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World class players explain the ideas behind their moves. Opening specialists present current trends and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in terms of tactics, strategy and endgame show you exactly the tricks and techniques that you need to be a successful tournament player!
Levon Aronian comments on his game with Praggnanandhaa from the WR Masters 2023
1.c4 First round! So much excitement and anxiety is connected with it. For a long time I used to play badly in the first round. I´m just like Tal , I used to console myself.
1...e5 2.g3 c6 3.d4 e4 4.d5 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Qe7 6.Nh3 Nf6 7.Nc3 cxd5 This came as a surprise. I remembered that 7...0–0 is the most precise move.
8.Nf4
Of course! Otherwise why isn´t 7...cxd5 the best move?
8...Bxc3 Both Prag and I thought that 8...dxc4 is very dangerous due to 9.Nfd5 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 Bxd2+ 11.Qxd2 Qe5 12.0–0–0 0–0 13.f4 exf3 14.exf3 with initiative.
9.Bxc3 dxc4 10.e3 A dubious move connected with a memory glitch. Of course the right move is 10. Bg2.
10...Nc6 11.g4
h6 Played after a long thought. After 11...Ne5 I was planning 12.g5 Nf3+ 13.Qxf3 exf3 14.gxf6 gxf6 15.0–0–0. My pieces will perform like Pacman on the black pawns.
12.Bxc4 d6 13.Rg1 Bd7 I was expecting 13...Ne5 14.Be2 Be6 15.Qa4+ Bd7 16.Qd4 The two bishops compensate the pawn.
14.Nd5 I thought that the game would slowly glide towards a draw.
14...Nxd5
15.Qxd5 Should I lie and say that I saw that after 15.Bxd5 0–0 16.g5 hxg5 17.Qh5 Ne5 18.Bxe4 f5 19.Bxb7 g4 Black is totally fine despite the material deficit?
15...0–0–0 Panicky move and an obvious mistake. 15...Rc8 would lead to a draw after 16.Bb3 Ne5 17.Qxe4 Bc6 18.Bd5 Bxd5 19.Qxd5 Rc5 20.Qe4 Rc4 21.Qd5 Rc5=
16.Qxf7 Losing such a pawn that holds the position together is clearly bringing Black on the verge of defeat.
16...Qxf7 17.Bxf7 Ne5
Here I relaxed. I might not win the game, but I will surely enjoy playing this endgame.
18.Bxe5 dxe5 19.Bd5 Bc6 20.Bxc6 bxc6 21.Rc1 Rd6 22.Ke2
My plan is simple - Rc2, b3, Rgc1, Rb2, Rc4 and take on e4.
22...Rhd8 It was necessary to try and get some activity by playing 22...Kc7 then a5 in order to meet the b3/Rb2 plan by a4 bxa4 Rb8
23.Rc2 g5 24.Rgc1 Kb7 25.b3 Rd5 A mistake, but the position is lost anyway.
26.Ke1 I can´t explain why I did not play Rb2 , but my inaccurate move does not change much.
26...R8d6 After 26...Ra5 I would come back to my initial plan with immediate 27.Rb2 or even 27. Kf1 with Rb2 next.
27.Rc4 Rd3 27...Rd2 loses to 28.Rxc6
28.R1c2
28.h3 would have been the most precise move. Very silly!
28...Rd1+ 29.Ke2 Rh1 30.Rxe4 Rd5 Here Black could get survival chances by playing 30...Rf6!, since 31.Rxe5 runs into (31.Rd2!) 31...Rxf2+
31.Rec4
I continued playing sub optimal moves. 31.Rd2 was the easiest solution.
31...Rd6 32.Rb4+ Kc7 33.Rb5 Once again blundering Rf6! Why not 33.Rc5?
33...Re6 34.Ra5 Rxh2 This was the last moment for Rf6.
35.Rxa7+ Kb6 36.Rf7
There is something cinema like in chess. The sequence of moves starting with 30.Rxe4 and ending with 36.Rf7 was full of mistakes, and except the players, everybody who followed the game live saw it.
36...e4 37.a4 The king on b6 is an easy target.
37...Rh1 38.b4 All White needs is to take the c6 pawn after which the weak pawns will fall.
38...Ra1 39.a5+ Kb5 40.Rb7+ Ka4 41.Rb6 Rd6 42.Rd2 Rxd2+ 43.Kxd2 c5 44.bxc5 Kxa5 45.Kc3 Ra2 46.Rf6 Ra4 47.Rb6 Ra2 48.Rb2 Rxb2 49.Kxb2 Kb5 50.Kb3 1–0
You can find the Levon Aronian's full analysis in the new ChessBase Magazine #213!
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Read ChessBase Magazine for 6 months (= 3 issues) for the special price of only 39.90 € (instead of 59,85 € for buying them individually). As a thank you, you will also receive 3 months ChessBase Premium Membership free of charge.
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The editors' recommendations: from first-class analyses from the WR Masters and the European Individual Championship 2023 to the video series "Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" Part 3 by Dr Karsten Mueller:
WR Masters 2023: The tournament winner, Levon Aronian, comments on two of his games. Plus analyses by Keymer, Duda and others. Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa each present one of their games in video! - European Individual Championship 2023: The winner Sarana comments on his groundbreaking game against Korobov, plus analyses by Shevchenko, Esipenko, Ponomariov and many others - "Special" on Vishy Anand: exclusive collection of 26 annotated games + contributions on strategy and endgame - French Gambit á la Carlsen: Sergey Grigoriants examines 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 h6!? – 0-0-0 against Bogo-Indian: Spyridon Kapnisis shows how White gets good play after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 a5 5.a3, long castling not excluded! etc. etc.
WR Masters 2023: Levon Aronian gave his opponents, Gukesh and Nepomniachtchi, no chance in the tiebreak. The tournament winner analyses two of his games. Plus analyses by Vincent Keymer, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and others. Together with Sagar Shah, Gukesh presents his win against Praggnanandhaa in the video. And Pragg also demonstrates his game against Giri in the video!
European Championship 2023: Alexey Sarana prevailed over Kirill Shevchenko and Daniel Dardha thanks to a better second rating. The winner comments on his seminal game against Korobov, Shevchenko comments on two of his best games. Plus analyses by Andrey Esipenko, Ruslan Ponomariov and many others.
CBM authors analyse their favourite Vishy Anand games. An exclusive collection of 26 annotated games from 1985 to 2022 awaits you!
Christian Bauer recommends Black to play 5...Nh5 against the London System. Mihail Marin takes the game Esipenko-Aronian from the WR Masters as an opportunity to take a closer look at a Catalan variation that was popular in the 80s and 90s. Plus, Leon Mendonca shows how one should play against the King's Indian side line with 6...Bg4.
Christian Bauer: London System
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 c5 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Ne5
Mihail Marin: Catalan
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 Nh5
Leon Mendonca: King's Indian
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 Bg4
From Caro-Kann to King’s Indian – ChessBase Magazine #213 comes with 11 opening with new trends and ideas:
Evgeny Postny: Caro-Kann Exchange Variation with 8.Qe1
Petera Papp: Sicilian 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.c3
Tanmay Srinath: Sicilian Najdorf 6.h3 e5 7.Nb3
Sergey Gigoriants: French 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 h6
Krisztian Szabo: Petroff 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 c6 9.Re1
Martin Lorenzini: Four Knights Game 4...Nd4 5.Bc4 Bc5
Christian Braun: Ruy Lopez Anti-Berlin 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bg5
Robert Ris: Queen's Gambit Accepted 3.e4 e5 4.Nf3 Bb4+
Lars Schandorff: QG Exchange Variation with 9...Ne8
Alexey Kuzmin: Gruenfeld Fianchetto System with 7.a4
Yago Santiago: King's Indian 5.h3 0-0 6.Bg5
Rainer Knaak presents you with eight current traps - from the Ruy Loez to the Slav, three of them additionally in FritzTrainer video format.
Based on the game Predke-Spyropoulos from the Novi Sad Open 2022, Spyridon Kapnisis shows a weapon against the Bogo-Indian popular among club players: after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 a5 5.a3 Bxd2+ 6.Qxd2 d6 7.Nc3 Nbd7 8.e4 e5 White surprisingly lets 9.0-0-0 follow!
With the game Szabo-Stepanencu from the Romanian Championship 2023, Robert Ris has not chosen a world-class game this time. But this encounter has it all! “An absolute masterpiece that I couldn't resist sharing with you.”
The game Karpov-Yussupov (1983) is a real masterpiece of positional play. In this encounter, the then World Champion demonstrated in exemplary fashion how to stop any active play by the opponent through perfect prophylaxis.
In the sixth episode of his training series, Jan Markos gives tips on how to play in an objectively lost position to perhaps avert defeat in the end!
Strategy expert Mihail Marin sheds light on the strategic skills of the 15th World Champion with a special focus on the categories "Pawn play", "Initiative" and "Dominance and blockade". Incl. video introduction and two training units in interactive video format!
In the tactics article with 37 games, tactics expert Oliver Reeh has compiled material from current rapid chess tournaments. You can solve his three favourite combinations move by move in the interactive video format with feedback function!
Dr Karsten Mueller continues his training series. Following an introductory video, your technique is called for in three interactive videos!
Order now in the ChessBase Shop !
Try out ChessBase Magazine now! Order the ChessBase Magazine taster package!
Read ChessBase Magazine for 6 months (= 3 issues) for the special price of only 39.90 € (instead of 59,85 € for buying them individually). As a thank you, you will also receive 3 months ChessBase Premium Membership free of charge.
*Bonus for new subscribers only, i.e. there was no CBM subscription for 12 months!
Save twice with ChessBase Magazine: For the annual subscription to ChessBase Magazine you’ll pay only €99.70 per year (compared to €119.70 for the 6 individual issues).
* Bonus only for new subscribers, i.e. there was no CBM subscription for 12 months! As a new subscriber you will receive the original ChessBase USB stick with 128 GB
