7/21/2022 – On Thursday, there was only one game on stage in the Golden Hall: the two winners from the previous round, Dmitrij Kollars and Viswanathan Anand, met in the NC World Masters. Kollars had a slight advantage in a rook endgame, but Anand managed to keep things under control and drew his younger opponent to keep the lead. Lara Schulze and Max Warmerdam won and are still leading the Women’s Sportland NRW Cup and the A-Open respectively. | Photos: Michelle Lassak
new: Fritz 20
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
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. FRITZ is more than just a chess engine – it’s a training revolution! 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.
You will learn how Black's dynamic piece activity and structural counterplay more than compensate for White's extra tempo in the colour-reversed setups.
€39.90
Halfway through
On Thursday, there was only one game on stage in the Golden Hall: the two winners from the previous day, Dmitrij Kollars and Viswanathan Anand, met in the NC World Masters.
This DVD allows you to learn from the example of one of the best players in the history of chess and from the explanations of the authors how to successfully organise your games strategically, and how to keep your opponent permanently under pressure.
Both had been victorious the day before and wanted to carry the momentum with them. Kollars played an interesting opening idea with an early f3, as he wanted to give his king the option to move to f2. Anand responded with a variation that forced the exchange of queens. Kollars had a slight advantage in the resulting rook ending, but Anand defended very carefully.
So the game ended in a draw. Halfway through the tournament Vishy Anand is in the lead with half a point ahead of Dmitrij Kollars and Michael Adams.
Standings after round 3
All games
Note that Anand vs. Kollars is a first-round game, which was rescheduled due to Vladimir Kramnik’s absence
Lara Schulze’s winning streak
Lara Schulze scored her third win in a row in the closed Women’s Sportland NRW Cup. For a second day in a row, she played a modern pawn sacrifice in the Advance Variation of the French Defence with White. Honorata Kucharska’s long castle was probably not a good choice. The black king was never safe, and Schulze played a beautiful attacking game.
This gives her a one-point lead with 5 out of 6 points to her name. Apart from the tournament win, she is looking to get a WGM norm — she needs 7 points in 9 rounds to earn it.
In the Sportland NRW Youth Cup, Thursday’s top pairing was a hard-fought encounter. Artem Lutsko, playing Black, came out of the opening quite well, but played inaccurately in the middlegame. IM Jonathan Carlstedt was able to build up a strong attack with his heavy pieces and won the game.
Standings after round 6
1. Carlstedt 4½ / 6
2. - 4. Lutsko 3½ / 6
2. - 4. Costa 3½ / 6
2. - 4. Bethke 3½ / 6
Warmerdam leads ahead of Beerdsen
GM Max Warmerdam was well-prepared for the top match against GM Tornike Sanikidze in the sixth round of the A-Open. Warmerdam had an early advantage. Sanikidze complicated the game, but the Dutchman kept the edge and is now the only player in the A-Open with a perfect score.
On board 2, IM Thomas Beerdsen beat GM Dr. Florian Handke with the black pieces. Beerdsen is now in sole second place, half a point behind Warmerdam, and there will probably be a Dutch duel on the first board tomorrow.
Max Warmerdam
In the Sparkassen Open B, young Ukrainian Artem Dyachuk continues to dominate, as he also has collected 6 points in as many rounds. Similarly to the A-Open, there is only one chaser with 5½ points in this event: Niels Wenning, who will face Dyachuk with white on Friday, starting at 10:30 CEST.
On Friday, Anand will play white against Kollars, while the Deutschland Grand Prix participants will return after their rest day. Luke McShane will face Pavel Eljanov!
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 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.
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.
“Mate is great!” – Tactical training with Oliver Reeh, “The 8th rank” – Andy Woodward analyses his game against Magnus Carlsen from TePe Sigeman 2026, “A modern Nimzo-Indian” – Andrei Volokitin introduces readers to "his" system and much more!
Chess is a concrete game. There is no way around training your calculation skills. Improve your visualization, pattern recognition and learn calculation techniques such as reciprocal thinking with this course.
This compact course is designed specifically for practical play. Instead of overwhelming you with endless theory, it focuses on the critical lines, typical plans, and recurring tactical ideas.
Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains a total of 11 766 games from Mega 2026 or the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 1136 are annotated.
€9.90
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