1/3/2022 – We know that our latest version of Fritz has a special mode that allows you to actually win games – which no 3500+ program would ever do. A lot of amateurs are having loads of fun, learning to spot combinations and by brilliancies in the process. We are also experimenting with strong GMs: will they too enjoy using Fritz 18 as a training partner? Here's someone who has tried.
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In this video course experts examine the games of Steinitz. Let them show you which openings Steinitz chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
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In January 2020 (just ahead of the pandemic) I was in Chennai, India, watching Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand train some of the most promising young super-talents in the world. Here's one report from the time.
While I was there I met an expert who was doing research on Internet exposure. He told me that according to his calculations I had a name recognition of approximately three-quarters of a million people. What he meant was that if you mention my name, they would at least say: "Isn't he the guy who is somehow involved in chess?"
That made me feel quite proud. But then my expert pointed to 14-year-old boy running around the compound, chasing a football: "According to my calculations," he said, "that kid has the same kind of recognition factor with eighty million people!" It really put me in my place.
The young boy was Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, already a full grandmaster, fast approaching 2600 on the Elo scale. Pragg, as we expediently call him, has been caught on videos that were viewed on YouTube tens of millions of times. Check it out on ChessBase India's YouTube channel.
I got on very well with Pragg, who is an exuberant, humorous lad, interested in everything. It is an unusual experience to talk and joke around with a perfectly normal kid, who minutes later is discussing variations of a very complex opening in his head with a former World Champion. Today, at 16, Pragg is on his way to super-GM status and will, my prediction, in a couple of years be one of the top ten in the world. Incidentally I also got to know his elder sister Vaishali, who is also on her way up, and the family, in Chennai. Lovely people.
Training camp in 2019 with a World Champion in Chens Sur Leman. That's Pragg in the middle of all the Indian super-talents – the smallest of the lot.
Analysing with Vladimir Kramnik | photo Amruta Mokal
Well, I am in constant touch with Pragg on Skype, and I asked him to test our new Fritz 18 for me. He is currently preparing for the 2022 Tata Steel tournament, but of course obliged and sent me two sample games. He was quite tickled by the chances Fritz was giving him in Easy Game mode – something it and no other 3000+ brute force or neural network program would do. It is excellent practice even for a 2600+ player, and he will continue using it as a training partner.
So here are the two games, played at "Grandmaster" level. It is part of an experiment to test how useful and entertaining Fritz 18 is to strong grandmasters in Easy Game mode.
We will be keeping this experiment up with top GMs and amateurs alike. Please send us your games against Fritz 18 as a contribution to our Brilliancy collection.
Frederic FriedelEditor-in-Chief emeritus of the ChessBase News page. Studied Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Hamburg and Oxford, graduating with a thesis on speech act theory and moral language. He started a university career but switched to science journalism, producing documentaries for German TV. In 1986 he co-founded ChessBase.
In this course, you’ll learn how to take the initiative against the London and prevent White from comfortably playing their usual system by playing 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 Nh5.
London System Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains in all 11 285 games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 282 are annotated.
The London System Powerbook 2026 is based on more than 410 000 games or game fragments from different opening moves and ECO codes; what they all have in common is that White plays d4 and Bf4 but does not play c4.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
Opening videos: Open Spanish (Sipke Ernst) and Classical Sicilian (Nico Zwirs). Endgame Special by Igor Stohl: ‘Short or long side’ – where should the defending king be placed in rook endgames? ‘Lucky bag’ with 35 master analyses.
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The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 5.Bf4 has a great balance between positional play and sharp pawn pushes; and will be a surprise for your opponents while being easy to learn for you, as the key patterns are familiar.
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