Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
Anish Giri finished day 1 of the FTX Crypto Cup as the sole leader, and after 8 rounds it seemed like he was en route to also finish the second day of action atop the standings. In fact, the Dutch star had a 1-point lead after scoring his first win of the day over Alireza Firouzja. However, back-to-back losses in rounds 9 and 10 allowed three players to leapfrog him in the standings going into the last five rounds of the preliminaries.
Fabiano Caruana, who was the one inflicting Giri’s second consecutive loss, was the top scorer on day 2, getting three wins and two draws to climb to shared first place. Two players have as many points as him — Hikaru Nakamura and Teimour Radjabov, who have yet to lose a game in the tournament.
Giri stands a half point behind, much like Wesley So, who kicked off the event with two wins and is currently on an 8-game streak of draws. With four players a half point back on 5½/10 even these two players need to tread lightly on day 3 if they want to reach the quarterfinals.
Magnus Carlsen is one of those four players on +1, as he finished the day with a loss against Levon Aronian after having gained some momentum by beating Daniil Dubov and Alexander Grischuk in rounds 8 and 9.
Navigating the Ruy Lopez Vol.1-3
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.
Click to enlarge
Caruana kicked off the day with a victory over Ian Nepomniachtchi. The Russian tried to muddy the waters from a lost position, but to no avail — Caruanadid not falter in the last stage of the game.
26...Nh3+ 27.gxh3 Rxf3 28.Rxd4 cxd4 29.Nxf3 Rxd6 and White has emerged from the sequence with a piece for a pawn.
It’s a problem every player encounters when he stands better in a game: how to convert his plus into a full point? In this DVD the author answers this difficult question of chess strategy, considering both the psychological aspects of the realisation of an advantage and the technical methods.
The rest is easy for Caruana: 30.Re7+ Kh6 31.h4 d3 32.Ne5 Rd8 and Nepo resigned after 33.Bg8. This was the first of two consecutive losses for the World Championship challenger, who will need a strong performance on Tuesday to finish at the top half of the leaderboard.
The clash between Giri and Carlsen was also played in round 6. Carlsen had the white pieces and reached an ending with opposite-coloured bishops, rooks and an extra pawn, but could not convert his advantage into a win.
Endgame specialist Karsten Müller looked deeper into this position, noting that the world champion could have put more pressure on his opponent. Müller also analysed the endgame which Shakhriyar Mamedyarov did convert into a full point against Aronian in round 7. Replay both instructive endgames below.
Select an entry from the list to switch between games
In over 4 hours in front of the camera, Karsten Müller presents to you sensations from the world of endgames - partly reaching far beyond standard techniques and rules of thumb - and rounds off with some cases of with own examples.
