Enjoy the best moments of recent top tournaments (Norway Chess, FIDE GP Moscow, WCh Teams) with analysis of top players. In addition you'll get lots of training material. For example 11 new suggestions for your opening repertoire.
This issue of ChessBase Magazine offered a rich harvest of fighting chess from high class events, Altibox Norway, FIDE Grand Prix and World Team Championship among others.
Looking back, there are as many as 1968 games of which 83 are annotated. The annotators include Aronian, Anand, Ding Liren, not to mention regular commentators like Mihail Marin, Igor Stohl and Michal Krasenkow.
This time a major contribution is made by Alexander Yermolinsky who has annotated 49 games in depth.
From the sporting point of view the most important game is Aronian-Carlsen, Norway 2017. I was particularly intrigued by the following position:
Levon has just played 16.Be4. Magnus reflected for a long time before he replied 16... Rb8 abandoning the c-pawn to his fate. He could have easily defended the pawn with 16...Bb7. He chose not to. Levon in turn refused to accept the bait and chose a more adventurous course.
Aronian and Carlsen from Norway Chess 2017 | Photo: Tone Marie Haubrick
The following analysis relates to that question and much else that remained behind the scenes. Let it be noted that it is no substitute for the deeply personal commentary on the game by Aronin in this issue. It reveals the inner thoughts of a great player.
The Semi-Slav: A GM guide for the tournament player
The Semi-Slav (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6) can arise via various move orders, has decided World Championships, and is one of Black's most fascinating replies to 1 d4. Magnus Carlsen's second, Grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen explains in detail what this opening is all about.
Inspiring play reminiscent of Alexander Alekhine! For Magnus, though, it came as a terrible disappointment. He had won the inaugural blitz event of this tournament with an impressive score of 7½ /9. One of his victims was Aronian whom he had beaten in elegant style. Here it was not to be.
The World Team Championship was won by China ahead of Russia and their rising star Ding Liren also won the strong FIDE Grand Prix Tournament in Moscow (he came close to winning the recent World Cup, only losing to Aronian in the Finals). In this issue he annotates his game with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in depth.
I was intrigued to see his praise of his opponent until I looked at the following position:
Black has just played 29…Nh2+. With the Black queen tied to the defence of g7 and the rook on d2 still under attack, repulsing this check is no big deal...or, so it appears...
Here is a challenge for our young readers. How should the White monarch deal with the impudent knight? (Solution below)
The issue brings a bonanza for lovers of lightning play. There are games from Norway, Paris and Leuven blitz events. Happily, they are unannotated and one can see how much can happen in 5-minute chess.
This brings me to other sections of this magazine. Apart from trademark sections on strategy, tactics and the endgame, there are 11 opening surveys ranging from the Spanish to the Semi-Slav. Among them I would single out the analyses of Queen’s Gambit Accepted by Evgeny Postny and the Open Variation of Ruy Lopez by Alexey Kuzmin.
Kuzmin: Ruy Lopez C83 (Recommendation for Black)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Nbd2 Nc5 10.c3 Be7 11.Bc2 d4 12.Nb3 d3In games amongst the world elite, whenever the Open Ruy Lopez is played you can almost certainly count on the position in the diagram appearing. Alexey Kuzmin investigates and comes to the conclusion that Black has good chances of equalising but that there is a great amount he needs to know.
As I write these lines, Carlsen is on come back trail, having won the Chess.com Isle of Man Tournament. Meanwhile others are not resting on their laurels and the field is open. More about it in the next review.
ChessBase Magazine 179: recommended
Enjoy the best moments of recent top tournaments (Norway Chess, FIDE GP Moscow, WCh Teams) with analysis of top players. In addition you'll get lots of training material. For example 11 new suggestions for your opening repertoire.
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