10/28/2014 – "Jubilant Chinese players grace the cover of the latest issue if ChessBase Magazine," writes Sean Marsh and finds that the Chess Olympiad receives excellent coverage in this edition, with a plethora of annotated games and video presentations. He advocates reading GM Rainer Knaak's editorial piece on possible reasons why top seed Russia fails to win Olympiads. Marsh Towers review.
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.
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.
Unlock the secrets of one of the most resilient and strategic openings in chess with our comprehensive video course, “The Caro-Kann Defence.”
€36.90
ChessBase Magazine 162
Review by Sean Marsh
The jubilant Chinese players grace the cover of the latest issue if ChessBase Magazine. Their smashing success at the Tromso Olympiad was well deserved and Russia, the pre-tournament favourites, even managed to finish out of the medals leaving Hungary and India to take silver and bronze respectively.
The Olympiad receives excellent coverage here, with a plethora of annotated games and video presentations. The most enjoyable of the latter comes in the form of Daniel King's 'Game of the Day' features.
As usual, I recommend reading Rainer Knaak's editorial piece. The theme this time is an investigation into the possible reasons Russia – fronted by former world champion Vladimir Kramnik and still the top seeds – fail to win Olympiads. Rainer examines five percipient key points. It's a reminder that ChessBase Magazine doesn't just offer important, topical games – the written word is worthy of scrutiny too.
The other major highlight in this issue is the coverage of the Sinquefeld Cup, won by Fabio Caruana ahead of a stellar field that included Magnus Carlsen. This was a fabulous success for Caruana. Arguments will rage over the status of the event, from the historical point if view. Was it the strongest tournament ever played? Traditionalists will be appalled at the notion and will doubtless cite counter-evidence based on AVRO 1938 and other such classic events. I doubt Caruana will mind either way.
The ''secret'' of Caruana's success was simply to play moves of a consistently high level throughout every one of his games. His efficiency and desire to invariably head for wins instead of settling for draws will bring the inevitable comparisons to Fischer. Playing through the games via ChessBase, when one can easily summon numerous engines to world alongside the magazine's annotations, brings out the finer detail of the games. It's easy to explore alternative variations to see what could have happened. The engines usually refute – brutally – virtually every variation one tries, but the assessments also make one realise just how strong the world's elite players are, as the majority of their moves still skip through the engines unchallenged.
Here's a interesting sequence from one of the tournament's key games.
Is Black's e5-pawn really weak? The direct attempt to prove it so with 29 Nxe5 Nxe5 30 Qxe5 fails to impress after 30 ...Rxf2, uncovering an attack on White's queen by the bishop on g7. Caruana plays an altogether more impressive sequence.
29 Na5! Nxa5 30 Nxe5! Nb7 31 Nxg6! when he was able to start pushing his e- and f-pawns, with a building advantage (1-0, 50).
So, what of the World Champion? It was interesting to see Caruana exploit Carlsen's errors, starting with being able to achieve rapid equality as Black against the Bishop's Opening. Later on, the game was decided when Carlsen lost his footing under pressure.
31 Nh2? (31 Qh2 looks more passive and compliant, but it should last longer) 31 ...Rd1+ 32 Rxd1 Qxd1+ 33 Nf1 Qxf1+ 34 Kh2 Qg1+ 0-1 (due to the potentially dangerous e-pawn falling after 35 Kh3 Qe3+). As Carlsen didn't have the most successful Olympiad either, it all should encourage Anand in their forthcoming title match.
In amongst all of the regular ChessBase features there's the usual amount of thought provoking opening surveys. This time they cover the following:
Stohl: English Flohr-Mikenas Variation
Rotstein: Old Indian with 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Bf5 4.Nf3 c6
Antic: Benoni Fianchetto Variation 11.Bf4
Havasi: Modern Defence 4.f4 a6 5.Nf3
Krasenkow: Closed Sicilian
Postny: Sicilian Paulsen 6.Nxc6
Szabo: Sicilian English Attack
Müller: King’s Gambit à la Quaade – Part 1
Breder: Ruy Lopez Four Knights 4...Nd4
Kuzmin: Queen’s Pawn Game 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bf4
Marin: Nimzo-Indian 4.e3
Three surveys are presented as videos, namely:
Ftacnik on the Anti-Grünfeld: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3
ChessBase Magazine 162 keeps up the high standard we have come to expect. I'm already looking forward to the next issue, which should dissect the Carlsen vs. Anand title match in admirable fashion.
As Igor Stohl demonstrates, the Mikenas-Flohr Variation of the English Defence is really reliable from Black’s point of view, but at first there is a struggle for equality. Even Aronian, the greatest expert with the white pieces, came to grief when he played the variation with Black against Grischuk.
Rotstein: Old Indian Defence A53
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Bf5 4.Nf3 c6
According to the analyses of Arkadij Rotstein White cannot, just as he is unable to do with 4.f3 e5 (see CBM 161), lay claim to a simple advantage after 4.Nf3 c6. Above all, 5.Nh4 Bg6!? proves to be surprisingly playable for Black.
The white bishop move is somewhat annoying for Black, since the natural developing move 11...Nbd7 is now excluded. In his article Dejan Antic analyses the two popular replies 11...h6 and 11...Nh5, but he believes that only the knight move offers certain chances for equality.
It is not at all rare to see this variation with ...a6. Gergö Havasi investigates above all 5...Nd7, since he has reserved the main variation 5...b5 for his next article. White should achieve a comfortable game with natural developing moves – developing the bishops.
Krasenkow: Sicilian Defence B25
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3
Michal Krasenkow thinks that the Closed Sicilian is very playable at amateur level. In his article he presents a repertoire for White, just as he played himself till reaching a playing strength of around 2400.
The variation attracted the attention of Evgeny Postny because it was recently played by Fabiano Caruana – both with White and with Black. There is a trend away from 11...g6 to 11...¢f8. At the moment the variation appears to be under development and there are as yet no certainties.
The position in this diagram has been seen recently on several top level boards. The continuations 12...Bg7 and 12...Qc7 are up for discussion. As Krisztian Szabo shows, as well as a knowledge of variations one should also master a few tricks and manoeuvres.
Müller: King's Gambit C34
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3
In the first part of his repertoire for White with the King’s Gambit Karsten Müller acquaints you with his fundamental idea. It is a setup with Nc3, d4 and g3 and is called the Quaade Gambit (or the Quaade setup). It works excellently against Fischer’s Defence 3...d6 and Becker’s Defence 3...h6.
The article by Dennis Breder focusses after 4...Nd4 on the reply 5.Ba4. It should be followed by 5...c6 and, as our author shows, in many lines Black can even hope for more than mere equality.
Kuzmin: Queen's Pawn Game D00
1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bf4
Alexey Kuzmin refers in his article to the games of Baadur Jobava, who has recently been employing this variation successfully. Jobava’s special variation comes after the most played move 3...Bf5 in the form of 4.f3 e6 5.g4 Bg6 6.h4.
The line with ...c5 is very solid and involves a substantial amount of theory, but Mihail Marin manages, starting with 8.Na4, to show how White can set his opponent problems and aim for an advantage.
Ruy Lopez Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 12092 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 1276 are annotated.
In this 60 Minutes, Andrew Martin guides you through all the key ideas you need to know to play with confidence. Whether you’re looking to surprise your opponents, or simply want a straightforward weapon against e5, the Centre Attack has you covered.
Videos by Mihail Marin: Najdorf Variation with 6.f4 and Nico Zwirs: Italian ‘giucco pianissimo’. ‘Lucky bag’ with 45 analyses by Edouard, Ftacnik, Gupta, Pelletier and others. Update service with over 50,000 new games for your database!
This video course provides a comprehensive and practical White repertoire in the Ruy Lopez! Through instructive model games and in-depth theoretical explanations, you will learn how to confidently handle both main lines and sidelines.
€49.90
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.