ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024
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Press release by FIDE
These are the quarterfinal pairings of the 1st FIDE Online World Corporate Chess Championship (Feb 21, 15:00 UTC):
Those who like sensations were likely disappointed by the outcome in most of the Eastern pools, but the good thing about chess is that the strongest players have plenty of opportunities to prove their superiority, whereas some accidental results rarely change the course of events.
This DVD emphasizes the importance of training your calculation skills. Dutch IM Robert Ris made a selection of training material which he uses in lessons with students ranging from 1400 to 2400.
The fight for first place ended already in Round 4 after SBER whitewashed RIVC-Pulkovo. In Rounds 5 and 6 SBER didn’t concede even a half-point to their rivals either, despite the fact that Maria Komyagina found herself three pawns down in a rook endgame in the final round.
The main favourite finished the group stage with a record score of 22½ out of 24. The RIVC-Pulkovo had bad luck with the draw, as in any other pool they would have been strong candidates to get first place and qualify to the playoffs.
| 1. SBER (RtgAvg:2450, Captain: Vladimir Vorozheykin / TB1: 22,5 / TB2: 12) | |||||||||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | FideID | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pts. | Games | RtgAvg | |
| 1 | GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | 2789 | 4168119 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6,0 | 6 | 2198 |
| 2 | FM | Kadatsky Alexander | 2368 | 4144090 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5,5 | 6 | 1870 |
| 3 | IM | Lavrov Maxim | 2401 | 4166418 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6,0 | 6 | 1986 |
| 4 | WIM | Komiagina Maria | 2241 | 4153987 | + | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5,0 | 6 | 1736 |
It all came down to the confrontation between Grenke Bank and Yandex in this pool. The teams advanced on parallel courses and eventually clashed in Round 5. Grenke Bank won by the smallest of margins — Georg Meier held Yandex's IT specialist Dmitry Jakovenko to a draw on the first board, while Alina Kashlinskaya and Hanna Marie Klek scored victories on the second and third boards to secure a playoff berth for the German team.
Yandex’s players were so upset by this defeat that they also lost their last-round match. As a result, Samsung Electronics (POL), which stayed below the radar throughout the event, finished second. Strong performances by VOZP (CZE) and Khareba (GEO) are also noteworthy.
| 1. Grenke Bank (RtgAvg:2427, Captain: Georg Meier / TB1: 18 / TB2: 12) | |||||||||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | FideID | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pts. | Games | RtgAvg | |
| 1 | GM | Meier Georg | 2628 | 4675789 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 5,0 | 6 | 2378 |
| 2 | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | 2494 | 4198026 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4,5 | 6 | 2292 |
| 3 | WGM | Klek Hanna Marie | 2302 | 24670057 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 5,0 | 6 | 2021 |
| 4 | WIM | Agrest Inna | 2285 | 1708830 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3,5 | 6 | 1645 |
This DVD is for anyone who knows the rules of chess but would like to be able to improve their game with some specific tactics and strategies. It builds on the basic principles of chess that should have already been learnt.
The battle for the top spot in East C resembled desperate attempts of the wind to topple a mountain by attacking it from different directions. The Morgan Stanley (HUN) team acted as this mountain. Every round, one of the pursuers came close to beating the Hungarian financiers, but they never managed to take them down.
Anish Giri and his Optiver teammates made the final attempt to rob Morgan Stanley of the quarterfinal spot. Unfortunately for Optiver, only the Dutch team’s leader managed to deliver in this battle. The Hungarian team won all their matches, claiming first place in the pool 2½ points ahead of Gazprom (second place).
| 1. Morgan Stanley (HUN) (RtgAvg:2412, Captain: Gabor Szamoskozi / TB1: 19,5 / TB2: 12) | |||||||||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | FideID | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pts. | Games | RtgAvg | |
| 1 | IM | Bregadze Levan | 2454 | 13603264 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 3,0 | 5 | 2408 | |
| 2 | IM | Lizak Peter | 2433 | 731595 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4,0 | 5 | 2291 | |
| 3 | WGM | Papp Petra | 2336 | 739049 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6,0 | 6 | 2114 |
| 4 | IM | Torma Robert | 2424 | 719030 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3,0 | 4 | 1730 | ||
| 5 | IM | Nanjo Ryosuke | 2338 | 7000634 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 3,5 | 4 | 1969 | ||
In the East D pool, Sberbank Trade Union was unstoppable and deservedly took the qualification spot. The international squad made up of GM Anton Korobov (UKR), FM Evgenij Kretov (RUS), FM Fedor Myshakov (UKR), and WFM Elena Homyakova (BLR) won all their matches and only dropped 4½ game points on their way to the quarterfinals.
The pool winners defeated one of their main rivals on day one, crushing Paypal (BUL), and did not stop on day two, when they beat Slav Group and Dassault Systemes.
| 1. Sberbank Trade Union (RtgAvg:2396, Captain: Vladimir Vorozheykin / TB1: 19,5 / TB2: 12) | |||||||||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | FideID | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pts. | Games | RtgAvg | |
| 1 | GM | Korobov Anton | 2683 | 14105730 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 4,5 | 6 | 2467 |
| 2 | FM | Kretov Evgenij | 2269 | 4167821 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 5,5 | 6 | 2211 |
| 3 | FM | Myshakov Fedor | 2292 | 14111284 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 4,5 | 6 | 1933 |
| 4 | WFM | Homyakova Elena | 2113 | 13507761 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5,0 | 6 | 1573 |
Practical Chess Strategy: The Bishop
When it comes to strategy, one of the key things that chess professionals understand much better than amateur players is the role of the bishop which is the key theme on this video course.
With just two rounds to go, it looked like CSOB (CZE) was bound to win the East E pool, given that the rating favourites BCG Gamma were not living up to expectations. CSOB topped the standings throughout the event up to the point of squaring off against ERG (KAZ), which obviously had another agenda.
Originally seeded in the third spot, the team headed by GM Anuar Ismagambetov started the tournament with a draw in the first round, but gradually gained momentum and crushed the leaders in the penultimate-round match. In Round 6, the Kazakhstani players consolidated their position by defeating Gordic 3:1, leaving CSOB 1½ game points behind.
| 1. ERG (RtgAvg:2268, Captain: Yuriy Mazunin / TB1: 19 / TB2: 11) | |||||||||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | FideID | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pts. | Games | RtgAvg | |
| 1 | GM | Ismagambetov Anuar | 2520 | 13701525 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5,0 | 6 | 2253 |
| 2 | Mazunin Yuri | 2210 | 13702696 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 5,5 | 6 | 2026 | |
| 3 | Sannikov Igor | 2171 | 13702513 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 4,5 | 6 | 1819 | |
| 4 | WFM | Sakenova Salima | 2172 | 13706101 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4,0 | 6 | 1752 |
The East F pool turned into a race between the rating favourites Emphie Solutions (POL) and State Bank of Mongolia. The two teams faced off in Round 4 and drew. GM Batchuluun Tsegmid on the first board and WFM Munkhzul Davaakhuu on board four won their games for the Mongolian team (they went on to win all their games in the tournament). The Polish team bounced back on boards two and three, with the victory by rating underdog Wojciech Reza over IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul especially commendable.
Entering the final round, Emphie Solutions trailed State Bank of Mongolia by one point. The Polish squad managed to make the most of their match, whitewashing Czech National Bank 4:0. State Bank of Mongolia had an arguably tougher opponent, RFSO Lokomotiv (RUS), headed by IM Polina Shuvalova. Putting a much weaker player on board two to score points on boards three and four was a strategy that would have worked well for the Mongolian team had IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul won her game as expected on board three, but this did not work out in the end. The Mongolians conceded 1½ precious game points in the last round match (a defeat on board two and a draw on board three) and let Emphie Solutions leapfrog them by a mere half point!
| 1. Emphie Solutions (RtgAvg:2367, Captain: Wojciech Reza / TB1: 19 / TB2: 11) | |||||||||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | FideID | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pts. | Games | RtgAvg | |
| 1 | GM | Warakomski Tomasz | 2510 | 1124552 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5,0 | 6 | 2162 |
| 2 | IM | Janik Igor | 2495 | 1159259 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6,0 | 6 | 1777 |
| 3 | FM | Reza Wojciech | 2304 | 1151967 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4,5 | 6 | 2151 |
| 4 | WIM | Chlost Marlena | 2160 | 1122657 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3,5 | 6 | 1749 |
Improve your chess with Tania Sachdev
On this DVD, well-known Indian WGM Tania Sachdev shows you how to evaluate certain positions and then find the right concepts and plans on the basis of her own games.
After the main favourites of Pool West A, Microsoft Redmond (USA) and Anahuac (MEX), drew their match in Round 3, it became clear that one mistake, made by one of the leaders in the encounters with weaker teams would be decisive. Unfortunately for them, Microsoft messed up not just a single game but the entire match in Round 5 — they lost to Goldman Sachs 1:3, with their leader Francesco Rambaldi simply leaving his queen en prise as a result of some kind of hallucination.
After that defeat, it was all in the hands of the Mexican team. Anahuac did not miss this opportunity and punched the ticket into the playoff.
| 1. Anahuac (RtgAvg:2296, Captain: Marco Villalvazo / TB1: 21 / TB2: 11) | |||||||||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | FideID | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pts. | Games | RtgAvg | |
| 1 | IM | Sanchez Enriquez Oscar Gerardo | 2342 | 5106311 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4,0 | 6 | 2050 |
| 2 | FM | Garcia Guerrero Isaac Antonio | 2322 | 5110475 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5,5 | 6 | 2138 |
| 3 | IM | Della Morte Pablo | 2285 | 108448 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6,0 | 6 | 1553 |
| 4 | WFM | Carreras Paulina | 1906 | 5105420 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3,0 | 3 | 1666 | |||
| 5 | WIM | Zenia Corrales | 2234 | 3506355 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 2,5 | 3 | 2033 | |||
Unlike West A, in West B the key match between the leaders American Express (USA) and PT Pelabuhan Tanjung Priok (INA) was played on the second day, in Round 4. Alas, it was a lopsided battle — the Indonesian team was much stronger. As a result, the fate of a spot in the quarterfinals was sealed with two rounds to go.
The winners played some nice games, although Ali Muhammad Lutfi, the leader of PT Pelabuhan Tanjung Priok, co-authored the most spectacular one. Facing Ali Muhammad Lutfi, Janusz Kudelka played the game of his life.
White is carrying out a frenzied attack. However, had the opponent interposed with his bishop on the previous move (20…Bf6), the soundness of sacrifices would have been in question. But after 20…Nf6 everything fell into place:
21. Rxd6!! exd6 22. exf6 Rc7 23. Qxe6 Qd7 24. fxg7+ Kxg7 25. Qf6+ Kg8 26. Qf8# 1-0
| 1. PT Pelabuhan Tanjung Priok (RtgAvg:2334, Captain: Muhammad Lutfi Ali / TB1: 20,5 / TB2: 12) | |||||||||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | FideID | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pts. | Games | RtgAvg | |
| 1 | IM | Ali Muhammad Lutfi | 2399 | 7103743 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4,5 | 6 | 2209 |
| 2 | IM | Firmansyah Farid | 2405 | 7102526 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 5,5 | 6 | 2067 |
| 3 | FM | Rahman Masruri | 2279 | 7101163 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5,0 | 6 | 1932 |
| 4 | WIM | Sihite Chelsie Monica Ignesias | 2252 | 7101198 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5,5 | 6 | 1524 |
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