Game of the Week #673: A. Erigaisi - Gukesh, Norway Chess 2025

by Merijn van Delft
5/29/2025 – In the latest episode of his Game of the Week show, Merijn van Delft analyses a game played by two of India's top grandmasters at the Norway Chess Tournament: Arjun Erigaisi vs. Gukesh. Erigaisi demonstrated both his class and creativity. | 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 #673

Norway Chess boasts a brilliant line-up this year, including Carlsen, Nakamura, Caruana, Erigaisi, Gukesh and Wei Yi. The one thing that arguably spoils the fun a little is the 10-second increment. A classical game of chess deserves a 30-second increment.

Carlsen beat Gukesh in their direct encounter, proving that he is still the best.

In our Game of the Week, however, Erigaisi demonstrated his creative talent by beating Gukesh with unconventional play.

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

A. Erigaisi - Gukesh, Norway Chess 2025
Position after 19...Kg7

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.

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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.
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Game of the Week #672: M. Dobrikov - V. Keymer, German Championship, Munich 2025

5/22/2025 – Vincent Keymer began the German Championships in style, scoring 6.5 points from his first seven games. His game in round 1 already indicated that he was in great shape. In his new Game of the Week show, Merijn van Delft takes a closer look. | 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>.
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Game of the Week #671: M. Vachier-Lagrave vs Gukesh, Superbet Classic Tournament, Bucharest 2025

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 <a href="https://account.chessbase.com/en/create-account" target="_blank">register a Premium account here</a>.

Video

60m English Anti-Bayonet

King’s Indian fans who choose the Mar del Plata attack (7...Nc6) against White’s classical system (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0) usually aim for a complex position with mutual attacks on open wings, requiring long-term strategic planning and tactical sharpness in critical moments. Computers often do not know how to handle the arising complex strategic positions, which suits players who like to think on their own instead of memorizing long variations. However, the fashionable Bayonet Attack (9.b4) interferes with Black’s ideas. After Black’s main move 9...Nh5 the positions opens, the lines get forced and computer analysis is important again. But this DVD offers an antidote against White’s Bayonet Attack, namely 9...a5! This move leads to sound positions with very few concrete lines, in which the focus is on strategy not on tactics. Objectively chances are equal but if Black knows what to do things might quickly become dangerous for White.
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