7/5/2026 – Alireza Firouzja is once again the sole leader thanks to an 8/9 performance on the first day of blitz. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, who entered the fourth day of action in shared first place, suffered four losses in a row at some point and only scored 3½/9. Firouzja's closest chasers are now Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who scored 6 points on the first day of the blitz section and, with 17 points, are 3 points behind Firouzja in the overall standings. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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 COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before. FRITZ is more than just a chess engine – it’s a training revolution! Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
€69.90
Risky approach works wonders
After a good day for Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in the third day of rapid, he failed to follow through in Saturday's blitz session. Pragg scored only 3½/9 points on the first day of the blitz tournament, which means he had to give up the shared lead. Alireza Firouzja is in his element in blitz and scored 8/9, thus taking the sole lead. On the final day, the participants will play another full round-robin. If necessary, playoffs will also take place after the regular rounds.
Firouzja: "When I am in good form, I can take big risks"
Chess is a concrete game. There is no way around training your calculation skills. Improve your visualization, pattern recognition and learn calculation techniques such as reciprocal thinking with this course. Calculation is at the heart of practical chess. Every chess concept builds on proper calculation technique. Therefore, all chess players should continuosly train the fundamental techniques, concepts and patterns this course will present. The goal isn't only to teach you to calculate, but to give you the tools and insights to keep improving long after the final lesson.
Free sample video: Introduction
Alireza Firouzja interviewed by Maurice Ashley | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club
In the interview with Maurice Ashley, Firouzja mentioned that he had played with 100% risk against Bogdan-Daniel Deac. He explained this by saying that he feels he gets good results when he is in form and plays riskily. His score of 7 wins and 2 draws on Saturday seems to confirm his assumption. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave said about Firouzja in an interview: "There is one guy who is absolutely unstoppable".
In the game against Bogdan-Daniel Deac, Firouzja's problems began early on, after he played 15...Bg7?.
The material remains equal, but the position became more complicated for Black.
The early 9.g5, the omission of castling and the opening of the kingside did not exactly help Firouzja to play solidly. During the course of the game, he managed to exchange material, which allowed him to compensate for his lack of space. In the end, the players' performance in an equal endgame with rook, knight and four pawns per side decided the game.
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.
Alireza Firouzja in his element at the Rapid & Blitz | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Vincent Keymer has a chance for revenge
The tournament has not been particularly successful for Vincent Keymer. On day four, he scored only 3/9 points. That gave him the same blitz score as Ivan Saric and half a point more than Jorden van Foreest. Keymer is now in sixth place in the overall standings.
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Vincent Keymer can still make up for lost ground on Sunday | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Keymer beats Gukesh
The blitz game between Keymer and Gukesh turned in the German GM's favour early on. Before move 20, Gukesh was forced to give up material.
The course of the game did not suit Gukesh. In the endgame, he faced Keymer with three pawns for the bishop pair. The game ended when Gukesh had to give up his last pawn and saw no more chances for Keymer to make a mistake with rook against rook and bishop pair.
In total, Keymer won three games on Saturday. He defeated Gukesh, Jorden van Foreest and Ivan Saric. He lost the rest of the day's games.
This compact course is designed specifically for practical play. Instead of overwhelming you with endless theory, it focuses on the critical lines, typical plans, and recurring tactical ideas. Looking for an opening that gets your opponents thinking on move one? Grandmaster Andy Woodward has relied on 1.b3 for years in blitz and bullet, using it to defeat strong masters and grandmasters who underestimated its hidden venom. While many players dismiss the opening as harmless, they often find themselves caught in unfamiliar positions, tactical traps, and uncomfortable middlegames. This compact course is designed specifically for practical play. Instead of overwhelming you with endless theory, it focuses on the critical lines, typical plans, and recurring tactical ideas that matter most when the clock is ticking.
Free video sample: Introduction
Free video sample: King's Indian Setup
Commentator Maurice Ashley is surprised by Nodirbek Abdusattorov's rook sacrifice | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club
Martina GerdtsMartina Gerdts studied Portuguese and Spanish linguistics and nowadays teaches language classes and writes about chess and languages. Having started playing chess for a tournament trip to Paris, she is now active not only as a player but in a diverse range of activities connected to chess. This includes among others teaching chess classes, writing about chess and being active as an arbiter.
7/3/2026 – Alireza Firouzja increased his lead at the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia in Zagreb after scoring two wins and a draw for the second day in a row. He now has 10/12 points, 3 more than Vincent Keymer, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Gukesh Dommaraju and Bogdan-Daniel Deac. Firouzja won both his games with black on Thursday, while Gukesh and Deac both scored 4/6 to move into shared second place. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
7/2/2026 – Alireza Firouzja took the sole lead after the first day of the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia in Zagreb, scoring two wins and a draw in the opening three rapid rounds. His victories over Ivan Saric and Bogdan-Daniel Deac were not straightforward, while a third-round draw against Anish Giri left him on 5/6. Four players are one point behind: Giri, Vincent Keymer, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
After 1.d4 d5 many players with White avoid the great amount of theory in the Slav, Semi-Slav, QGA and Orthodox Queen's Gambit and do not therefore play 2.c4. This is not very ambitious, but the painful experience of many chess players has been that the Colle System, the Trompowsky Attack, the Torre Attack and the London System are nevertheless extremely dangerous. Black has to be prepared for each of these openings and IM Valeri Lilov offers you some help with his six instructive videos, in which he demonstrates for each single opening a relevant plan for Black. In addition to the openings mentioned, the Bulgarian trainer also delves into the Catalan, the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit and the Richter-Veresov Opening.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
The Hyper-Accelerated Dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
The Hyper-Accelerated Dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
The Hyper-Accelerated dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
“Mate is great!” – Tactical training with Oliver Reeh, “The 8th rank” – Andy Woodward analyses his game against Magnus Carlsen from TePe Sigeman 2026, “A modern Nimzo-Indian” – Andrei Volokitin introduces readers to "his" system and much more!
Chess is a concrete game. There is no way around training your calculation skills. Improve your visualization, pattern recognition and learn calculation techniques such as reciprocal thinking with this course.
This compact course is designed specifically for practical play. Instead of overwhelming you with endless theory, it focuses on the critical lines, typical plans, and recurring tactical ideas.
Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains a total of 11 766 games from Mega 2026 or the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 1136 are annotated.
€9.90
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