CBM 216: A World Cup special

by Nagesh Havanur
11/26/2023 – ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. The latest issue, CBM 216, is out. Our columnist Nagesh Havanur takes a look. Included are 968 games (34 annotated), decisive encounters from the World Cup deeply annotated, 11 opening surveys, 3 opening videos, 6 demo lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Anish Giri, Peter Heine Nielsen, Nijat Abasov, Vidit Gujrathi and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, among others. The icing on the cake is a feature on Hou Yifan with 22 annotated games. She has just won the Julius Baer Women’s Speed Championship for the second consecutive time. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
World Cup 2023: Analyses of Pragg, Abasov, Giri, Vidit, Berkes, Duda, Svidler and many others. Videos of Rogozenco and Paehtz, "Special" on Hou Yifan, opening videos of Engel, King and Marin, 11 repertoire articles and much more.

One more jewel in Magnus’ crown

As I write these lines, the 24th European Team Chess Championship has drawn to a close. As expected, Carlsen performed well (+5, =3, -0). Magnus did not rest on his laurels when he was the World Champion and he does not let go of any opportunity to play serious chess even now.

Be that as it may, no one expected the recent World Cup Tournament to be a cakewalk for him. During his illustrious career Magnus had won every important chess competition, but not the World Cup. This jewel in the crown had eluded him in spite of some heroic effort in the past. Now it seemed to be even more challenging with both old and new rivals in the fray. On the one hand, there were seasoned players like Ivanchuk, Svidler, Caruana and Giri. On the other hand, there was the younger talent — Duda, Pragg, Gukesh — not to mention a new star on the horizon, Nijat Abasov.

How Magnus overcame his rivals is an important part of the story.

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1.c4 1 e5 2:26 2.Nc3 11 Nf6 25 3.Nf3 7 Nc6 4:06 4.g3 6 d5 1:56 5.cxd5 24 Nxd5 14 6.Bg2 6 Nf6 55
A29: English Opening: Four Knights Variation with 4 g3. 7.b4! 2:04      
7...Bd6N 2:16 7...e4 8.Ng5 Predecessor: 7...a6 8.a3 Bd6 9.Bb2 0-0 10.d3 Re8 11.0-0 h6 12.Rc1 Bf5 13.Nd2 Qd7 ½-½ Nepomniachtchi,I (2784)-Carlsen,M (2863) Legends of Chess Prelim rapid 2020 (8.5) 8.b5 1:29 Nd4 45 9.Qa4 1:26 Nxf3+ 10:57 10.Bxf3 37 0-0 26 11.0-0 11:22 a6 22 12.d3 5:27 h6 9 13.Ba3 8:38 Rb8 27:53 14.Bxd6 17:05 cxd6 10 The position is equal. 15.Rab1 5:25 axb5 1:38 16.Qxb5 45 Bd7 38 17.Qb6 4:51 Bc6 1:07 18.Qxd8 3:39 Rfxd8 8 19.Bxc6 18 bxc6 2 20.Kg2 5:07 Ra8 37 21.Rb6 2:35 Rdc8 4:21 22.Rc1 6:39 d5 1:18 23.Rc2 54 Nd7 5:17 24.Rb1 4:17 Nc5 1:19 25.Rbc1 1:10 Ra5 2:12 26.Nb1 2:42 Ne6 9 27.Nd2 2:04 Rca8 28 28.Nf3 2:06 e4 38 29.dxe4 3:37 dxe4 7 30.Nd2 2 e3 17 31.Nc4 1:02 Rxa2 6 32.Nxe3 4 Nd4 7 33.Rxa2 1:30 Rxa2 6 34.Rc4 5 c5 9 35.Rxc5 5 Rxe2 8 An uneventful encounter. Weighted Error Value: White=0.02 (flawless) /Black=0.04 (flawless) ½–½
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Praggnanandhaa R2707Carlsen,M2835½–½2023FIDE World Cup 20238.1
Carlsen,M2835Praggnanandhaa R2707½–½2023FIDE World Cup 20238.2
Praggnanandhaa R2707Carlsen,M28350–12023FIDE World Cup 20238.3
Carlsen,M2835Praggnanandhaa R2707½–½2023FIDE World Cup 20238.4

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

But this DVD is not about Magnus and his conquest of the World Cup alone. It is also about the younger players and their quest for victory. Their level of preparation is also high. In this issue, Igor Stohl annotates the game Navara-Praggnaandhaa from the World Cup 2023.  Citing a position from another game (on the 23rd move!) he writes, “I am pretty sure both players had this line on their disks beforehand”.

Pragg beat Nakamura, and Abasov beat Caruana. Admittedly, the latter did not do himself justice in that game. So let us see a different game by Abasov in this issue. It’s with Vidit Gujrathi, who got eliminated as a result of this game.

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After a draw with Black pieces in the first encounter, I was aiming for a quiet and risk-free game with White. 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 The London System didn't come as a surprise for my opponent, as I played it against GM Salem AR Saleh the round before. c5 In that game I faced 3...g6 and I'd say Salem solved all opening problems with ease. 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 e6 6.c3 Be7 Developing the bishop to e7, Black takes control over the g5-square and intends to play ...-Sh5 going after the f4-bishop. After the most played 6...Bd6 White retreats the bishop to the safe square 7.Bg3 In case of the immediate hunt on my dark-squared bishop 6...Nh5 I have the simple move 7.Bg5 7.h3 Freeing up the h2-square. After the most popular move in this position 7.Bd3 Black plays Nh5= and I find Black's position quite comfortable. A while back I had a nice game against the Polish GM Janik Igor, where I chose 7.Ne5 The game continued with Nd7 8.Bd3 Qb6 9.Rb1 cxd4 10.Nxd7 Bxd7 11.exd4 ...1-0, Abasov,N - Janik,I (Vrnjacka Banja, 2023) 7...Bd6!? One may consider it a waste of time. Black had just developed the bishop to e7 and now they move the same piece again, while White responds with a seemingly useful h3. However, the drawback of my move is that I no longer control the g3-square with the rook pawn, thus I no longer have Bg3 in case of Bd6! 7...Nh5?! 8.Bh2 8.dxc5 I cannot afford avoiding trades with 8.Bg5? as it runs into h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.dxc5 Bc7! and White's in trouble now. 8...Bxc5 Step by step (f8-e7-d6-c5) Black's bishop reaches c5-square in three moves. 9.Bd3 Bd6 Within the last 4 moves, Black already moved their dark-squared Bishop four times, severely breaking the basic principle of not playing with the same piece twice in the opening. Did GMs forget how to play chess, you may wonder? No, in fact, they illustrate the new trends of modern chess at its finest. The moral of the story is that you should not look back on what moves have been played but instead look at each unique position with a fresh glance. After each move, we get a unique position that we didn't have before (unless there's a repetition), hence we need to adjust to the new demands of the position and play according to them. Let's take a look at what has happened within the last four moves, and try to figure out why Vidit's moves were the best continuation - each time. First, by playing 6...-Be7 he prepared ...-Nh5 and provoked me to play 7.h3. Once I've done so, I no longer had a Bg3 retreat in case of ...-Bd6. After 7... -Bd6, I had nothing better but to simplify the position in the center in order to keep my dark-squared Bishop alive. His third move in a row with the Bishop doesn't require much of an explanation as it was a simple recapture of a pawn. You may consider Black already reached their goal: by making so many moves they forced me to trade off my central pawn, but no! As the position remains closed, the overall situation on the board has not changed significantly, and on move 9 Black returns to their original strategy of trading off my strong f4-Bishop! Now everything sounds so logical! or 9...0-0 10.0-0 Bd6= 10.Bxd6 As I already mentioned above 10.Bg5 is met by h6 and I still can't save my Bishop. 10...Qxd6 11.Qc2 I could also begin with the move order 11.0-0 and after 0-0 transpose to umwandeln in 12.Qc2 but the text move keeps the flexibility. Not that I want to go for a long-castle, but at least it has to be considered by my opponent. 11...Ne5?! Maybe 12.Qc2 confused Vidit? His previous strategy of offering the bishop trade was legit. With that he also developed his queen to a good d6-square. But now, once the knights are swapped off, his queen comes to central e5-square where it potentially will run under Nf3 or Re1-e4. Instead, 11...0-0 12.0-0 h6 would lead to a normal game. I still would prefer White here, as my play is really simple. After bringing tooks towards the center, I plan to go for e4. 12.Nxe5 I cannot afford to give away the d3-bishop if I want to fight for the initiative. Qxe5 13.0-0 I wasn't sure how much better am I here, but with the mindset I had before the game - of playing safe chess, I was very happy with my position. Bd7 14.e4 I finally break the center open, also threatening to play f4-e5. dxe4 14...Qc7 15.Rfe1 dxe4 16.Nxe4 Bc6!? Black keeps the balance in the position. 15.Nxe4 Nd5?! Yet again, it was critical to play 15...Bc6! 16.Nxf6+ gxf6 17.Rfe1 Qc7 16.Rfe1 Bc6 17.Rad1 Rooks are brought into the central files. 0-0-0 18.Bf1! and now my position is much better. With the last move, I opened up the files for my rooks and secured the safety of my king even further. Kb8 The most time I spent on my move was here. After 13 minutes of thinking I played 19.Qd2!? I had a funny feeling when this move crossed my mind. I believed it should either be a totally foolish or a brilliant move. The idea in fact is quite simple. Whenever d5 knight jumps somewhere, I have Nd6. In fact, I'm not sure why I didn't play the immediate 19.Nc5 with a powerful play on the queenside. 19...Qc7 was the move that I also was considering for him. 19...Nf4 20.Nd6 Qg5 21.Qe3+- After the game, I was asked by Peter Leko about 19...Nf6 on what I considered 20.Nd6 assuming that Nxf7 is my way out in case of any trouble. The following line illustrates that my calculation was accurate. Ne4 21.Nxf7 21.Nc4!? was another option 21...Qf6 22.Nxd8 Nxd2 23.Nxc6+ bxc6 24.Rxd2 Mathematically in a materially equal position, I find White's chances quite high as Black pawns are too weak. Yet it was the top choice of the engine. Despite being only the second computer choice here, I believe the best practical continuation for Black was 19...Qf4! Now White has nothing better than returning to c2. 20.Qc2 and now Black may even try to improve his position with 20.Qe2 Qe5!= 20...Qf5 whilst 20...Qe5 would just repeat the position for the second time. 20.Nc5! Getting my pieces closer to the black king! h6?! Also during the game, this move looked a bit slow to me. But it was already not easy to suggest a good move for Black. 20...Ne7 followed by bringing the knight to f5 was something I considered the most for Vidit. 21.Qc2 In case of Bxg2 I had prepared a nasty intermezzo 21...Nf5 22.Na6+! bxa6 23.Bxg2+- and now it should be hard to guard the King. 21.c4! Now my position "plays itself". I do nothing but advance my queenside pawns, generating powerful play on the opponent's king. Ne7 22.Qc3 Nf5 23.b4 Rxd1 24.Rxd1 Rd8 Black tries to simplify the position and weaken my attack. 25.Rxd8+! But it's fine by me, as even with limited pieces I can create a strong attack on the queenside. Qxd8 26.b5 By advancing my pawns I also force the bishop back to a passive square. Be8 27.a4 Kc8 On 27...Qd4 I would have played 28.Qb4 28.Nb3 I could of course continue pushing my pawns with 28.a5 but I felt like guarding d4-square and preparing c5 is more annoying for Black. 28...f6 I knew my advantage was close to decisive here, but I was hesitating about which pawn I should advance first. After about 6 minutes of thinking I realized 29.a5 is more interesting as I spotted my reply on Qd1 which is 30.Qb4! Not only I defend the b5-pawn with this move, but also Qc5 and Qf8 are on the radar. b6 31.axb6 By swapping off the pawns Black's king gets even weaker. It's never too late to spoil the advantage. 31.c5? bxa5 32.Nxa5? Nd4 could turn situation upside down. 31...axb6 32.c5 bxc5 33.Qxc5+ Kb8 34.Qb6+ My second biggest amount of time spent over one move in the game was here. I tried to calculate lines to the win, and once I realised there's no immediate winner line, I chose to grab a pawn. Kc8 35.Qxe6+ Now, in addition to a weak black king and a strong b5-pawn, I'm also a pawn up. On 35.Nc5 I would dislike Nd4 Black defends e6 and has Bxb5 or Ne2+ kind of moves that I should be careful about. 35...Bd7 36.Qc4+ Kd8 37.b6 Qd6 38.Qg8+ Ke7 38...Be8 39.Bb5 Qd1+ 40.Kh2 Nd6 41.b7+- 39.b7 Be8 40.Bb5 Qd1+ 41.Kh2 Qd6+ 42.g3 Bf7 43.b8Q Bxg8 44.Qe8# I appreciate Vidit's sportsmanship for letting me deliver a checkmate on the board. It's always heartbreaking to have a decisive game against a friend, I have to admit. But I also was happy to hear spectators applauding me after my last move. Definitely a moment to remember forever! 1–0
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Abasov,N2632Vidit,S27191–02023FIDE World Cup

At the end of his annotations to the game, Abasov writes, “I appreciate Vidit’s sportsmanship in allowing me to deliver a checkmate on the board. It’s always heartbreaking to have a decisive game against a friend, I have to admit. But I also was happy to hear spectators applauding me after my last move. Definitely a moment to remember forever”.

Both players have shown sportsmanship of a high order here. By way of postscript, I may add that now Vidit Gujrathi has also become a World Championship candidate. He and Abasov will be battling together in the Candidates Tournament along with Pragg and Caruana.

Nijat Abasov

Nijat Abasov | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

A Hou Yifan Special

Hou YIfan

Hou Yifan | Photo: ChessBase India

This issue also carries a special feature on Hou Yifan with 22 annotated games. Curiously, half of the opponents are male GMs like Caruana, Nepomniachtchi and Nigel Short. Among the females, the Muzychuk sisters deserve mention.

Opening videos and surveys

There are 3 opening videos in this issue:

  1. The first offers an introduction to a relatively new line with 6.Rg1 against the Sicilian Najdorf (B90) by Luis Engel.
  2. The second by Daniel King presents analysis of a line in the London System (D02) with which Ding Liren beat Nepomniachtchi in the World Championship match early this year
  3. The third examines an aggressive line in the Bogo-Indian (E11) by Mihail Marin.

Take your pick.

What is more, there are as many as 11 opening surveys, ranging from the Caro-Kann to the King’s Indian. Among them I would single out the analysis of the Advance Variation of the French Defence (C02) by Tanmay Srinath, and the Rubinstein Variation in the Nimzo-Indian (A83) by Spyridon Kapnisis.

Tanmay Srinath has published a series of surveys on the French Defence in ChessBase Magazine in recent years. His writing takes into account both OTB and CC games. Here I am offering the main line of his analysis with the text of explanation:

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1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 Bb5! It's important to insert this move immediately. Positionally speaking, this is what Black desperately craves for, but the resulting positions show that despite this exchange in our favour, we still need to be a bit precise. Luckily, that precision is not that hard to execute. 7.dxc5! I never paid much attention to this move, but two of my CC opponents played this against me in a AIWCF thematic tournament. In a practical game, this might be a serious test, as Black needs to remember quite a few details. The plus point for us though is that White also needs to be seriously prepared. Bxc5 The only move that comes close to working. 8.b4! This is the most critical idea. Bxf2+! Like it or not, Black has to enter the madness. 9.Kf1! Bc6! It's important to preserve this bishop for now. 10.a4 a6! Forced. 11.Na3 White can either start with this or with a5. It makes no difference. Be3 12.a5 Qa7 13.b5! White also has to be precise. This is the only move that keeps his position above 0.00 :) axb5 14.Nxb5 Bxb5 15.Bxb5+ Nc6 16.Bxe3! Qxe3 17.a6! The best move. If I remember correctly, Adhiban stops here with a claim of an opening edge for White. I agree that it's not fully equal, but Black can neutralise this temporary initiative with a few precise moves. Qa7! A nice retreat. 18.Nd4 Nge7 19.Rb1 bxa6! This is the main point. We sacrifice a piece for 2 or 3 pawns. 20.Nxc6!N A novelty at the time of writing this survey, but it has been tried in both my AIWCF thematic games by Alok Saxena and Om Prakash. This is definitely critical. Qc7 21.Qa4 0-0 22.Nxe7+ Qxe7 23.Bd3 The most critical position for the assessment of this line as a whole. Rfc8! The point. By quickly mobilising his army Black can start some active counterplay. We will soon win the c3 pawn and that will give us 3 pawns for the piece. Even if White wins the a6 pawn the nature of the pawn structure guarantees us good drawing chances. 24.Qd4 The critical idea. Qa3! Luckily for me I have the time to analyse the position very deeply. This was the move I played in both my games, and it works quite well! 25.h4 Rxc3 26.Rh3 Rc1+ 27.Kf2! This is perhaps White's best chance. Qa2+ 28.Rb2 Qa1 29.h5! Somehow, Alok Saxena kept finding these nettlesome ideas! a5! The last precise move. Now our pawn will start rolling. 30.h6 Rd1 31.Qc3 Rh1! 32.Rxh1 Qxh1 33.Qc6 Qh4+ 34.Kg1 Rd8 35.Qb6 a4 36.Rf2 g6 Alok Saxena - Tanmay Srinath, AIWCF 2023. The game soon ended in a draw. It's clear that Black has enough compensation for the missing piece.
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Saxena Alok-Srinath Tanmay-2023AIWCF Analysis

Kapnisis presents a different kind of challenge in his survey. He begins with a discussion of the well-known game Erigaisi-Rapport, Wijk aan Zee 2023. At first sight, Black does so well in the lines given by him that one begins to worry about White. Here I am offering a little-known line that brings some cheer for White.

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 The Nimzo-Indian Defence. 4.e3 The Rubinstein Variation. b6 5.Nge2 Ne4 Moving the same piece twice even before he has developed other pieces. The point of the move is to exert pressure on c3 and the centre as a whole. 6.Qc2 Bb7 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.Nxc3 Nxc3 9.Qxc3 So White has avoided doubled pawns and now has two bishops. d6!? 10.d5 The point. White closes the diagonal for the Black bishop and the threat of Qxg7 forces Black to declare his intentions. 0-0 Or 10...e5 11.Bd3 Nd7 12.0-0 0-0 If 12...Nf6?! 13.f4!± Threatening to open the f-file and play Rxf6 in case Black castles on the kingside. 13.e4± 11.e4 Re8 12.Be3 exd5 13.exd5 Nd7 Kapnisis' suggestion of 13...c6!? may be met by 14.Rd1 cxd5 15.cxd5 Nd7 16.Bb5∞ 14.0-0-0 followed by 15.Kb1 gives White a good game. Or 14.Be2 f5! 15.Rd1 Not 15.0-0?? f4-+ 15...Bc8 16.Rd2 Qf6 17.Qxf6 Nxf6=
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Nimzo Indian-Rubinstein Variation-2023Analysis

Besides opening surveys, this issue has standard features on tactics, strategy and the endgame. Here I would make a special mention of Mihail Marin’s writing on strategy.

Marin is an authority on our chess heritage and he has re-interpreted many games of the past in his books and articles. In this issue he has chosen games from Carlsbad 1923 for Tests on Strategy for aspiring tournament players. The old masters knew a thing or two about the game.

Also noteworthy is Karsten Müller’s demo lecture on king and pawn endings. Besides, he offers a column, Readers write, in which he shares analyses by experts like Zoran Petronijevic and Charles Sullivan. Here is an illustrative example:

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Abdusattorov played 65.Rh2? He could have won with 65.Kg7‼ f5 If 65...Rh4 66.h6! Rxh6 67.Rg2++- Or 65...Kxh5+ 66.Kxf6 Rf4+ 67.Ke7+- 66.e5 f4 67.Rh2 f3 68.h6 Rg2 69.Rh1 f2 70.h7 Rg1 71.h8Q f1Q 72.Qh5+! Not 72.Rxg1+? Qxg1 73.Qf8 Kh5+ 74.Kf7 Qg6+= 72...Kf4+ 73.Rxg1 Qxg1+ 74.Kf6+- 65...Kh6! 66.Re2 Rf4 Here the game was agreed drawn as White cannot make any headway. ½–½
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Abdusattorov Nordibek2725Carlsen Magnus2835½–½2023Aimchess Rapid

Last, but not least, we have Jan Markos’ demo lecture on how to win a won position. Practical advice for the tournament player.

Summing up

The main database of the issue has 968 games, of which 34 are deeply annotated. There is much else in this DVD that deserves to be explored. Apart from the players I have already mentioned, the commentators include Anish Giri, Peter Svidler, Jan Duda and Andrey Esipenko, among others. It may be noted that there are more annotated games in the opening and training sections of this issue.

Well, practice makes perfect.

World Cup 2023: Analyses of Pragg, Abasov, Giri, Vidit, Berkes, Duda, Svidler and many others. Videos of Rogozenco and Paehtz, "Special" on Hou Yifan, opening videos of Engel, King and Marin, 11 repertoire articles and much more.

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Prof. Nagesh Havanur (otherwise known as "chessbibliophile") is a senior academic and research scholar. He taught English in Mumbai for three decades and has now settled in Bangalore, India. His interests include chess history, biography and opening theory. He has been writing on the Royal Game for more than three decades. His articles and reviews have appeared on several web sites and magazines.
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