12/12/2023 – Wesley So beat Magnus Carlsen and Nodirbek Abdusattorov to keep a perfect score of 6 wins in 6 matches at the Champions Chess Tour Finals in Toronto. Carlsen (5 points) has also secured a ticket to the semifinals, while Hikaru Nakamura (1) and Denis Lazavik (1), who face each other in round 7, will need a couple of results to go their way if they want to reach the ‘survival stage’. | Photo: chess.com / Thomas Tischio
new: ChessBase Magazine 225
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more. ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post. Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #225 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.!
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Instead of forcing you to memorise endless lines, Raja focuses on clear plans, typical ideas, and attacking motifs that you can apply in your own games without delay. A short, focused, and practical repertoire.
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Fighting for survival
The scoring system in the round-robin section of the Champions Chess Tour Finals is all about match wins. Players simply get 1 point if they win a match, or 0 points if they lose. In case of ties in the final standings, the first tiebreak criterion is the direct result between players — i.e. in case of a two-way tie, this criterion will always be enough to break the tie.
Going into the final round, Wesley So already secured a direct ticket to the semifinals with his 6 points in as many rounds. Magnus Carlsen, with 5 points, is also in semis, as even if he loses and Fabiano Caruana (4 points) wins on Tuesday, Carlsen will get through as he won their direct confrontation in the third round.
Let Toptrainer Sokolov show you the ins and outs of middlegames. This course is about the catalan structures vs. semi-slav/triangle setups
Caruana and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (3 points) already have secured spots in the 4-player ‘survival stage’, while Hikaru Nakamura (1) and Denis Lazavik (1) will fight for survival in their round-7 match. If Nakamura wins, he also needs for Alireza Firouzja (2) to lose against Carlsen, while if Lazavik wins, he also needs for Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2) to lose against Abdusattorov.
Round 5: So beats Carlsen
The two players who kept perfect scores throughout the first two days of action, Wesley So and Magnus Carlsen, were paired up against each other in round 5. After drawing the two first games, So played a magnificent game with white in the Armageddon (analysed below by GM Karsten Müller) to defeat the tour’s defending champion.
Nodirbek Abdusattorov also won with white in Armageddon to inflict Hikaru Nakamura’s fourth loss of the event. Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, on their part, got 1½-½ victories over Denis Lazavik and Alireza Firouzja, respectively.
Most players prefer to attack rather than defend. But what is the correct way to do it? GM Dr Karsten Müller has compiled many rules and motifs to guide you, along with sharpening your intuition for the exceptions.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Photo: chess.com / Thomas Tischio
Round 6: Caruana beats Nakamura
Showing great defensive skills in the first two games of the match, Fabiano Caruana managed to take his confrontation against Hikaru Nakamura to Armageddon. A tactically alert Caruana took the initiative in the middlegame, and went on to get the win. For Caruana, this did not change his standing on the tournament table, but the loss was very significant for Nakamura, who might be — surprisingly — eliminated from the competition on Tuesday.
Wesley So kept his perfect score in round 6 by drawing three games with Nodirbek Abdusattorov, as he got the black pieces in the sudden-death decider. Similarly, Alireza Firouzja beat Denis Lazavik by drawing in Armageddon with black.
The one match decided after two 15-minute games saw Magnus Carlsen beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
Mastering these tactical motifs is essential to deepen your understanding of the game and become a better player. After all, you neither want to overlook the given chances by your opponent, nor blunder yourself!
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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.
The major part of the material on which the Petroff Defence Powerbook 2026 is based comes from the engine room of playchess.com: 357 000 games. This imposing number is supplemented by another 17 000 from Mega and from correspondence chess.
Petroff Defence Powerbase 2026 is a database which contains 6475 high class games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 682 annotated.
Videos: Felix Blohberger presents the surprise weapon 4…a6 in the Four Knights Game. Mihail Marin analyses the English Opening with 1.c4 e5 2.g3 g6 3.d4 exd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Bg2 Nc6. Plus the ‘Lucky bag’ featuring 37 analyses by Berg, Radjabov and others.
Renowned for its solidity and strategic soundness, it has been a cornerstone of the repertoires of elite grandmasters including Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi, who relied on it successfully in the Candidates Tournament.
The Benko Gambit is back at the very highest level - and it's easy to see why. Black sacrifices a pawn to seize the initiative on the queenside, obtaining long-lasting pressure, active pieces and open files that make life difficult for White.
The Hyper-Accelerated Dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
The Hyper-Accelerated Dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
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