10/24/2013 – "Vladimir Kramnik's notes always strike me as being totally honest," writes Sean Marsh of Marsh Towers. "Issue 156 in the long-running ChessBase magazine series provides exemplary coverage of the tournaments in Biel and Dortmund (complete with annotations by the champions). As impressive as always, ChessBase Magazine remains one of the must-buy items on the chess market." Marsh Towers review.
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ChessBase
Magazine #156
Review by Sean Marsh
The unmistakable features of Vladimir Kramnik peer out from the cover of the
new ChessBase magazine. He had two excellent tournament results during the period
covered this time, namely at the FIDE World Cup in Biel and the annual Dortmund
event. He had to be content with second place at the latter – due to a
magnificent performance by Michael Adams – but the World Cup was a smashing
success for the former World Champion.
Issue 156 in the long-running ChessBase magazine series provides exemplary
coverage of the tournaments in Biel and Dortmund (complete with annotations
by the champions) and, of course, lots more besides. Other tournaments covered
include the Breisacher Memorial (won by Vachier Lagrave, on tiebreak) and the
FIDE Grand Prix in Beijing (won by Mamedyarov ahead of 11 other 2700+ rated
stars).
Other features include the usual high quality opening surveys, this time shining
the spotlight on the following:
Budapest Gambit
Sicilian Kan
French with 3 Nc3 a6
King's Gambit with 3 ...Ne7
Ruy Lopez with 5 ...b5, 6 ...Bc5
Exchange QGD
Grunfeld Defence, Prins Variation
Tango Part 1
KID Saemisch
KID Bayonet Attack
There's plenty of training material too, covering all phases of the game. It
is, however, the annotations by the world's top players that always grab my
attention more than anything else. Vladimir Kramnik's notes always strike me
as being totally honest. In his key game against Andreikin he already criticizes
his own play twice in the first 15 moves, saying:
(Move 12) ''Trying to be clever and avoiding a4 for the moment, but I'm not
sure now it is so clever after all.''
(Move 15) ''The right idea with a slightly wrong move order.''
It's good know that even World Champions feel the same frustrations we all
do when running our games through an analytical engine. This is the position
after White's 22nd move.
Kramnik vs. Andreikin, Black to play
''It looks nice visually for White and I thought I must be slightly better,
but Houdini always finds equalizing resources for Black and claims that it is
balanced.''
We witness some real human class a few moves later.
Kramnik vs. Andreikin, White to play
31 dxc6! Rxe1+ 32 Nxe1 Qc7 (32 ...Qb6 33 Rxb5!) and the queen
sacrifice gave Kramnik a serious advantage (1-0, 63). However, the game continued
to provide interesting moments right until the end, and Kramnik's instructive
notes are well worth investigating.
The second big standout feature on CBM 156 is the series of videos in which
Daniel King picks out round-by-round highlights from the Breisacher Memorial.
Daniel's polished style is perfect for such a feature and I hope it becomes
a regular part of the magazine.
As impressive as always, ChessBase Magazine remains one of the must-buy items
on the chess market.
Martin
Breutigam: "A simple plan"
(King's Gambit C34: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Sf3 Se7)
The German chess coach and Bundesliga player Martin Breutigam recommends the
move 3...Ne7 against the King's Gambit to you.
There is much less to learn here than in the main line with 3...g5. Moreover,
3...Ne7 is not only in vogue these days but it also has the best statistics!
White usually replies with 4.d4 or 4.Bc4 - but according to Breutigam in both
cases it is the white player who must struggle to equalize the game. In contrast,
the black setup is "amazingly simple!"
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“Attack with Qh5!!” – Tactical training with Oliver Reeh, “6…g5 – nothing ventured, nothing …” – Le Quang Liem comments on one of his victories in Biel, “Grischuk’s stroke of genius” – Petra Papp reveals a surprise in the Sicilian Kan Variation, and much
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IM Andrew Martin complements his Evans Gambit course with a simple and attacking repertoire against all of blacks sidelines after 1.e4 e5.
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