1/10/2019 – A few weeks ago we launched a reader poll with nominations for the best game, endgame and combination of 2018. The results are in! The "endgame of the year" was hotly contested, and best game of the year contest was virtually a dead heat. Games of Kramnik, Carlsen and Caruana were the top vote-getters in that category. But readers clearly felt that Ivan Cheparinov deserved to be recognised for the best combination of 2018 for his brilliant rook sacrifice way back in January at the Gibraltar Masters. Take a look...
Tata Steel 2023: Analyses by Giri, Van Foreest, Praggnanandhaa, Donchenko and many more. "Special" on Anthony Miles. Kasimdzhanov, Marin and Zwirs show new opening ideas from Wijk in the video. 11 opening articles with repertoire ideas and much more!
Checkmate. That's the aim of the game. There are numerous ways to checkmate the enemy king, but there are common patterns that recur over and over again, and having these at our mental fingertips is essential for when we want to finish the game.
Top trainers strongly recommend regular study of well-explained classical games to improve your understanding of chess in the long term. 33 modern classics are explained in details on this video course.
€39.90
Best of 2018 (part 1)
At the outset, a small caveat: It became clear that some readers were confused by the current design of our polls — which looks a bit too much like normal links, and no confirmation step — leading at least a few to accidentally vote prematurely for the first item on the list. Nostra culpa! We'll take that into consideration when reviewing the results and improve the system for the future.
No amount of over-voting can undermine the result of our first reader vote, however...
Special attention will be paid to Intermediate Moves, Quiet Moves, Sacrifices on Empty Squares, Mating Patterns, Ignoring Opponents Threat, Calculation in Defence and Method of Comparison. Plus 50 interactive examples to test your knowledge.
This one is clear: Ivan Cheparinov's combination against Alan Pichot was judged as the best of 2018 by a plurality of the 246 ChessBase Account holders who voted.
Karsten Müller selected ten of the best endgames for our shortlist. This category was really close, with Nepomniachtchi vs Nisipeanu registering 22%, Carlsen vs Caruana notching 20% and Kramnik vs Caruana taking 19% of the total of 240 votes cast:
Poll results:
Endspiel/Endgame/Final
Nepomniachtchi-Nisipeanu
55
22%
Carlsen-Caruana
48
20%
Kramnik-Caruana
47
19%
Carlsen-Yifan Hou
24
10%
Grischuk-Caruana
15
6%
Karjakin-Kramnik
14
5%
Carlsen-Navara
14
5%
Korobov-Sutovsky
8
3%
Jakovenko-Fedoseev
8
3%
Giri-Caruana
7
2%
Given the propensity for the top choice to get a few extra clicks by accident, we're inclined to give the nod to the World Championship playoff duel. Replay all three below:
Rook endings are amongst the most frequently encountered endgames there are, and so your training effort will be quickly repaid in the form of half and full points. Knowing even a few rules of thumb and key methods makes life a great deal easier and provides a guiding light even in complex positions. This DVD focuses on the important themes which are to be found in common rook endings.
Mueller reviews the contenders in a special solo edition of Endgame Magic:
Caruana also features in a contender for the best game overall of 2018. But this one is truly too close to call. With 105 votes for Kramnik vs Caruana from the fourth round of the 2018 Candidates Tournament in Berlin, but 104 votes for Aronian vs Kramnik, we can only say for certain that Vladimir Kramnik "wins" the Game of the Year. His titanic, back-and-forth struggle with Caruana in Berlin was crucial to the course of the tournament. Caruana's win with Black propelled him into the clear lead. Kramnik's win with Black against Aronian was also played in Berlin.
Poll results:
Partie/Game/Partida
Kramnik-Caruana
105
26%
Aronian-Kramnik
104
26%
Hillarp Persson-Laurusas
91
23%
Ding-Duda
62
15%
Aronian-Mamedyarov
30
7%
New ...
New Game
Edit Game
Setup Position
Open...
PGN
FEN
Share...
Share Board (.png)
Share Board (configure)
Share playable board
Share game as GIF
Notation (PGN)
QR Code
Layout...
Use splitters
Swipe notation/lists
Reading mode
Flip Board
Settings
Move
N
Result
Elo
Players
1.e4
1,169,498
54%
2421
---
1.d4
949,345
55%
2434
---
1.Nf3
282,426
56%
2440
---
1.c4
182,608
56%
2442
---
1.g3
19,741
56%
2427
---
1.b3
14,334
54%
2427
---
1.f4
5,914
48%
2377
---
1.Nc3
3,814
51%
2384
---
1.b4
1,759
48%
2379
---
1.a3
1,222
54%
2404
---
1.e3
1,073
49%
2409
---
1.d3
955
50%
2378
---
1.g4
666
46%
2361
---
1.h4
449
53%
2374
---
1.c3
435
51%
2426
---
1.h3
283
56%
2419
---
1.a4
114
60%
2465
---
1.f3
93
46%
2435
---
1.Nh3
90
66%
2505
---
1.Na3
42
62%
2482
---
Please, wait...
1.e4e52.Nf3Nf63.Nxe5d64.Nf3Nxe45.Qe2Qe76.Nc3Nxc37.dxc3Qxe2+8.Bxe2Nc6This position has an extremely high drawing
percentage.9.Be3Be710.0-0-00-011.Rhe1Bf612.Nd2Re813.Bf3Ne514.Bf4Kf815.Bd5c616.Bb3Bf517.h3g518.Bh2Kg719.c4g420.Ne4Bxe421.Rxe4Bg5+22.Kb1gxh3Safer and was better23.c5?!Bold but
dangerous.23.gxh323...f524.Rb4hxg225.Rxb7+Kh826.cxd6Nf327.Ba427.Bg1was Kramnik's original plan, butRe2is winning for black.28.Bf7Rd2or28...Nxg129.Rxg1Rxf230.Bc4Be329.Rxd2Nxd2+30.Ka1Rd8Black collects
the d6-pawn and then forces White to five up a piece for the g-pawn.27...Nxh228.Bxc6Rad828...Re4Caruana burned up several vital minutes trying to make this interesting move
work, e.g.29.Rg129.Bxe4fxe430.Rg1e3!is winning.29...Rae8was
what Caruana considered, but it's only equal.29.d729.Bxe8?Rxd6!30.Rd7Rxd1+31.Rxd1Nf1!and Black wins.29...Re230.Bxg2Rxf231.Bc6Ng432.Rxa7Ne333.Rg1Nachh6?33...Rxc2Black stands well,
e.g.34.Ba434.Rc7Bf6!35.Rc8looks strong, but actually threatens
nothing.Rxb2+36.Kc136.Ka1Rb4#36...Rxa237.Re1f4-+34...Rf235.a3Bf636.Rb7Nc437.Re1Kg7-+After the text the white pawns become very
dangerous.34.Rc7Kg735.a4Kf736.Bb5Ke737.a5Rf438.c3Kd639.Rb739.Rc6+Ke739...Rg440.Re1f441.a6h542.a7Ra8Still stronger was43.b443.c4z.B.Kc544.b4+Kxb445.Bc6+Kc346.Rc1+Kd443...h4Here Kramnik misses the strong
possibility44.c4?!44...h345.c5+Ke5Better was46.Rb8?Now, white gets into
trouble.46.Bc6e.g.h247.Rh1Rg1+48.Kb2Rxh149.Bxh1Nd1+50.Kb3f351.Bxf3Nf252.c6and the white pawns decide.46.c6h247.c7Rg148.Bc6could have led to an amazing draw, e.g.Rxe1+49.Ka2Nd550.Bxd5Kxd546...Rxa747.Rg8Bf648.d8QBxd849.Rxg4Bf6White is an exchange up, but the black pawns are more
dangerous.50.Rg6Rb751.Be2Rxb4+52.Ka2Nc253.Rc1Nd454.Bd3Ra4+55.Kb1Nb356.Re1+Kd557.Kc257.Rxf6Ra1+58.Kb2Rxe159.Kxb3h260.Bc4+Kxc561.Rf5+Kd462.Rxf4+Ke363.Rh457...Nd4+58.Kb1Nf359.Rd1a devastating blunder for Kramnik
in time pressure.59.Rxf6Nxe160.Bf1h261.Rh6still offered
drawing chances.59...Ra1+60.Kc2Rxd161.Ba661.Kxd1h2and White can't stop the
pawn from queening.61...Rd2+62.Kc1Bb2+63.Kb1Kxc564.Bb7Ne565.Rf6f366.Rf5f20–1
On this DVD Vladimir Kramnik retraces his career from talented schoolboy to World Champion in 2006. With humour and charm he describes his first successes, what it meant to be part of the Russian Gold Medal team at the Olympiad, and how he undertook the Herculean task of beating his former mentor and teacher Garry Kasparov.
IM Sagar Shah uses ChessBase 14 and a few tools at his disposal to try and find out if ...Rg8 by Kramnik was a brilliant novelty or careless preparation by Aronian
Check back tomorrow for a look at the "players of the year"!
This 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.
Pirc Defence Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 10027 games from Mega 2025 or the Correspondence Database 2024; of these 874 are annotated.
The Pirc Defence Powerbook 2025 consists for a greater part of engine games (168 000), to which has been added high value material from Mega and the Correspondence Database (115 000).
The free app from ChessBase! ChessBase Mobile has everything you need as a chess player on the go:
access your chess data in cloud databases - and 13 million games.
Whether it’s a weak pawn, a vulnerable king, or poor piece coordination, this course will teach you how to pinpoint the critical targets, prioritise your attack, and execute a clear, effective plan.
The Cozio Variation (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nge7!?) is an underrated weapon that takes White out of well-known theory.
€9.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.