12/19/2016 – From December 1 to December 24 we invite our readers every day to open a door in our advent calendar. Click and enjoy a little chess treat. Today a former World Champion shows a little opening trick. Advent calendar, door 19.
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.
FIDE World Cup 2025 with analyses by Adams, Bluebaum, Donchenko, Shankland, Wei Yi and many more. Opening videos by Blohberger, King and Marin. 11 exciting opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more.
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Trapped
When Elisabeth Pähtz gave her first video interview for the ChessBase Magazine she was only twelve years old but already a well-known chess personality in Germany.
Elisabeth Pähtz played her first "real" tournament at the age of five and when she was 14 she became German Women Champion. This success at a young age attracted the attention of the media and she repeatedly appeared as a guest in popular TV shows in Germany.
In 2002 Elisabeth Pähtz became World Champion U18 and in 2005 she also became Women's World Junior Champion. Since then Elisabeth Pähtz has been Germany's number one on the women's ranking list and is one of the best women players in the world.
Elisabeth Pähtz recorded two DVDs for ChessBase and is a popular guest at ChessBase TV.
Elisabeth Pähtz coaches local players from Hamburg
Focused - Elisabeth Pähtz at the chessboard
"And what do you do now...?"
When the editorial team was discussing ideas for our advent calendar the idea came up to ask Elisabeth Pähtz if she would like to show a little trick. We just reached her before she was off to the European Blitz and Rapid Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.
"Showing a trick or a trap? Sure. I have to leave soon but I can still record something with my mobile. I once fell into a mean trap in the Philidor. I could show that."
No sooner said than done. Here is Elisabeth Pähtz' recording:
Here it is once again to study the trap closely:
If you want to get more tips from Elisabeth Pähtz might want to have a look at one of her DVDs.
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.
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.
For the Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbook 2026 the ratings average was set again at 2400. 2.24 million games from the engine room of playchess.com met this threshold, to which were added over 130 000 games played by humans.
In this volume, we dive into core aspects of chess technique. Smyslov taught the principle of tactical hierarchy, “checks, double attacks, and unprotected pieces”, and Mikhalchishin demonstrates how this method of calculation is vital.
Videos: Nico Zwirs examines two Petroffs from the 2026 Candidates. Robert Ris has a tip against the Caro-Kann Advance Variation with 3…c5. Fiona Sieber reveals a surprise weapon against the Najdorf. ‘Lucky Bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, L'Ami et al.
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.
In this powerful new course, endgame expert Karsten Müller teams up with rising star Leon Mendonca to deliver what truly matters: 10 essential rules that every player must know.
€19.90
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