A Smart Deal: This Week’s Summer Special – “Master the Pirc” and the 18-Volume Masterclass Bundle

by ChessBase
6/26/2025 – This week's Summer Special can give your game a real boost. Use the Masterclass series to study the most instructive games, the tricks and techniques of the greatest players in chess history. Get the complete 18-volume bundle for only €199.00 (regularly €399.00). Or maybe you'd like to spice up your play with the Pirc, a solid yet combative opening? Then Fabien Libiszewski’s Master the Pirc might be just what you're looking for — this week only €34.90 (instead of €49.90).
Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

Only this week (23. June – 29. June) in the Summer Special!
   

Fabien Libiszewski: Master the Pirc Defence! - A strategic and dynamic approach

image of product: Master the Pirc Defence! - A strategic and dynamic approachThis interactive video course of over 8 hours, provides an in-depth exploration of the Pirc Defence, a favoured opening for people looking to play for the win with the black pieces. Through a combination of key reference games and the analysis of a complete repertoire, this ChessBase Training video course helps you understand the essential themes, ideas, and resources needed to master this opening.

The Pirc (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6) is a dynamic opening that temporarily allows the opponent to control the centre, only to challenge it later in a more aggressive manner. It leads to complex and often unbalanced middlegame positions, offering ample opportunities for counterplay, even against well-prepared opponents. Of course, there is an element of risk in this approach, but as the famous quote by Xavier Tartakower reminds us, "The player that takes risks may lose, the player that doesn't always loses."

Through this video course, you will see that the risk is controlled when you understand the various resources of the position, making the Pirc an excellent practical choice to add to your repertoire. You will acquire a new strategic weapon for playing with the black pieces, capable of surprising your opponents, while providing real winning chances in rich and unpredictable positions.

Extensive training content and interactive exercises in ChessBase Books: Solve exercises & and test your knowledge with the Opening Trainer & Fritz App.

Video running time: 8 hours 14 minutes

Libiszewski: Master the Pirc Defence – this week in the Summer Special for only €34.90 (instead of €49.90).

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ChessBase Masterclass Vol. 1-18 

Over 150 years of chess history – with great tournaments, legendary players, world champions, and their most instructive games. A selection of the very best.

All Masterclass Fritztrainers released so far – from Morphy to Carlsen – now available as a bundle at a special Summer offer price.

This week in the Summer Special: only €199.90 instead of €399.90!

Buy in the shop...

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UzChess Cup: Abdusattorov beats Rapport, moves into the lead

6/22/2025 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov leads the Masters section of the UzChess Cup after three rounds, having defeated Richard Rapport with the white pieces in the only decisive game of the day. The Uzbek grandmaster now stands on 2½ points, ahead of a trio of players on 2. The key encounter of the round featured a sharp Sicilian and a complex endgame, as Abdusattorov outplayed Rapport in a bishop-versus-knight ending marked by time pressure and strategic imbalances. | Photo: Uzbek Chess Federation
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Daniel King's Power Play Show: The power of opposite-coloured bishops

6/21/2025 – In the latest episode of the Power Play Show, GM Daniel King explores one of the most instructive themes in chess theory: opposite-coloured bishops in the middlegame. To do so, he goes over a couple of games from the Norway Chess super-tournament. | Watch Power Play on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

Video

60m English New ideas in the Najdorf_E

‘New ideas in the Najdorf – a Power Play 18 Update’ aims to complement Daniel King’s popular DVD from last year ‘The Sicilian Najdorf - a repertoire for Black’. Such a dynamic and popular opening as the Najdorf is developing the whole time. On this download, Daniel King updates lines that were included on his DVD but also responds to viewers’ requests, considering lines that he omitted from his original repertoire. The lines examined on this update are: • 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 h3 e5 7 Nde2 • 5….a6 6 Bc4 in combination with the English Attack (Be3, f3 etc) • 5…a6 6 Be3 and the …a5 variation • 5…a6 6 Be2 and 9 Re1 • 5 f3 (instead of 5 Nc3) It isn’t necessary to have seen the original Najdorf DVD to understand the lines examined here – but it would help as they form part of a complete repertoire.