7/28/2018 – Magnus started the Accentus Biel GM Tournament with two wins, but could only draw in the four games that followed. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov took advantage of the Norwegian's drawing streak to take the sole lead with a win over Nico Georgiadis. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, like Shak, won with the black pieces and now is in shared third place. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival
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.
Scarcely any world champion has managed to captivate chess lovers to the extent Carlsen has. The enormously talented Norwegian hasn't been systematically trained within the structures of a major chess-playing nation such as Russia, the Ukraine or China.
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.
€49.90
Not a good day to have White
The first leg of the tournament finished with Magnus Carlsen and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov sharing the lead on 3½/5. On Friday, the players started the second half by repeating the first round pairings with colours reversed. After two rather quiet rounds, the players went back to their two-wins-per-day routine.
Carlsen started the event with a win over David Navara — the Czech player misjudged his position and pushed his pawns too early. Today, however, the World Champion had the black pieces, and the game followed a different script. Against Navara's Queen's Gambit, Carlsen chose the popular Semi-Tarrasch variation. With 12...Ba6, however, the Norwegian gave the game a different tone.
Lennart Ootes photographing Navara and Carlsen | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival
By move 20, the players had already exchanged the queens and a pair of rooks. In the ensuing endgame, Black had the possibility of creating a passed pawn on the queenside, which would leave him with a strategic advantage.
On this DVD Grandmaster Daniel King offers you a repertoire for Black with the QGD. The repertoire is demonstrated in 10 stem games, covering all White's major systems: 5 Bg5, 5 Bf4, and the Exchange Variation.
Navara - Carlsen
Position after 21...Nd3
Carlsen did not take long to get a passer on the a-file, and also got a target to work on — the isolated white d-pawn. Although it was necessary to be careful, there was not much danger for either of the players.
Position after 31...Ke7
Carlsen's attempts to trick his opponent were duly recognised and neutralised by Navara. The players signed a draw on a drawn rook endgame after 45 moves.
On this DVD Grandmaster Daniel King offers you a repertoire for Black with the French. Based around ten stem games, all White's major lines against the French are covered.
GM Daniel King looks at this key game
MVL is still in the hunt | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Biel International Chess Festival
The other two games finished with decisive results.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is slowly bouncing back after his subpar start. In round six, he defeated Peter Svidler with the black pieces from a balanced position that emerged from an English opening. Everything seemed normal until Svidler lost the thread on move 26:
The English Defence (1...b6) is a less well-known weapon against White setups with 1.c4 and 2.d4. Black has a number of nice tricks and ideas at his disposal that can quickly dispatch an unprepared opponent.
Svidler - Vachier-Lagrave
Position after 25...f4
Peter continued with 26.Re4, which was answered by 26...g5. After 27.Rh5 Rf5, White went astray with 28.g4, opening the f-file to his detriment. Only four moves later, the player from Saint Petersburg resigned. With this win, Vachier-Lagrave caught Navara and Svidler in the standings — they are sharing the third place on 3/6.
Another hard day at the office for Nico | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival
Nico Georgiadis did not shy away from playing against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's Sicilian Najdorf. The players followed previously seen lines up to move 16. The last game that reached this position was Carlsen - Grischuk, from 2015. Back then, Black won the encounter as well.
After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6! leads to the so-called "Accelerated Dragon Defense". On this DVD the Russian grandmaster and top women player Nadezhda Kosintseva reveals the secrets of her favourite opening.
Georgiadis - Mamedyarov
Position after 16.Na1
Grischuk played 16...g6, while Mamedyarov preferred 16...f5. As it is visually evident, Black obtained good play in the centre and the kingside.
Position after 29...g5
This was a good time for White to eliminate the dangerous f5-knight with 30.Bxf5. Georgiadis played 30.Nc3 instead, and after 30...Nd4 Black continued his attack with a quick g5-g4. Nico tried to fight back, but had to accept his defeat a rook down on move 39.
Saturday will be the only rest day in Biel. The players will come back to the fray for the final four rounds starting Sunday.
Two players are sharing the lead at the Masters Open Tournament that is taking place parallel to the main event in Biel: 19th seed Vaibhav Suri from India and 21st seed Davorin Kuljasevic from Croatia. They have won four and drawn one game so far. Seven players are close behind at a half-point distance.
Magnus Carlsen's father, Henrik, is participating. He is on 1½/5 in the tough event.
Magnus Carlsen checking on his dad | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Biel International Chess Festival
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
The Trompowsky is especially suited for faster time controls as you don‘t have to memorise endless lines of theory, and you push your opponent out of their comfort zone after your second move.
Trompowsky Powerbook 2025 is based on 53,000 computer games from the engine room of playchess.com as well as 49,000 games from Mega and correspondence chess.
Trompowsky Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 8727 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 316 are annotated.
2025 European Championship with a German double victory and analyses by Bluebaum, Svane, Rodshtein, Yuffa, Navara and many more. Opening videos by Engel, King and Marin. Training sections “The Fortress”, “The Trap” and “Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" etc.
In this dynamic and practical video course, IM Andrew Martin arms you with powerful antidotes to White’s most annoying sidelines.
€34.90
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