10/26/2023 – As expected, hard-fought, exciting games were the norm on the opening day at the Grand Swiss tournaments on the Isle of Man. In the open, 32 players started with wins, including top seed Fabiano Caruana, Richard Rapport (pictured) and Levon Aronian. In the women’s event, meanwhile, 15 participants scored full points, with none of the top three seeds getting more than a draw. | Photo: Anna Shtourman
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With 114 participants in the open section and 50 participants in the women’s section, the FIDE Grand Swiss tournaments kicked off on Wednesday. The ever-active ChessBase India team has travelled to the Isle of Man and is uploading great content to their YouTube channel almost constantly. Sagar Shah began by taking a tour around the playing hall before it got filled with grandmasters and the like.
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.
Round 1 did not see a major surprise on the top boards, albeit 6 out of the 10 top seeds only grabbed half points. This should not dazzle anybody, though, given the strength of the field — out of the 114 participants, 89 are rated above 2600, and the 90th seed is Abhimanyu Mishra, who recently had a great performance at the U.S. Championship in Saint Louis!
Rating-wise, the biggest surprise was given by Erwin l’Ami, who got the better of Vidit Gujrathi after the latter first gave away his advantage and then blundered in an endgame with rooks and knights.
L’Ami vs. Vidit
Players get 100 minutes for the first 40 moves in this event, but if the battle gets complicated early on, it is still hard to completely avoid getting in time trouble. When Vidit blundered with 40...Nxb2, a miscalculation, he and L’Ami both had less than a minute on the clock.
Vidit’s move fails to the forcing 41.Nf5+ Kh8 42.Rxd4 Nxd1 43.Rh4+, and Black cannot do anything to avoid White from gaining the exchange with another knight fork: 43...Kg8
Surely not the easiest line to see from afar with little time on the clock. L’Ami, the 72nd seed in the field, will play black against Vladimir Fedoseev in the second round.
Vidit Gujrathi | Photo: Anna Shtourman
Meanwhile, Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja and Anish Giri were all held to draws by Rasmus Svane, Ruslan Ponomariov and Raunak Sadhwani respectively.
The Indian chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi with an ELO of over 2700 (June 2023) is one of the best 20 players in the world. For the first time, the sympathetic top player presents himself in a video course. Let a world-class player show you tactical moti
Rating favourite Fabiano Caruana, on the other hand, did get off to a winning, as he played provocatively and saw Ivan Saric overplaying his attacking chances to suffer a 30-move defeat. Notably, Caruana is set to face Hans Niemann in round 2 — Niemann obtained a nice victory over Elham Amar on Wednesday (find here expert analysis of the game by IM Robert Ris).
Hikaru Nakamura having a look at Alexei Shirov’s game — Shirov beat Adham Fawzy with the white pieces | Photo: Anna Shtourman
In terms of excitement, though, it was Jan-Krzysztof Duda who showed astounding tactical ability to beat Pouya Idani on board 10. The Polish star kept pushing his queenside pawns, while his opponent continued to create dangerous-looking threats around the white king on the other side of the board.
Duda vs. Idani
To play 29.a7 (and to enter this line even earlier), you need to be perfectly sure that you will not be mated on g2.
Duda knew what he was doing, as there followed 29...Nf3+ 30.Bxf3 gxf3 31.Qb8 (the point) Bxf1 32.a8Q
Idani resigned, since the queen on b8 is ready to block the threatened check from g3. A great way to start the tournament for Duda — with two queens on the board standing side by side!
Sagar Shah shows you on this DVD how you can use typical patterns used by the Master of the past in your own games. From opening play to middlegame themes.
Playing black against Max Warmerdam, Levon Aronian boldly played the Stafford Gambit and won. As good-humoured as ever, Aronian told Sagar Shah that he was paying an homage to well-known streamer Eric Rosen.
1.e42c562.Nf35d643.d42:22cxd4234.Nxd418Nf665.Nc33a666.Bd31:36g6497.f336 Nowadays more popular than 7.0-0.Bg7538.Be351Nbd71:18 B72: Sicilian Dragon: 6 Be3, lines with h3+Bc4 and sidelines.9.Qd22:30b510:4210.a42:22b43:11
The position is equal.11.Nce2N50Predecessor:11.Na2d512.exd5Nxd513.Nxb4Nxe314.Qxe3Nc515.c3Nxd3+16.Nxd3Qc717.0-0½-½ Van Leeuwen,E (2486)-Mauritsson,S (2508) SWE-RoW email 2018 [7]11...d515:5512.Bh625:34Bxh617:0613.Qxh626dxe43:5614.Bxe42:10Nxe4515.fxe445Qc72:0416.0-05:08Nf611:0317.Rxf66:26exf6918.Qg77Rf8419.Qxf65Bb76:1620.Nf43:20Qd84:19 Wards off Nd520...Bxe4?21.Nd5Qc522.Qe5+Kd823.Qxe4+-21.Qe5+3:12Qe72:2822.Qa55Rc83:2722...Qxe4?!23.Qb6f624.Nde622...Bxe423.Nd5Qd624.Nc7+24.Re1?f5-+24...Ke725.Rd1=Better is22...Rd823.Rd123.Nd5?Bxd5 Remove Defender24.exd5Qe3+25.Kh1Qxd4-+23...Bxe424.Qxa6Qe525.Qb5+Qxb526.axb5Rd623.Nd36:00White should try23.Qb6!23...f59:55 Black is really pushing.23...Bxe4?!24.Qxa6Qd725.Qf623...Qxe4?24.Re1+-24.Qxb4?Qxg2#24.Qxb4?Qxg2#24.Nf4?19:11 This costs White the game.24.Qxb4fxe425.a524...fxe4-+3:36 Black is clearly winning.24...Bxe4?too greedy.25.Qxa6Kf726.a5-+Worse is24...Qxe425.Qxb4Qxf426.Re1+Be427.Qxf8+Kxf828.Ne6+Kf729.Nxf425.Nfe68
There are no easy pairings in the women’s tournament either. The top three players were held to draws in the first round, with rating favourite Aleksandra Goryachkina first losing a big advantage and then escaping from a lost position against Spanish IM Ann Matnadze.
Matnadze vs. Goryachkina
Black’s b-pawn is too far advanced, and gives Goryachkina more than enough resources to get a win with correct play (not at all difficult for her level). Natural moves like 50...Ra2 or 50...Rh2 are, in fact, completely winning here.
50...Rxf5, on the other hand, gives up the exchange, and not only loses the advantage but leaves White in the driver’s seat. Matnadze had no trouble finding 51.Bg4, and the rook has no place to go!
Fortunately for Goryachkina, the blunder only cost her a half point, since her opponent erred on move 53 and could not convert the ending into a win.
The Jobava London System is a minor form of the London System. White tries to play Lf4 quickly followed by Nc3.
Aleksandra Goryachkina playing black against Ann Matnadze | Photo: Anna Shtourman
Tan Zhongyi and Anna Muzychuk, seeded 4th and 5th, did win their games, while the biggest upset of the day was seen on board 6, where Dutch rising star Eline Roebers defeated Polina Shuvalova with the black pieces. Similarly, Stavroula Tsolakidou stunned Nino Batsiashvili on the ninth board.
Meanwhile, in an attractive matchup, Elisabeth Paehtz needed only 23 moves to beat Alice Lee. The German grandmaster found a good-looking mating net.
Paehtz vs. Lee
23.Bf3+ was followed by Lee’s resignation — 23...g4 24.Qxf7# is coming.
Eline Roebers beat Polina Shuvalova with black | Photo: Anna Shtourman
9...Qd5N5:42Predecessor:9...Qc710.Nc5Nbd711.Nxd7Nxd712.g3Be713.Bg2Be414.0-00-015.Bb4Nb60-1 Cohen,H (2035)-Dorobanov,S (2276) USA-chT Amateur East 2013 (5)10.Qxd56:07exd53:0811.Rc12:19Nbd73:0712.e32:33Be71:2613.Be25:48Ne42:0414.Ba55:34Nb64:5115.Nc33:37Nd64:3916.Bb41:50a51:2117.Bc52:10Nd72:1318.Ba33:55b55:28 Hoping for ...b4.19.Bxd622Bxd6220.0-04:280-05521.a42:53b42:3722.Nb11:20Rfc87:4323.Nbd237c56:1624.Bb54:07Rc78:1425.dxc52:51Nxc5626.Nd430Bg61:3827.f43:27Rac84:1128.f52:02Bh51129.h34:10f63:4030.g43:04Bf7731.Rfd12:34h51:0332.Kg22:31Kf82:4132...g6simplifies33.Rf1g534.N2b3Nxb335.Rxc7Bxc736.Nxb3Bb633.N2f38:32Ke73:3634.g51:50fxg5!2:3035.Nxg51:00 Excellent horsemanship.Bg8!1:5636.h45:42Kf65637.Rf11:40Ne44:2337...Be5!?38.Rxc743Rxc7139.Bd32639.Nge6!?Rc840.Bd7=39...Nc51:4340.Bb541Be51:5141.Be8?34:0841.Ngf3=and White is okay.41...Bxd4-+25:3642.exd42Ne43:0743.Nxe4+2:02dxe4244.Bxh513 Endgame KRB-KRBBd54:1844...Rc2+!45.Kg3e345.Kg3=1:25Rc22:2946.Kf43046.Rg1=46...Rh2!4:4546...Rxb247.Rg1Rf2+48.Ke3=47.Bg4?5547.Rg1!Rxh4+48.Bg447...b3?2:5347...Rxh448.Rg147...Rxb2-+has better winning chances.48.Rc1b348.Rg1?5:4248.Rb148...Rxb2-+3:0749.Bh57Rf2+3950.Ke312Rxf51950...Rc2-+51.Rg6+Ke751.Bg4+-1:05Rf3+5:2952.Bxf32exf35
KR-KB53.h5?4:2953.Rc1!+-and the rest is easy.53...Bf7?1:1453...Kf5±was necessary.54.Rc1?2:51Stronger than54.Kxf3Bxh5+55.Ke3Bg6=54.Rb1+-54...Be8=1:45
55.Rc81:2655.Rc7!±55...Bxa423 aiming for ...Ke6. The position is equal.56.Rb8!2356.Kxf3?too greedy.Bb557.Rf8+57.Rb8?Bc4-+57...Ke6-+56...Ke64057.Kxf326Kd51:3858.Ke314 Kd3 is the strong threat.Kc410 Threatens to win with ...Bb5.59.Kd21:46Kxd42660.Rb736Be81:0261.Rxb315:1861.Rxg7is more complex.Bxh562.Rg5b263.Kc261...Bxh515:3262.Rb541Bf73363.Rxa56g6764.Ra718Be6665.Rg715Bf5166.Ke27 Never resign too early! Weighted Error Value: White=0.45/Black=0.28 (precise)½–½
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
This video course provides a comprehensive and practical White repertoire in the Ruy Lopez! Through instructive model games and in-depth theoretical explanations, you will learn how to confidently handle both main lines and sidelines.
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more.
Experts examine the games of Max Euwe. Let them show you which openings Euwe chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were, which tactical abilities he had or how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame.
This interactive video course of over 8 hours, provides an in-depth exploration of the Pirc Defence, a favoured opening for people looking to play for the win with the black pieces.
The course is designed to provide a deep yet practical repertoire for Black, balancing solid foundations with aggressive counterplay.
€39.90
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