Chess News
Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
The traditional chess festival in Hoogoveen has long been a proving ground for young up-and-coming players participating in either the open or invitational tournaments. The Masters Open is lead by Javokhir Sindarov — just 13 years old — from Uzbekistan, who maintained a perfect score through five rounds and leads with 5½/6 after Wednesday's sixth round.
In addition to the open tournaments, the Hoogeveen chess festival is know for its pair of matches, typically under the rubric of man versus woman or young versus old.
This year Jan Timman vs Zhanzaya Abdumalik combines the two — generations and the sexes — and remains balanced after three games with the score at 1½ apiece. The young Kazakh won the first game, while the second ended in a draw and Timman took the third.
Abdumalik vs Timman | Photo: Harry Gielen / Official site
The second competition is one-sided thus far: Alireza Firouzja has won all three games against Jorge Cori. If he wins this match he will cement his live Elo rating (currently at 2726) atop the Junior world rankings, surpassing even Wei Yi who has long held the top spot. Since Wei is already 20 years old, Firouzja is undoubtedly the best teenager in the world and still just 16 years old!
Firouzja vs Cori
The young Iranian got off to a good start in game one:
Power Play Attack package - 6 DVDs
Attack and win! Learn everything you need to know about the art of attack from Daniel King: mating patterns, attacking the enemy king, pawn storms, the art of attacking tactics and much more! You’ll be well prepared for any adventure with this package, which includes Powerplay DVDs 1, 2, 3, 13, 14 and 20!
With 21.♘xf7 White obtained a decisive advantage.
In the second game Cori played well with the white pieces at first, but was tactically surprised in the middlegame:
Here 23.♘f4 was required — supporting the d-pawn while simultaneously guarding the h5 square. After 23.♘e3 instead, Firouza pounced: 23...♜h5 24.♕c4? (White must grovel with 24.♘f1 ♛h4 and 25.♘d1) 24...♛h4 and after 25.♕c7 g3!! it's too late to defend. The point is 26.♕xg3+ is met by ♜g5 leaving Black up a queen for two pieces. After Cori's 26.♘f1 gxf2 was crushing.
In the third game the Peruvian reached an endgame, only to be tactically taken down once again:
Powerplay 26: Checkmate Challenge — essential knowledge
Checkmate. That's the aim of the game. There are numerous ways to checkmate the enemy king, but there are common patterns that recur over and over again, and having these at our mental fingertips is essential for when we want to finish the game.
Can you calculate the forced win for White?
The matches resume Thursday with game four.
When choosing an opening repertoire, there are days when you want to play for a win with Black, when you want to bear down on your opponent’s position with a potentially crushing attack. The Najdorf is perfect for just such occasions. Strategy, combinations, attack and defence, sacrifices and marvellous manoeuvres — exciting chess is all about the Najdorf!
Youth dominates in the open as well. GM Javokhir Sindarov from Uzbekistan leads after six rounds despite yielding his first half point to GM Sipke Ernst. Sindarov passed on a chance to go up an exchange in the middlegame and ended up drawing by constructing an unusual fortress.
30.♖d3 and 31.♖xb3 would leave White with a full exchange up, but after Sindarov's 30.♖e1 ♚f8 32.♖xc7?! the bishop was left alive. He was eventually forced to give up queen for rook, but found a shell to crawl inside and hide.
Chess Endgames 7 - Endgame Principles Weaknesses & Fortresses
The 7th volume of this endgame series deals with many different aspects of endgame play: the art of pawn play, weaknesses, converting an advantage, stalemate, fortresses, the art of defence and typical mistakes. Learn how to convert an extra piece or an exchange or how to exploit space advantage and better mobility. The themes the art or defence, fortress and stalemate are also intertwined. If your position has a solid fundament then you may surprisingly reach a fortress which might even be based on a stalemate.
Ernst decided there was no way forward.
Javokhir Sindarov
| Rk. | Name | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | ||
| 1 |
|
GM | Sindarov Javokhir | 2513 | 5,5 | 2788 |
| 2 |
|
GM | Ernst Sipke | 2523 | 5,0 | 2645 |
| 3 |
|
GM | Werle Jan | 2544 | 5,0 | 2641 |
| 4 |
|
GM | Pruijssers Roeland | 2550 | 4,5 | 2547 |
| 5 |
|
GM | Basso Pier Luigi | 2575 | 4,5 | 2528 |
| 6 |
|
WFM | Kirchei Viktoriia | 2051 | 4,5 | 2523 |
| 7 |
|
IM | Akash Ganesan | 2449 | 4,5 | 2510 |
| 8 |
|
FM | Moksh Amit Doshi | 2328 | 4,5 | 2506 |
| 9 |
|
IM | Beerdsen Thomas | 2472 | 4,5 | 2483 |
| 10 |
|
FM | Okkes Menno | 2326 | 4,5 | 2413 |
Translation and additional reporting: Macauley Peterson
