Game of the Week #734: Lahaye vs Harshavardhan

by Merijn van Delft
8/7/2026 – At the Dutch Open in Dieren many interesting games were played, including several GOTW candidates. Especially the seventh round was a bloody affair with decisive results at the first five boards. My old friend Rick Lahaye (2394) played a positional masterpiece against IM Harshavardhan (2508). Without wanting to spoil too much, it's the perfect example of playing with a classical Nimzowitsch blockading knight and its longterm power. Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.
In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.

Game of the Week #734

At the Dutch Open in Dieren many interesting games were played, including several GOTW candidates. Especially the seventh round was a bloody affair with decisive results at the first five boards. My old friend Rick Lahaye (2394) played a positional masterpiece against IM Harshavardhan (2508). Without wanting to spoil too much, it's the perfect example of playing with a classical Nimzowitsch blockading knight and its longterm power.

Warming-up question: What would you play here with White?
 

This week's show

Besides covering all the critical lines after 1.d4 & 2.c4, popular systems such as the Trompovsky, London/Jobava System, Torre Attack, Colle System and Veresov are dealt with as well.

Watch previous shows

Recent shows

Many more Game of the Week shows are available in ChessBase Videos

At the airport, in the hotel or at home on your couch: with the new ChessBase you always have access to the whole ChessBase world: the new ChessBase video library, tactics server, opening training App, the live database with eight million games, Let’s Check and web access to playchess.com

Links

<< Fischer's Fritz flop
Praggnanandhaa wins St. Louis Rapid & Blitz after leading from start to finish >>
Topics: The Game of the Week, Training and improvement
Merijn van Delft is an International Master from the Netherlands who lived in Hamburg for many years and is currently based in Amsterdam. After scoring a GM norm in 2017 he is eager for more. His ChessBase show on Wednesday evenings has been running for over ten years now.
Discussion and Feedback Submit your feedback to the editors

See also

Game of the Week #732: Nepomniachtchi vs Kvaloy

7/31/2026 – The chess summer continues with events all over the place. The DOLE open in Aix-en-Provence, France, features elite players like Nepomniachtchi, Tabatabaei and Maghsoodloo. Nepo already had to accept two draws in the first four rounds, when he was paired with young Norwegian GM Aksel Bu Kvaloy in the fifth round. Both players showed very inspired chess, each of them willing to sacrifice material at various stages of the game. Nepo kept playing very fast, until disaster struck. Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can <a href="https://account.chessbase.com/en/create-account" target="_blank">register a Premium account here</a>.

See also

Game of the Week #731: Martinez vs Le Quang

7/29/2026 – There is a lot of chess going on right now. While I'm playing in the first edition of the Amsterdam Chess Festival myself, there are elite events going on in Chennai and Biel. While Firouzja is leading in Chennai (beating Gukesh in the second round), Le Quang Liem is leading in Biel. Our Game of the Week is Martinez Alcantara vs Le Quang Liem, featuring the trendy 6...g5 in the Steinitz Deferred variation of the Ruy Lopez. For now the verdict seems to be: fully playable for Black. Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can <a href="https://account.chessbase.com/en/create-account" target="_blank">register a Premium account here</a>.
More...
 2

Video

60m English surprising_your_opponents_with_the_lazy_sicilian

In just 60 minutes, you will be well-equipped with a surprise weapon, which will take most of your opponents out of book right from the start.