7/2/2023 – Going into the final day of action at the Dortmund Chess Festival, Fabiano Caruana, Frederik Svane and Dinara Wagner are leading the standings in the No Castling Masters, the A-Open and the Sportland NRW Cup, respectively. Caruana defeated Vladimir Kramnik in style to get a half point lead over the former world champion and Dmitrij Kollars. Kollars beat Pavel Eljanov with white in Saturday’s fifth round. | Photo: Michelle Lassak
new: ChessBase Magazine 225
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more. ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post. Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #225 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.!
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.
The course is designed to provide a deep yet practical repertoire for Black, balancing solid foundations with aggressive counterplay.
€39.90
White wins
The players marshalling the black pieces had big problems in the fifth round of the NC World Masters at the 50th edition of the Dortmund Chess Festival. Fabiano Caruana and Dmitrij Kollars convincingly beat Vladimir Kramnik and Pavel Eljanov, both with white.
Kramnik spectacularly chose to play the Sicilian Dragon despite not being allowed to castle in the entire game. Caruana quickly took the initiative with 11.e5!
The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.
Kramnik reacted inaccurately and Caruana, the world no. 3 in classical chess, played a flawless game to score a valuable win. The opening move was played by DSB President Ingrid Lauterbach. She works as an honorary arbiter at the Dortmund Chess Festival.
On the other board, Dmitrij Kollars managed to use an idea he had prepared at home. In the post-game interview, the defending champion confessed that he had slept badly after his missed win against Caruana, but that did not prevent him from playing a near perfect game and scoring his second win of the event. Pavel Eljanov was left without chances after playing weakly in the opening.
A satisfied Kollars analysed his game afterwards (in German):
Standings - Round 5
All games
A-Open: Svane in the lead
The A-Open saw three German and three Indian grandmasters on the top three boards. The all-German duel between Alexander Donchenko against Rasmus Svane ended in a draw after Donchenko tried to make the most of his small advantage for a long time. The Indian duo of Raja Rithvik and Leon Luke Mendonca agreed to a draw earlier on board 3.
These results left the door open for Frederik Svane on the top board. With a fabulous preparation, lasting 22 moves in the open Sicilian, Svane obtained an advantageous middlegame position. After five hours, he was finally able to make use of his extra pawn in the rook ending against Aryan Chopra.
Svane now leads the field by half a point going into the last round and has the best chance of winning the first prize of €5,000.
Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!
In the Sportland NRW Cup, it is certain that a GM norm will be earned by the end of the event. Dinara Wagner and Ruben Gideon Köllner won their games and are set to face each other in the final round. A score of 7/9 is needed to earn a GM norm — since Wagner is leading with 6½ points and Köllner stands a half point behind, it is impossible for both to miss on reaching the coveted score.
On Saturday, Wagner won after a long fight against her national team colleague Jana Schneider, while Köllner got the better of 11-year-old prodigy Hussain Besou.
In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.
Opening videos: Sipke Ernst brings the Ulvestad Variation up to date + Part II of ‘Mikhalchishin's Miniatures’. Special: Jan Werle shows highlights from the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 in the video. ‘Lucky bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, Illingworth et al.
In this video course, Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov explores the fascinating world of King’s Indian and Pirc structures with colours reversed, often arising from the French or Sicilian.
EXPAND YOUR CHESS HORIZONS
It doesn't get any better than this: the premium equipment perfect for tournament players and professionals: with ChessBase program '26, Mega Database, CORR-Database and much more.
Even more power forFritz. Even more Chess knowledge for you.
€89.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.
