Game of the Week #712: Jiner Zhu vs Nemec

by Merijn van Delft
2/27/2026 – The Prague International Chess Festival has started and both in the Masters and in the Challengers group fantastic games are being played right from the start. In the first two rounds, a remarkable amount of sacrifices were played. It was difficult to select just one Game of the Week, but in the end it was the creative performance by IM Jachym Nemec against GM Jiner Zhu that was most unusual of all. Black lost the opening battle, but then started to find amazing recources. 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 #712

The Prague International Chess Festival has started and both in the Masters and in the Challengers group fantastic games are being played right from the start. In the first two rounds, a remarkable amount of sacrifices were played. It was difficult to select just one Game of the Week, but in the end it was the creative performance by IM Jachym Nemec against GM Jiner Zhu that was most unusual of all. Black lost the opening battle, but then started to find amazing recources.

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

This week's show

Besides covering all the critical lines after 1.d4 & 2.c4, popular systems such as the Trompovsky, London/Jobava System, Torre Attack, Colle System and Veresov are dealt with as well.

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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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See also

Game of the Week #711: Gurel vs Van Foreest

2/22/2026 – Ten weeks ago we studied the positional masterpiece that Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus created against MVL with the help of the Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez. The other young Turkish star Ediz Gurel also played this opening twice in his match against Jorden van Foreest, making it a real Turkish speciality. The Dutchman was suffering in the 4th matchgame before reaching a draw, but in the 6th game he came better prepared and brilliantly showed where Black's chances are. 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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See also

Game of the Week #710: Korobov vs Levin

2/20/2026 – The German Bundesliga always provides us with a beautiful collection of top level games. This weekend a very instructive game was played between top grandmaster Anton Korobov and the experienced grandmaster and trainer Felix Levin. A Petrov Defence turned into French Exchange variation and while the queens were quickly exchanged in this symmetrical structure, the game instructively shows that there is always still enough to play for. 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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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.