3/27/2024 – Two rounds featuring turnarounds and missed chances left Richard Rapport atop the standings of the Grenke Chess Classic with a 1-point lead over Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren and Vincent Keymer. Rapport drew Keymer and beat Daniel Fridman in rounds 3 and 4, while both Carlsen and Keymer obtained big advantages which they were unable to convert into full points. The marquee matchup of the day saw Ding holding a draw with black against Carlsen. | Photo: Angelika Valkova
new: Fritz 20
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
In almost every chess game there comes a moment when you just can’t go on without tactics. You must strike to not giving away the advantage you have worked for the whole game.
€39.90
Turnarounds, missed chances
A “fast-classical” time control is in place at the Grenke Chess Classic in Karlsruhe, with 45 minutes for the game and 10-second increments per move. After four rounds of play, it is apparent that this format allows both for interesting theoretical battles and tense-filled tactical sequences (which might lead to game-losing blunders). Naturally, it also tends to deprive us of accurate endgame play or long, intricate middlegames.
Rounds 3 and 4 of the event featured three major turnarounds.
Daniel Fridman survived a clearly losing position before turning the tables and beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in round 3.
Vincent Keymer misplayed a winning pawn endgame and thus failed to convert his clear advantage against world champion Ding Liren in round 4.
Magnus Carlsen had an extra piece against Vachier-Lagrave, but a single misstep with his knight gave away his advantage, and the round-4 game ended in a draw.
In this course, we will learn how to identify passively placed pieces in any given situation and how to improve their health by bringing them into active squares.
The one player who has managed to avoid making big mistakes is, consequently, the sole leader: Richard Rapport. The Romanian representative scored 1½ out of 2 on each of the first two days of action and now has a 1-point lead over Carlsen, Ding and Keymer.
On Wednesday, Rapport played with the white pieces twice. First, he drew Keymer after getting a slight edge in the middlegame. Then, he took advantage of an early blunder by Fridman to get a 25-move victory.
In this video course, GM Surya Ganguly joins IM Sagar Shah and drawing from his colossal experience, shares some uncommon endgame wisdom. The material mostly features positions with rook against rook and a pawn, and starts by covering the fundamentals.
Magnus Carlsen and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Photo: Angelika Valkova
Rapport 1 - 0 Fridman
Analysis by Johannes Fischer
Sole leader Richard Rapport facing Ding Liren on Tuesday | Photo: Angelika Valkova
Let our authors show you how Carlsen tailored his openings to be able to outplay his opponents strategically in the middlegame or to obtain an enduring advantage into the endgame.
GM Klaus Bischoff, record player of the @SchachBL, the strongest chess league in the world, explains the moves of the chess stars to the spectators on site 📷@MartinHahn75pic.twitter.com/xWHJOicaGB
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
In this course, you’ll learn how to take the initiative against the London and prevent White from comfortably playing their usual system by playing 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 Nh5.
London System Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains in all 11 285 games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 282 are annotated.
The London System Powerbook 2026 is based on more than 410 000 games or game fragments from different opening moves and ECO codes; what they all have in common is that White plays d4 and Bf4 but does not play c4.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
Opening videos: Open Spanish (Sipke Ernst) and Classical Sicilian (Nico Zwirs). Endgame Special by Igor Stohl: ‘Short or long side’ – where should the defending king be placed in rook endgames? ‘Lucky bag’ with 35 master analyses.
YOUR EASY ACCESS TO OPENING THEORY: Whether you want to build up a reliable and powerful opening repertoire or find new opening ideas for your existing repertoire, the Opening Encyclopaedia covers the entire opening theory on one product.
The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 5.Bf4 has a great balance between positional play and sharp pawn pushes; and will be a surprise for your opponents while being easy to learn for you, as the key patterns are familiar.
€9.90
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