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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.
Tata Steel 2025 with game analyses by Praggnanandhaa, Abdusattorov, Giri and many others. Opening videos by Ganguly, Blohberger and King. 10 opening articles with new ideas for your repertoire. Special on Korttschnoj and much more!
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Magnus on the move
It was a dark day for the Chinese players, as both Hou and Wei lost their games to Carlsen and Mamedyarov respectively. In all, we the most number of decisive games in the Masters in a single round, with Kramnik and Karjakin both notching wins as well. Saturday represents the mid-way point in this very long struggle, so there is still plenty of time left for four players a point behind Mamedyarov on 4½ points.
Round 7 impressions
Standings after seven rounds
Magnus Carlsen was relieved to get his second win, coming at the end of an endgame which he says Hou Yifan could have held. Indeed in a strange coincidence, the fatal blunder 50...h5? somewhat mirrored one Yifan made agains the World Champion here in Wijk aan Zee in 2016:
In both cases, the position went from equal to completely winning for White.
Williams main teaching method behind this set of two DVDs is to teach you some simple yet effective set ups, without the need to rely on memorising numerous complicated variations.
Carlsen: "Hopefully I can get it going now" | Tata Steel Chess YouTube
Amazing how Carlsen is able to put huge pressure on in these seemingly dull and drawn endgames- surely a lesson to those who agree draws in such positions thinking that they are dead and lifeless #TataSteelChess
Anand went for an Italian game against Kramnik, which followed their 2017 blitz encounter in Zurich until Anand deviated with 7.Bg5 (last year he first castled, allowing 7...h6). Kramnik beat Anand twice with black last year in Norway Chess, but both in a Ruy Lopez which Anand has preferred lately against his age-old rival.
Viswananthan Anand 0-1 Vladimir Kramnik (annotated by GM Mikhail Golubev)
Studying the content of this DVD and adding these openings to your repertoire will provide players with a very strong tool to fight 1...e5 - as the practice of the author clearly demonstrates.
Kramnik is in excellent position in the tournament and has yet to play Mamedyarov | Tata Steel Chess YouTube
Mamedyarov is in Wijk aan Zee with his wife, but without a second, though he shared after the game that he of course has someone helping him prepare remotely. His choice of the Catalan today was unusual, as he said he has rarely played this line in the past.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 1-0 Wei Yi (annotated by GM Mikhail Golubev)
The Catalan is one of the most solid openings for White. It forms part of the large and strong fianchetto family in which White builds his strategy mainly around the bishop on g2. Grandmaster Victor Bologan covers all of Black’s replies to the Catalan, some of which can even transpose to other openings such as the Tarrasch System and the Queen’s Indian. Suffice it to say that the Catalan rules!
This was his third classical win against Wei Yi, however, having previously beaten him in 2016 in the Chinese league. Mamedyarov also elminated Wei from the 2013 World Cup in Tromso in a tiebreak, when Wei was still quite new on the international scene.
Mamedyarov has yet to play Carlsen — they are paired in the eighth round — but he has a fairly appaling record lifetime agains the world number one. He hasn't won a classical game against Magnus since 2008.
Mamedyarov: Third consecutive win and on a roll | Tata Steel Chess YouTube
Sergey Karjakin was clearly pleased to get his first win of the tournament, benefitting from a blunder from Caruana in a position, however, which Karjakin felt was already better for him.
Sergey Karjakin 1-0 Fabiano Caruana (annotated by GM Mikhail Golubev)
The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation is one of the most important opening systems, having been played by most of the great players in history and from both sides of the board. The most outstanding specialists in this method of play include Garry Kasparov, Mikhail Botvinnik and Samuel Reshevsky. The Black side proponents include Anatoly Karpov, Boris Spassky and Paul Keres. It is truly an opening of champions!
After the game, Karjakin noted that this was a bit of revenge for his recent lost to Caruana in the London Chess Classic. He also shared some thoughts on the stellar performance of his friend Shakhriyar.
Karjakin: It's always nice to win against such a great player | Tata Steel Chess YouTube
Wesley So and Anish Giri drew and both remain tied for second. Giri plays Mamedyarov on Sunday with White, so that will be his big chance to make a play for first place. He said that he "got a bit creative" in the opening, deciding to "improve" over theory at the board, but ending up with a worse position.
Giri describes the difficulty in assessing the kind of position he received with a computer | Tata Steel Chess YouTube
Daniel King's round-up of Round 7:
All round-up shows are available in ChessBase Videos, for Premium account holders
All games
Full commentary
Commentary by GM Robin van Kampen and GM Eric Hansen| Tata Steel Chess YouTube
Challengers
No changes at the top of the leader board as both Korobov and Vidit drew their games, so the Ukrainian maintains a one point lead. Both decisive games went against the women in the tournament. Matthias Bluebaum got his second win, dealing Harika her second loss, and Aryan Tari pulled back to an equal score, beating Olga Girya.
Macauley PetersonMacauley served as the Editor in Chief of ChessBase News from July 2017 to March 2020. He is the producer of The Full English Breakfast chess podcast, and was an Associate Producer of the 2016 feature documentary, Magnus.
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
Opening videos: Sipke Ernst brings the Ulvestad Variation up to date + Part II of ‘Mikhalchishin's Miniatures’. Special: Jan Werle shows highlights from the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 in the video. ‘Lucky bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, Illingworth et al.
In this video course, Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov explores the fascinating world of King’s Indian and Pirc structures with colours reversed, often arising from the French or Sicilian.
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