Game of the Week #671: M. Vachier-Lagrave vs Gukesh, Superbet Classic Tournament, Bucharest 2025

by Merijn van Delft
5/16/2025 – In his new Game of the Week show, Merijn van Delft shows how Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won a fine game against World Champion Gukesh at the Superbet Classic Tournament in Bucharest. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.
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.

Game of the Week #671

Last week we saw the masterpiece Firouzja-MVL from the first round of the Superbet Chess Classic. Just when you think that's a logical result, because the new generation tends to take over, MVL bounces back with a crushing victory over Gukesh, which is our current Game of the Week.

The world champion is having a disastrous tournament and was in last place after seven rounds. The choice of opening, the good old Scotch, must have come as a suprise, and trouble started early on.

Warm-up question: What would you play here with White?

M. Vachier-Lagrave - Gukesh, Bucharest 2025
Position after 9...d6

This week's show

In this opening Black opts for active piece play and is not afraid to fight for the initiative from an early stage. One of the many good features of this opening is that Black is often the side which controls the pace of the game.

Watch previous shows

Recent shows

Many more Game of the Week shows are available in ChessBase Videos

Links

<< Anna Muzychuk wins Grosslobming GP, Zhu reaches Candidates
Superbet Chess Classic Playoffs - Live! >>
Topics: The Game of the Week, Training and improvement
Merijn van Delft is an International Master from the Netherlands who lived in Hamburg for many years and is currently based in Amsterdam. After scoring a GM norm in 2017 he is eager for more. His ChessBase show on Wednesday evenings has been running for over ten years now.
Discussion and Feedback Submit your feedback to the editors

See also

Game of the Week #670: A. Firouzja - M. Vachier-Lagrave, Bucharest 2025

5/9/2025 – In his new Game of the Week show, Merijn van Delft analyses a game from the Superbet tournament in Bucharest: Alireza Firouzja's masterclass in attacking against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can <a href="https://account.chessbase.com/en/create-account" target="_blank">register a Premium account here</a>.
More...
 1

See also

Game of the Week #669: A. Erigaisi - M. Warmerdam, Bundesliga 2024/2025

4/30/2025 – In his new Game of the Week show, Merijn van Delft presents a game of Arjun Erigaisi, in which the Indian Grandmaster once again proves his talent for attacking chess. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can <a href="https://account.chessbase.com/en/create-account" target="_blank">register a Premium account here</a>.
More...
 1

Video

60m English The Elephant Gambit

The Elephant Gambit (1.e4.e5 2.Nf3 d5!?) has never really been given the attention it deserves. It is a very useful surprise weapon. Let us list the advantages of playing this particular opening: 1) Shock value 2) It is very aggressive. Black can take over the initiative early. 3) Many tricky lines 4) Unorthodox. Black is basically taking the game to the opponent as early as move two. Not many openings do that! It's a perfect opening for young players and club players to adopt. Let Andrew Martin select a repertoire for you on this 60 mins, which, if used with discretion, will rack up the points. I am sure that you will enjoy this unusual tour of the Elephant Gambit.
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.