a power user – and do wonders for your rating!

A light initiative weighs heavily

6/27/2023 – This is the main guideline in the endgame rook and knight against rook and knight. However, in the diagram position White's initially light initiative has turned into a winning position. But how should White proceed to convert?

GCL Day 5: Vishy strikes Aronian, Ganges Grandmasters score gargantuan win

6/26/2023 – Vishy Anand continues to lead by example. Once again he won the battle of the 'Icons', this time against Levon Aronian (TCK). While his three points were confirmed, his teammates Leinier Domingueze, Hou Yifan and Bella Khotenashvili scored emphatic wins to ensure that their team scored the biggest victory of the event in terms of game points: 14-2. Balan Alaskan Knights overcame their 3-15 loss as they beat the top team, SG Alpine Warriors, by the minimum margin 3-0 (10-9). Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Tan Zhongyi and Nino Batsiashvili's wins rendered R Praggnanandhaa and Magnus Carlsen's individual triumphs ineffective as they only added game points, while BAK won the match. The action on Tuesday kicks off at 5:30 p.m. local time, 7 p.m. IST. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
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Why do we need the ChessBase clip database?

6/26/2023 – Have you noticed: the clip database is the only database which is already present during a first installation of ChessBase? It is a useful tool, and we will show you how to work with it efficiently. And do you know how to compile games from several databases to filter and save them? This is a typical task of team managers and coaches who compile material about other teams. This is where the clip database comes in handy - ChessBase expert Martin Fischer shows how to use it.

Prague: Robson beats Wang in style

6/26/2023 – Ray Robson rejoined the lead at the Prague Masters after beating Wang Hao with white in Sunday’s fifth round. This was the US grandmaster’s third decisive game in a row, as he employed the same line he had used to defeat Boris Gelfand in round 3. In the other decisive game of the day, Haik Martirosyan got the better of Thai Dai Van Nguyen. Meanwhile, an eventful round in the Challengers left Benjamin Gledura in the sole lead. | Photo: Petr Vrabec
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Dortmund: Dinara Wagner sole leader at Sportland NRW Cup

6/26/2023 – Dinara Wagner became the first sole leader at the Sportland NRW Cup in Dortmund, as she is the only player to have started the tournament with two wins in a row. Wagner beat Alexander Bagrationi with black on Sunday. Meanwhile, in the A-Open, the top three seeds — Matthias Bluebaum, Alexander Donchenko (pictured) and Michael Adams — also kicked off the event with 2 out of 2. The No-Castling Masters, with Vladimir Kramnik and Fabiano Caruana, starts on Monday.

Vietnam dominates ASEAN + Age-Groups Standard Championships 2023

6/26/2023 – In the first events - standard chess (individual and team) - Vietnam won a massive 30 gold medals, 14 silver medals and 19 bronze medals, with second-placed Philippines trailing far behind with just 5 gold medals and 12 silver medals! No fewer than 10 countries won medals, with Myanmar in third place, followed by New Zealand, hosts Thailand, India, Indonesia, China, Malaysia and Singapore. In the individual competition, most eyes were on the U-20 event, in which a GM norm and an IM title were achieved, and in the Open, IMs Daniel Quizon and Michael Concio Jr. of the Philippines took gold and silver ahead of Vietnam's Duc Tri Ngo, Malaysia's Jun Ying Tan and Thailand's Pin Laohawirapap, who all shared bronze. | Photos: Peter Long

GCL Day 4: SG Alpine Warriors survive MVL carnage, Pragg wins the decider

6/25/2023 – One Berlin fell, the other one didn't. Magnus Carlsen's Berlin did not hold up against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. However, D Gukesh's Berlin proved to be strong enough to hold Alexander Grischuk to a draw. It was R Praggnanandhaa's win against Javokhir Sindarov which helped SG Alpine Warriors beat upGrad Mumba Masters. It was a win by a minimum margin 0-3 (7-8). Before that, upGrad Mumba Masters handed Ganges Grandmasters their first defeat of the event. Despite MVL losing to Vishy Anand, Grischuk and Harika Dronavalli's key victories ensured the fall of GG. Monday’s action kicks off at 5:30 p.m. local time, 7 p.m. IST. | Photo: Maria Emelianova
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Understanding before Moving 131: Chess history in a nutshell (13)

6/25/2023 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the 131st instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and continues to talk about the attacking and defending skills of Wilhelm Steinitz, the first official World Champion. | Photo: Pascal Simon
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Dortmund: All three GMs lose in the Sportland NRW Cup

6/25/2023 – All five games ended decisively in the first round of the Sportland NRW Cup in Dortmund. WGM Dinara Wagner (pictured), IM Georgios Souleidis and 12-year-old FM Hussain Besou had a dream start: they beat the three participating grandmasters. In the A-Open, most of the favourites won their games, although the accelerated Swiss format made for interesting fights on the very first day of action.
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Prague: Deac tears down Robson’s Berlin wall

6/25/2023 – Bogdan-Daniel Deac scored a crucial win over former co-leader Ray Robson in round 4 of the Prague Masters to join Vincent Keymer in the lead of the standings. Keymer held David Navara to a draw in a 100-move game, while Wang Hao returned to a fifty-percent score by beating Haik Martirosyan. In the Challengers, three games ended decisively, with Benjamin Gledura winning to join Mateusz Bartel in the lead. | Photo: Anežka Kružíková
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GCL Day 3: Ganges Grandmasters remain invincible, Continental Kings climb up

6/24/2023 – Ganges Grandmasters maintain their sole lead by beating Balan Alaskan Knights 3-0 (11-6). Leinier Dominguez's win over Teimour Radjabov certainly set the tone for the team. Bella Khotenashvili and Andrey Esipenko ensured the team gets some more valuable game points. Triveni Continental Kings started the day by losing their match against SG Alpine Warriors 0-3 (7-8). However, they bounced back by finishing the day with a victory over Balan Alaskan Knights. Both TCK and SGAW have the same match points (9) currently, the former having one more match played than the latter. The week ends with four matches tomorrow, starting with upGrad Mumba Masters vs Ganges Grandmasters from 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. | Photo: Maria Emelianova
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Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: A spectacular attack in Prague

6/24/2023 – After a two-week holiday, the Fast & Furious show is back with a spectacular game from the Prague Challengers event. The encounter features a sharp English opening and the two top seeds of the event, Benjamin Gledura and Erwin l’Ami. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Castling into disaster

6/24/2023 – In the diagram position Black's 17...0-0?? allowed White a classical raid featuring two clever continuations. Can you calculate the lines?