Game of the Week #708: Erigaisi vs Abdusattorov

by Merijn van Delft
2/5/2026 – In recent years Nodirbek Abdusattorov was very close to winning the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, but now he finally managed to actually win it and very deservedly so. After his recent dropping out of the World's top ten, this crowns his comeback, now being number 5 in the World rankings with 2771. Our Game of the Week is the decisive last round game Erigaisi-Abdusattorov, which saw a highly interesting Evans Gambit, which could have easily gone differently. 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 #708

In recent years Nodirbek Abdusattorov was very close to winning the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, but now he finally managed to actually win it and very deservedly so. After his recent dropping out of the World's top ten, this crowns his comeback, now being number 5 in the World rankings with 2771. Our Game of the Week is the decisive last round game Erigaisi-Abdusattorov, which saw a highly interesting Evans Gambit, which could have easily gone differently.

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 #707: Van Foreest vs Keymer

1/30/2026 – With the final weekend of the Tata Steel Chess tournament still ahead of us, the tournament leader is Abdusattorov, followed by Sindarov, Van Foreest and Bluebaum. The latter has crossed the 2700 barrier for the first time and Van Foreest also set a new rating record. Our Game of the Week between Jorden van Foreest and Vincent Keymer is one of the most spectacular games of the tournament. Some opening inaccuracies by Black were punished in the most instructive manner.| 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>.

See also

Game of the Week #705: Both players could have won

1/9/2026 – We are starting 2026 with a wildly romantic game between Yair Parkhov and Lazaro Bruzon Batista from the Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship. Often our Game of the Week is a model game by one side, but this game both players could have won. The Sicilian Najdorf with the sharp old main line 6.Bg5 can easily get completely out of the control. There are many possible piece sacrifices and soon the all the variations become too difficult to calculate, even for grandmasters. | 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 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.