1/29/2025 – The first Underdog of 2025 has been chosen by Robert Ris. It is IM Lu Miaoyi. Currently, she is playing formidable at the Tata Steel Chess Festival tournament. She is second worst rated in the Challengers group, but could already gather 4.5 out of 8 points. One favourite to win the Challengers in Wijk aan Zee is Frederik Svane, who advanced to Germany's second-best player behind Vincent Keymer. Frederik Svane played as Black in the French exchange variation, against Lu Miaoyi, and the board was on fire quickly.
Mastering these tactical motifs is essential to deepen your understanding of the game and become a better player. After all, you neither want to overlook the given chances by your opponent, nor blunder yourself!
Looking for a realistic way to play for a win with Black against 1.e4 without taking unnecessary risks? The Taimanov Sicilian is a reliable system, and hence one of the best options out there!
€49.90
The Underdog!
with IM Robert Ris
We all love stories where a vastly underrated player surprises everyone by beating a much stronger player. Fortunately, we are all human.
But how do these things happen? What are the moves that lead to success? And what can we learn from these examples for the times when we face a stronger opponent?
Dutch IM Robert Ris presents us with real-life examples of such encounters from the past month. Together with his co-host Arne Kaehler, they look at the tactics and strategies that led to the upset victory.
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Players
1.e4
1,157,099
54%
2422
---
1.d4
940,742
55%
2434
---
1.Nf3
279,272
56%
2441
---
1.c4
180,870
56%
2443
---
1.g3
19,622
56%
2427
---
1.b3
14,033
54%
2427
---
1.f4
5,819
48%
2377
---
1.Nc3
3,708
51%
2384
---
1.b4
1,731
48%
2378
---
1.a3
1,177
53%
2402
---
1.e3
1,054
48%
2407
---
1.d3
927
50%
2376
---
1.g4
648
46%
2360
---
1.h4
438
52%
2371
---
1.c3
418
51%
2423
---
1.h3
260
55%
2413
---
1.a4
101
59%
2476
---
1.Nh3
88
66%
2510
---
1.f3
82
47%
2435
---
1.Na3
38
62%
2477
---
Please, wait...
1.e4e62.d4d53.exd5exd54.Nf3Nf64...Bd61-0 (72) Ju,W (2549)
-Firouzja,A (2759) Wijk aan Zee 20245.Bd3Bd66.0-00-07.Bg5Bg48.Nbd2h69.Bh4Nbd710.c4dxc410...c611.Nxc4Nb612.Ne312.Nxd6Qxd612.Nce5!?12...Be613.Bc2Re814.Qd3c615.Rfe115.Bxf6Qxf616.Qh7+Kf815...Nbd715...Nbd516.Nxd5cxd517.Bxf6Qxf618.Qh7+Kf819.Ba4Red820.Bd7‼Ke720...Bxd721.Qh8#20...Rxd721.Qh8+21.Bxe6fxe622.Re3±16.Nf5Bf816...Bxf517.Qxf5Qc717.Ne5Nxe517...g618.Nxd718.Qg3!?18...Bxd719.Rxe8Qxe820.Nxh6+Bxh621.Bxf6Bf522.Qc3Bxc223.Qxc2Qe624.Be5Re818.Rxe518.dxe5?Qxd319.Bxd3Nh518...g619.Ng3Bg719...g520.Nh5‼Bd620...gxh421.Nxf6+Qxf621...Kg722.Nh5+Kg823.Qh7#22.Qh7#21.Bg3Kf821...Bxe522.Bxe5Nxh523.Qh7+Kf824.Qxh6+Ke725.Qxh5+-22.Qf3Nxh523.Qxh5Qf624.Rae119...Bd6?20.Ne4Bxe521.dxe5Qxd322.Nxf6+Kf823.Bxd3+-20.Ne4!Bf5??20...g521.Nxg5hxg522.Rxg5!22.Bxg5Qd622...Qe722...Kf823.Qa3+23.Qg3Bh623...Qe724.Qg3Bf524...Bg425.h324...Bh625.Bh7‼Bxg525...Nxh726.Rg8#26.Bxg5Nxh726...Red827.Qh4Ke828.Bxf6+-27.Bh6#25.Bxf5??25.h3Bxc226.Rxg7Bg627.Rxg6fxg628.Qxg6Qf729.Qxf6Qxf630.Bxf6±25...Qe1+26.Rxe1Rxe1#23.Re1!23.Rxg7+Kxg724.Qg3+Bg423...Rad824.Rxg7+Kxg725.Qg3+Kf826.Qe3Kg727.Qg5+Kf828.Qh6+Kg829.Bxf6+-21.Bxf621.Rxe8+Qxe822.Bxf622.Nxf6+??Bxf6-+22...Bxe4!23.Qxe4Bxf621...Bxe421...Rxe522.Bxd821...Bxf622.Rxe8+Qxe823.Nxf6+Kh824.Qd2+-22.Bxd8Rxe522...Bxd323.Rxe8+Kh724.Bxd323.Qc3Re624.Ba5Bxc225.Qxc2Bxd426.Bc3Rae827.Kf127.Bxd4??Re1+28.Rxe1Rxe1#27...Bc528.Re11–0
Mastering these tactical motifs is essential to deepen your understanding of the game and become a better player. After all, you neither want to overlook the given chances by your opponent, nor blunder yourself!
Mastering these tactical motifs is essential to deepen your understanding of the game and become a better player. After all, you neither want to overlook the given chances by your opponent, nor blunder yourself!
Arne KaehlerArne Kaehler, a creative mind who is passionate about board games in general, was born in Hamburg and learned to play chess at a young age. By teaching chess to youth teams and creating chess-related videos on YouTube, Arne was able to expand this passion and has even created an online course for anyone who wants to learn how to play chess. Arne writes for the English and German news sites, but focuses mainly on content for the ChessBase media channels.
12/4/2024 – Besides the World Chess Championship, some other important chess tournaments are currently going on. The US Chess Masters in Charlotte was crucial for Fabiano Caruana, to qualify for the candidates in 2026! He started with 5 out of 5, until he faced Nikolas Theodorou! The Greek GM also had 5 points, and got a nice king-side attack against Caruana in the English opening. Robert Ris has the full analysis of this fascinating game!
11/7/2024 – In the European Club Championship, lower rated players occasionally faced GM superstars, such as Erigaisi, Gukesh, Abdusattarov, Praggnanandhaa or others. And in the very first round, Pragg had to deal with IM Francois Godart from Belgium, rated 2377. In a Sicilian Rossolimo, Godart had a pawn less, but strong counterplay. Counterplay that was so strong that the strong moves seemed to play themselves. Robert Ris took a closer look.
After 1.d4 d5 many players with White avoid the great amount of theory in the Slav, Semi-Slav, QGA and Orthodox Queen's Gambit and do not therefore play 2.c4. This is not very ambitious, but the painful experience of many chess players has been that the Colle System, the Trompowsky Attack, the Torre Attack and the London System are nevertheless extremely dangerous. Black has to be prepared for each of these openings and IM Valeri Lilov offers you some help with his six instructive videos, in which he demonstrates for each single opening a relevant plan for Black. In addition to the openings mentioned, the Bulgarian trainer also delves into the Catalan, the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit and the Richter-Veresov Opening.
If you're looking to expand your opening knowledge with a modern, cutting-edge approach, the Ragozin Carlsbad is a must-have addition to your repertoire.
Videos by Leon Mendonca: French and Nico Zwirs: King's Indian. “Lucky bag” with 50 analyses by Ganguly, Giri, Praggnanandhaa and many more + two video analyses by Josefine Heinemann (in German)
The Reti Opening Powerbook 2025 has a tree structure based on a mixture of over 295,000 computer chess games, played in the engine room of playchess.com and the best games played by humans (137,000).
Reti Opening Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains 10989 high-class games from the Mega 2025 or the Correspondence Database 2024, 1069 of which are annotated.
After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6!?, Black takes the initiative, luring White into overextending their central pawns, only to dismantle them with precise counterplay. The Tango is not just an opening – it’s a weapon, designed for players who want to win as Black
€34.90
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