8/11/2024 – The 51st edition of the Dortmund Chess Festival kicked off on Saturday, with the start of the A-Open and the B-Open tournaments. Most favourites prevailed, though a few of them only managed a draw. Sunday will see the start of the 6-game match between Elisabeth Paehtz and Dinara Wagner, the two highest-rated women players in Germany. | Pictured: Luc Zimmermann from the Netherlands | Photos: Official website
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 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
A good atmosphere
The first day of the 51st International Dortmund Chess Days Festival saw the first round of the B-Open and A-Open. For the most part, the favourites prevailed, but there were also some initial surprises.
In the A-Open, GM Anton Korobov and GM Frederik Svane played the games on the stage in the Alte Schmiede cultural centre. Korobov had problems making it to Dortmund due to a cancelled flight, but was completely convincing despite the stressful journey. He clearly outplayed his opponent, Levi Malinowsky, and won his game with white convincingly.
In a total of 6 chapters, we look at the following aspects: the right decision based on tactical factors, decisions in exchanges and moves, complex and psychological decisions in longer games and in defence.
Svane, on his part, had already been in Dortmund since the previous evening. He had a much tougher time against Luk Zimmermann in the first round. Zimmerman had a promising middlegame position, but spent too much time - from move 28, he lost the thread with little time left to think and went on to lose the game.
On board 3, rising star Christopher Woojin Yoo (17 years young) played against the even younger Jan Morawski (13). Although the 2600 grandmaster from the USA, Yoo, had an extra pawn, Morawski's queen and knight tandem was very solid. After 5 hours, Yoo was able to break through the defence and win the game.
The tournament favourites thus got through the first round unscathed. However, Fabian Schaller, among others, was able to achieve a success against a higher-rated opponent by securing a draw against GM Yahli Sokolovsky.
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 (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) how to successfully organise your games strategically, consequently how to keep y
There was a wild game on the top board in the B-Open, in which the first seed Bernhard Zoremba from Dortmund club SV Eichlinghofen prevailed in the end.
The first surprise came from Helge Prause on board 6, as he outplayed his opponent, who has a rating 250 TWZ points higher than Prause's. The first 20 boards of the two open tournaments will be broadcast live this year.
Bernhard Zoremba
All available games - B-Open
The good atmosphere at the Chess Festival was particularly positive: bright sunshine, a punctual start to the tournament, a large foyer to analyse and relax, and a barbecue in the outdoor area awaited visitors.
Spectators are also welcome over the coming days. Tomorrow, the match between the German grandmasters Elisabeth Paehtz and Dinara Wagner will start on the main stage. From the second day of the tournament, GM Artur Yusupov will commentate the top games live in the upper tier of the foyer from 4 pm.
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.
Videos: Nico Zwirs examines two Petroffs from the 2026 Candidates. Robert Ris has a tip against the Caro-Kann Advance Variation with 3…c5. Fiona Sieber reveals a surprise weapon against the Najdorf. ‘Lucky Bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, L'Ami et al.
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.
In this powerful new course, endgame expert Karsten Müller teams up with rising star Leon Mendonca to deliver what truly matters: 10 essential rules that every player must know.
In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
From the 2026 Candidates Tournament, featuring a video review by Dorian Rogozenco, to Jan Werle’s opening video on the French Tarrasch Defence, and Oliver Reeh’s tactical column ‘Top Grandmasters at Work’. Analyses by Giri, So, Wei Yi and many others.
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
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