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Anyone who thought that the
world championship match between Topalov and Kramnik would
outshine all other chess events of the year unexpectedly
found they had to think otherwise. The “Man vs. Machine”
match between freshly qualified World Champion Vladimir
Kramnik and Deep Fritz was a major event. In this issue you
will find all the games, annotated by Youth World Champion
Arik Braun and / or the GMs Lubomir Ftacnik and Karsten
Müller. At the same time chief programmer Matthias
Wüllenweber in a video interview gives some interesting
insights into the inner life of Fritz. Has Fritz its own
style? Which strengths and weaknesses of the programme came
to light in the course of the match?
The second tournament highlight in this issue is the Tal
Memorial in Moscow. That tournament, with its glittering
array of participants, finished with three players tying for
first place with the same number of points, leaving no
overall victor. Peter Leko, Boris Gelfand and Alexei Shirov
annotate games for you and explain their ideas and
strategies. This DVD once more contains a total of more than
5 hours of chess training in Video-Format. In addition,
there are 14 up to the minute opening surveys by renowned
authors and grandmasters. |
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The Hamburg grandmaster Karsten Müller starts off in his
introductory video by presenting a few of the highlights of
this issue and by giving you an overview of the other
training material on the DVD.
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World Chess Challenge 2006: Vladimir Kramnik -
Deep Fritz
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This time the duel “Man vs. Machine” ended 4:2 in favour of
artificial intelligence. At first glance, that is a clear
result. But the course of the duel and above all that of the
early games shows another picture and grounds for hoping
that we have not yet experienced the definitive “Man vs.
Machine” match.
The first game, in which Kramnik’s obviously meticulous
preparation was seen in action is put under the microscope
here both by Arik Braun and Karsten Müller. Right click on
the link under the diagram, in order to play through the
game with Braun’s comments or else start Müller’s analysis
of the exciting endgame in Video-Format. Our Endgame
expert from Hamburg shows in his contribution where exactly
Kramnik left the path to victory in this first game and how
he could have notched up the whole point with a technically
perfect continuation.
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Kramnik,V - Deep Fritz 10 (1)
Position before 18...Kf8? |
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Deep Fritz 10 - Kramnik,V (2) |
The second game also went at first the way the World
Champion intended – right up until the moment when he had a
blackout and the one-move mate on h7. In the video
interview, Fritz programmer Matthias Wüllenweber looks back
on the evaluations and the state of matters within the Fritz
team after the first two games. The programmers were
concerned above all with one question: why was Kramnik
always playing rapidly in the opening and by doing so
letting the opposing team know that these were exactly the
variations he had prepared against Fritz? Click the video
link (only in German language) -, to learn the
surprising explanation for this, and let Matthias
Wüllenweber and his partners in the interview, Oliver Reeh
and Rainer Knaak, demonstrate and comment on the 2nd
game.
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The match programme had the third day down as a rest day,
one which was obviously needed more by the Fritz team than
by Kramnik.
In the
first two games, Kramnik’s clever choice of openings had
enabled him to achieve a long-term advantage. So the day
before game three, the Fritz team were looking for a way to
improve on the opening book – and such a way was found.
The result: for the first time in the match it was Kramnik
who was out of his preparation relatively early and was
obliged to experience how Fritz took a long-term initiative
as a result of a strategic pawn sacrifice. In the video
(only in German language) Wüllenweber, Knaak and Reeh
comment on the decisive moments in the game, from the
opening preparation through to Kramnik’s drawing defence
executed with the skill of a world champion.
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Kramnik,V - Deep Fritz 10 (3)
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Deep Fritz 10 - Kramnik,V
(4)
Position after 11.Ne3
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In the fourth game, on account of the Fritz team’s choice of
opening, 1.e4 was played for the first time. Kramnik chose
the Petroff Defence, but in what followed he had to concede
a palpable initiative to Deep Fritz. But, as was the case in
the first two games, here also he managed to exchange the
queens early on and to bring about an open position.
However, as in the previous game, Deep Fritz took over the
initiative and even with reduced material on the board put
Kramnik under pressure. But step by step, Kramnik once again
managed to equalise the game thanks to his precise style of
play. After more than five hours of play the game finally
ended in a draw. This game too has been annotated by Arik
Braun (click on the game link under the board) as well as in
Video.
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The fifth game was characterised by the fact that it was
the last time in the match that Kramnik would have the
advantage of the white pieces. Once again the course of
the opening – this time a transposition of moves led to
a Nimzo-Indian Defence – was favourable for Kramnik. The
queens were exchanged as early as move 12 and White had
a slight advantage on account of his bishop pair. With
the move 17.h4 Kramnik indicated that he would be doing
all in his power to decide this game in his favour.
Subsequently there arose a highly interesting struggle,
typified once more by the constellation of bishop
against knight. But with the help of its knight and
various tactical threats, Deep Fritz managed to keep
Kramnik permanently busy and at the end it managed to
force a draw by repetition of the position. Wüllenweber,
Knaak and Reeh focus in the video (only in German
language) on the decisive moments in the fifth game.
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Kramnik,V - Deep Fritz 10
(5)
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Deep Fritz 10 - Kramnik,V
(6)
Position after 25.e5!
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But even more than he did in the previous game, the
World Champion went all out and risked everything in the
sixth and final game. With
Black he chose the Sicilian Defence, Najdorf Variation,
one of the sharpest and most ambitious replies to 1.e4.
Such fighting spirit gained for Kramnik much sympathy in
the world of chess and the deepest respect of his
grandmaster colleagues as well as that of the Fritz
team. And in fact, Deep Fritz at first found it hard to
achieve favourable coordination for its pieces. But in a
complicated middlegame, the computer did manage to
regroup its pieces (see the introductory video to
this DVD).
With a surprising and tactically precise pawn advance in
the centre, the machine suddenly managed to conjure up
almost from nothing a dangerous kingside attack, which
finally brought it a decisive material advantage.
Wüllenweber, Knaak and Reeh discuss in the video part
3 (only in German language), for example,
which of Fritz’s moves fit in with a human understanding
of chess and at which points in this final game the
programme possibly went beyond the horizon of human
understanding.
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Shirov, Leko, van Wely, Radjabov, Gelfand & Co annotate their best
games
There was another trial of strength between man and machine
at the beginning of December in Florence, this time between
Teimour Radjabov and the top Israeli programme
Deep Junior. The 19 year old player from
Azerbaijan played according to his temperament with White,
namely uncompromising attacking chess and entered into an
interesting tactical duel with the computer. The
former Youth World Champion proved an absolutely
well-matched opponent until shortly before the end of the
game. He did not lose the point in this rapid game until it
reached a complicated endgame. Radjabov annotates his
ambitious stand-up fight in detail on this DVD here:
Radjabov,T - Comp Deep Junior |
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Garry Kasparov analysing with
Boris Gelfand |
The high-ranking field in the
Tal Memorial
constituted another high point of the chess year late
on in 2006. 10 players from the absolute world élite met in
memory of the “Magician from Riga”, who would have been 70
years old on the 9th of November, and of course
they were there to play chess.
Even Garry Kasparov once looked in for a few hours.
He had run into Peter Leko and Alexander Grischuk close to
his flat and they had reminded him that the Tal Memorial
Tournament was taking place in the Moscow Central Chess
Club, only a few streets away. Peter Leko, Alexei Shirov and
Boris Gelfand have annotated games from Moscow for this
issue.
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In the fourth round, Leko surprised Gelfand with his very
opening move 1.d4 and then introduced an innovation
15.Qf5!?, which according to his evaluation opens quite new
avenues for the presently fashionable variation of the Slav
Defence. Click Leko,P - Gelfand,B to replay the game
with commentary by the later joint winner of the Moscow
tournament.
For his part too, Gelfand profited in his game against
Svidler from successful opening preparation. Following a new
idea by Khalifman, he played 12.e5! (see diagram). In his
analysis, the Israeli top grandmaster underlines the rôle of
the black bishop on c6 in the dynamic developmental
possibilitites for both sides. Whilst Black is forced into a
more passive setup than in related positions, White can
provoke weaknesses in Black’s position by the advance a2-a4.
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Gelfand,B - Svidler,P
Position after 12.e5!
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Click here to start the video
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Another highlight of this issue is represented by Shirov’s
analysis of some of his own games from Moscow and the
Bundesliga. The videos published in this DVD will also
appear in the months to come within new Fritztrainer DVDs.
We are publishing them here in advance on account of the
topicality of the games.
In Moscow Shirov decided to take up against Gelfand the
discussion of the Slav Defence started in the WCh match
between Kramnik and Topalov. In view of the fact that
Gelfand had then been one of Kramnik’s seconds, Shirov
admits that that may not have been wisest of decisions. In
his video-analysis Shirov goes into the most varied
attempts which White can make to achieve a tangible
advantage over Black. The judgment he has to make on his
game against Gelfand is just as sobering as his evaluation
of White’s chances in general.
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In Shirov’s game as Black against Fressinet from the present
Bundesliga season, both sides also followed for a long time
a WCh game by Kramnik against Topalov (this time the round
12 game). Instead of Kramnik’s innovation 9...Bb4 Shirov
chose – in ignorance of the WCh game according to what he
says – the equally natural continuation 9...Bd6. In the
Video Shirov not only demonstrates the decisive
strategic and tactical moments in the game, but also gives
to start with an all-embracing up to date evaluation of
various basic setups in the Slav Defence.
In the Bundesliga match against Porz, which was played
immediately after the Tal Memorial, Shirov was up against
Rafael Vaganian and after only six moves in the Catalan
opening, he was out of his opening book. In a Video
which lasts more than half an hour, Shirov, as is his
fashion, takes an extremely critical look at his play. In
the endgame with queen and bishop against queen and knight,
Vaganian finally made a few inaccurate moves which allowed
a conclusive attack on the king.
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Shirov - Vaganian
Position after 28.Ba3
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Shirov - Jakovenko
Position after 22.Bd2!
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The latest word in opening theory can also be found in the
game Shirov-Jakovenko from the Spanish Team Championships.
Both players followed for a long time the game between Kasimdhzanov
and Ivanchuk which the young Uzbek analysed in CBM 115 in
Video-Format and in which he introduced to top level chess
the spectacular move 20.g4!. In his extensive
video analysis Shirov
explains, e.g., why he decided to play the rather rare 13.a4
in the Zaitsev Variation of the Ruy Lopez and demonstrates
that even Jakovenko’s reply in the fashionable g4-variation
hardly leaves Black any hope for equality in view of
Shirov’s innovation 22.Bd2!.
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We also have another top level game with extensive
annotations, this time between Van Wely and Bacrot in the
current Bundesliga season. In the Anti Meran Variation of
the Queen’s Gambit, van Wely came up with a partially
unintentional innovation. The Dutchman’s memory was at fault
when, wrongly imagining that he was still in his
preparation, he quickly played the sharp 17.Rb4. According
to the way the game went, he was obviously not wrong. In the
position in the diagram he played 20.Nf5! and offered his
opponent a poisoned and what was for Bacrot a too tempting
exchange. Subsequently the Frenchman had to stand by and see
his rooks become paralysed by the white knights on b6 and
d6, and finally after a short and hopeless resistance he had
to admit defeat.
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Van Wely,L - Bacrot,E
Position after 20.Nf5!
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The superfinal of the Russian Championships in
Moscow in December last year saw an invasion of up and
coming young Russian grandmasters. The average age of the
players was only just 22, although the “old guard” was also
represented at the start by three of its members Svidler,
Rublevsky and Najer. Consequently there were three young
players in the first three places: Alekseev, Jakovenko and
Inarkiev. The latter has annotated two of his
victories for this issue of ChessBase Magazine.
The young Russian can look back on a fantastic year in 2006
(for example his victory in the tournament in Tomsk). In the
January 2007 FIDE-List Inarkiev, with 2669 ELO points,
occupies 35th place. |
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In the game
Inarkiev,E - Najer,E
the 21 year old Russian had first to defend against Black’s
attack in a sub-variation of the Najdorf and with 17.Na1! he
found an exotic looking but effective defensive move. He
subsequently managed to fully draw the teeth from Black’s
attack and transpose to an endgame with an extra pawn.
In the game against Nepomniatchchi too, Inarkiev
demonstrated a knight manoeuvre which is worth seeing. In
the position in the diagram he played 16.Ne4 (the knight is
taboo on account of 17.Qxe4 with the double threat on h7 and
a8) and finally positioned the knight effectively on d6.
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Inarkiev,E - Nepomniashchy,Y
Position before 17.Ne4!
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Kateryna Lahno
from the Ukraine, only 17, but one of the strongest women in
the world, and Parimarjan Negi from India, the youngest
grandmaster in the world played a challenge match in New
Delhi over the Christmas holidays. The “Amity Grandmasters
Challenge” lasted 18 games, 6 games of classical chess, 6
games of rapid chess and 6 games of blitz. No matter how
quickly they played, Lahno always came out on top. She won
3.5:2.5 in classical chess, 4:2 in rapid chess and 3.5:2.5
blitz, which meant a final score of 11:7. She has annotated
for ChessBase Magazine the second round game, in which with
Black she successfully initiated an energetic kingside
attack. Click here -Negi,P - Lahno,K -, to play
through the game with Lahno’s comments. |
You will find further titbits in Chess Media Format, e.g.
Karsten Müller’s endgame analysis, the “trap” by Rainer
Knaak, Tactics by Oliver Reeh etc. in the relevant columns
(see the column of Links at the beginning of this
page).
The column New DVDs offers you in a few more video
sequences in Chess Media Format a preview of some future
Training-DVDs |
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