11/13/2019 – Alexander Grischuk knocked Maxime Vachier-Lagrave out of the Grand Prix in Hamburg by beating him in the second classical game of the semi-finals. Grischuk thus massively increased his chances to reach the 2020 Candidates Tournament through the series. Meanwhile, Daniil Dubov got a slight edge against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, but could not make much of it — their semi-final match-up will be decided in tiebreaks. | Photo: Valeria Gordienko
new: Fritz 20
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before. FRITZ is more than just a chess engine – it’s a training revolution! Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
Master your Technique Vol. 2 is a must-have for ambitious players who want to confidently convert “better” positions, or turn equal ones into wins.
€39.90
Zugzwang
The third leg of the FIDE Grand Prix is being played in Hamburg, Germany. The 16-player knockout has a €130,000 prize fund, with the series as a whole having an additional prize fund of €280,000 plus two qualifying spots for the 2020 Candidates Tournament. The tournament takes place in the Kehrwieder Haus from November 5th to 17th. You can find more info here.
The key match-up in the race to get one of the Candidates spots in Hamburg ended up favouring Alexander Grischuk. During the previous leg in Riga, the Russian had lost against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the semi-finals, but now he was the one knocking out the French to reach the final.
Grischuk is one of six players that are playing their third and last tournament of the Grand Prix series. Depending on his result in the final, he will end up with anything in the range of 17 to 21 points in the overall standings table. Vachier-Lagrave (13 points), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (10) and Ian Nepomniachtchi (9) will all be playing in Jerusalem. A perfect run at a GP event gives the winner 12 points, in which case the maximum amount of points the runner-up can get is 8. Thus the relevance of Grischuk's win over 'MVL' — beating a direct rival left him with very good odds to finish in the top two.
Match results
Click or tap any result to open the game via Live.ChessBase.com
Grischuk 1½:½ Vachier-Lagrave
With the white pieces, Grischuk decided to avoid a highly theoretical battle, a decision that worked out well against one of the strongest Najdorf/Grünfeld experts. Perhaps noticing that he was not getting much of the opening, Vachier-Lagrave gave up the bishop pair on move 17, giving his rival a small but important strategical edge. A little later, Grischuk made a critical pawn push:
Our experts show, using the games of Botvinnik, how to employ specific openings successfully, which model strategies are present in specific structures, how to find tactical solutions and rules for how to bring endings to a successful conclusion
Engines do not think Grischuk's 21.h5 is the very best alternative, but this human move had a strong impact during the ending that would eventually ensue in the game. When all that was left on the board were queens, a white bishop, a black knight and four pawns per side, Black had nothing better than to fracture his structure:
After 37...g5 38.hxg6 ♚xg6, the isolated h-pawn became a new target for White.
When Grischuk attacked Black's f7-pawn with his queen and bishop, Vachier-Lagrave decided to swap the queens and go into a pure knight v bishop endgame. Grischuk transferred his king to h5, which meant Black needed to keep his monarch on g7, passively defending the h-pawn, while his knight was alone stopping the a-pawn from advancing on the other flank. It was high time for White to use some zugzwang manoeuvres in order to make progress:
In chess, the technique of exchanging pieces is the ultimate knowledge. The biggest specialists of this were such greats as Akiba Rubinstein and Vasily Smyslov. The exchange bishop for knight is the most common case. The technique of exploiting the individual power of these pieces is completely different.
Grischuk had patiently reached this setup by moving his bishop along the f1-a6 diagonal, while Black had less flexibility with his knight. Now after 50...d4 White can start thinking about using his king to attack the d-pawn. Grischuk continued to calmly manoeuvre his bishop until getting the all-important 63-move win.
Vachier-Lagrave won both prior rounds without needing tiebreaks | Photo: Nadja Wittmann
Dubov 1:1 Duda
Given Dubov's track record in the last couple of tournaments, it was slightly surprising to see him going for a line in which White gets a small edge after a queen trade that came as early as move 12. Dubov explained:
Maybe White is not better, but it's probably time to play a game that would consist of more than twelve moves or something. [...] I have to admit that Jan-Krzysztof probably defended reasonably well — even now, I don't see a point where I could win by force or anything.
The players will return to the Theater Kehrwieder on Wednesday, when a series of rapid games will decide who will be facing Grischuk in the final.
Daniil Dubov on his way to the playing hall | Photo: Valeria Gordienko
The ChessBase Mega Database 2020 is the premiere chess database with over eight million games from 1560 to 2019 in high quality. Packing more than 85,000 annotated games, Mega 2020 contains the world‘s largest collection of high-class analysed games. Train like a pro! Prepare for your opponents with ChessBase and the Mega Database 2020. Let grandmasters explain how to best handle your favorite variations, improve your repertoire and much more.
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.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
Videos: Nico Zwirs examines two Petroffs from the 2026 Candidates. Robert Ris has a tip against the Caro-Kann Advance Variation with 3…c5. Fiona Sieber reveals a surprise weapon against the Najdorf. ‘Lucky Bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, L'Ami et al.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
In this powerful new course, endgame expert Karsten Müller teams up with rising star Leon Mendonca to deliver what truly matters: 10 essential rules that every player must know.
In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
From the 2026 Candidates Tournament, featuring a video review by Dorian Rogozenco, to Jan Werle’s opening video on the French Tarrasch Defence, and Oliver Reeh’s tactical column ‘Top Grandmasters at Work’. Analyses by Giri, So, Wei Yi and many others.
You will learn how Black's dynamic piece activity and structural counterplay more than compensate for White's extra tempo in the colour-reversed setups.
€39.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.
The third leg of the FIDE Grand Prix is being played in Hamburg, Germany. The 16-player knockout has a €130,000 prize fund, with the series as a whole having an additional prize fund of €280,000 plus two qualifying spots for the 2020 Candidates Tournament. The tournament takes place in the Kehrwieder Haus from November 5th to 17th. You can find more info 
