
Chess reviews: ChessBase Magazine 152
There's little doubt about what represents the highlight of the new ChessBase
magazine; it is definitely the coverage of the London Chess Classic. Magnus
Carlsen won the event but he was pushed very close by Vladimir Kramnik.
Of particular interest are the 19 games presented with the audio versions of
the post-match analysis, featuring the voices of the players themselves. On
average, each post-mortem runs for 20+ minutes and they will surely stand the
test of time as an important historical document. Nine of the London games have
conventional annotations, provided by a variety of commentators. I always like
to head first for the notes by the players themselves as they are often the
most illuminating.
Here are two snippets which I found interesting.

Adams vs Polgar
Adams looked to be in complete control throughout his smooth victory over Polgar,
despite the latter making no obvious mistakes. According to Adams's annotations,
the trouble started as early as the eighth move.
From the diagram, he played 8 Rd1 and adds the comment: ''This
is the idea, I want to open the centre when my light squared bishop will keep
a close eye on Black's queenside.'' Polgar replied with the natural 8
...0-0, which Adams claims is already a mistake. ''From a practical
and objective point of view, it was wise to try and impede my plan, as now the
play becomes very one-sided. I had mainly analysed 8 ...Nd4! 9 Nxd4 cxd4 10
c4 in my preparation. After the knight moves away White will have a very comfortable
Benoni but it's unclear if this is enough for an advantage'' (1-0, 36).

Kramnik v McShane
This was a very impressive game by Kramnik. He now played 29 Ne3
''which looks strong, but the computer found something simpler, as Kramnik explains:
''I was already looking for mate, not paying too much attention to the other
side of the board, but in fact our silicon friend (enemy?) discovers a very
nice geometrical motif instead: 29 b4! Qxb4 30 Rxd4 exd4 31 Qf4+ Kg7 32 Qxc7,
winning.'' Later on, Kramnik admits to playing a move for surprise value with
McShane's time almost out, ''hoping to win on time.'' It gave Black an unlikely
resource which both players missed at the time, and the result wasn't affected.
(1-0, 49) Nevertheless, it is encouraging for the rest of us that even the best
players occasionally suffer from sloppy habits.
Elsewhere, there are reports on the FIDE Grand Prix (Tashkent leg, featuring
Morozevich, Karjakin, Wang Hao...) and Bucharest (Ivanchuk, Topalov, Caruana,
Nisipeanu) and plenty of games from other events (the main database includes
850 games in all).
As usual, the opening surveys present excellent and thought provoking analysis
for the ambitious student. This time we are given the opportunity to find out
more about the following lines:
-
Schipkov: English A31
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d5 6.cxd5 Bc5 7.N5c3 0-0
-
Gormally: Pirc Defence B09
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Bd3 Na6 7.0-0 c5 8.d5 Rb8
-
Kuzmin: Caro-Kann B12
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h6 5.g4
-
Postny: Sicilian B30
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.0-0 Nge7 5.c3 a6 6.Ba4 b5 7.Bc2 Bb7
-
Langrock: French C01
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.exd5 exd5 5.Bd3 Ne7
-
Kritz: French C16
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Qd7
-
Breutigam: Trompowsky Attack D00
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 (d5)
-
Marin: Slav D16
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bg4 6.Ne5 Bh5 7.f3
-
Krasenkow: Semi-Slav D31
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Qxd4 7.Bxb4 Qxe4+
-
Schandorff: Semi-Slav D44
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Nxg5
hxg5 10.Bxg5 Nbd7 11.exf6 Bb7 12.g3 c5 13.d5 Qb6 14.Bg2 0-0-0 15.0-0 b6
16.Rb1
-
Grivas: Grünfeld Defence D85
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Bb5+
A further three surveys are given in video format and these are:
- Shirov on 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 h3
- Kritz on 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 g6 4 Bxc6 bxc6 5 0-0 Bg7
- Bologan on 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e3 a6 5 Nf3 Bf5
It's another very impressive edition of the ongoing magazine and one which
should be of use and interest to players of all levels.