5/14/2023 – Alireza Firouzja joined Fabiano Caruana in the lead of the Superbet Chess Classic after beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the tournament’s seventh round. The other decisive game of the day saw Anish Giri claiming his first win in Bucharest by beating Ding Liren with white. Thus, much like in round 5, the two recent World Championship contenders lost on the same day. Ding and Nepo stand now in shared last place with 2½/7 points. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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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.
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Firouzja shared leader
A first-round loss did not bode well for a rusty Alireza Firouzja in Bucharest. However, his three wins (and three draws) in the next six rounds have allowed him to go into the final two days of action sharing the lead with Fabiano Caruana. Furthermore, the 19-year-old has gained 7.6 rating points in the process, climbing to clear second place in the live ratings list, almost 13 points ahead of third-placed Ian Nepomniachtchi.
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.
Firouzja’s widening the gap relative to Nepo and Ding Liren in the world ranking also has to do with the World Championship contenders’ subpar performance in the Romanian capital. The protagonists of the thrilling match in Astana have minus-two scores and are currently standing in shared last place, together with underdog Bogdan-Daniel Deac.
Not to mention the fact that Firouzja has beaten both Ding and Nepo. Fortunately for the French representative, he got white against the world champion in round 5 and also white against Nepo on Saturday. After beating the Russian, Firouzja explained:
[Nepo] has a very solid repertoire with black, so it was very difficult to get a game. So I’m really happy with this win, and it improves my score in the standings.
With two rounds to go, Firouzja and Caruana are sharing the lead with 4½ points each. Wesley So, Richard Rapport and Anish Giri make up the chasing pack a half point behind.
Giri joined the chasers by beating Ding with white, after the latter played somewhat carelessly in the opening. The position was quite complicated, though, as Giri needed to show persistence and a good tactical eye to convert his advantage into a full point.
As ever, the Dutchman was very eloquent while analysing the game afterwards:
The two DVDs offer you the chance to solve 66 exercises with multiple questions. These exercises are presented in the interactive format, which makes them accessible for players of different strengths as we will go through the thought process step by step
Anish Giri has plenty of fans in Bucharest! | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!
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.
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.
IM Andrew Martin shows why this 19th-century opening weapon still is a fantastic choice for club players. The Evans produces exciting chess and teaches the art of attack.
The major part of the material on which the Petroff Defence Powerbook 2026 is based comes from the engine room of playchess.com: 357 000 games. This imposing number is supplemented by another 17 000 from Mega and from correspondence chess.
Petroff Defence Powerbase 2026 is a database which contains 6475 high class games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 682 annotated.
Videos: Felix Blohberger presents the surprise weapon 4…a6 in the Four Knights Game. Mihail Marin analyses the English Opening with 1.c4 e5 2.g3 g6 3.d4 exd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Bg2 Nc6. Plus the ‘Lucky bag’ featuring 37 analyses by Berg, Radjabov and others.
Renowned for its solidity and strategic soundness, it has been a cornerstone of the repertoires of elite grandmasters including Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi, who relied on it successfully in the Candidates Tournament.
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