Meet The Fritztrainer - Sipke Ernst

by Arne Kaehler
8/19/2022 – Sipke Ernst has made a successful Fritzrainer last year, tackling the "flexible Open Spanish". The Dutch Grandmaster is back again, with "3.h4 against the King's Indian and Grünfeld". Time to ask him about when he started to play chess, his feeling when reaching the Grandmaster title, a rating of over 2600, and one of his most passionate hobbies - Arm wrestling! We also analyse one of his favourite games he ever played. Luke Mcshane was the opponent, made a beautiful sacrifice, which Sipke countered wonderfully. | Photo: Sipke Ernst FB

3.h4 against the King's Indian and Grünfeld 3.h4 against the King's Indian and Grünfeld

It's a great idea to take Grunfeld and King’s Indian players out of their comfort-zone right from the start! Let’s go 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 first and now play 3.h4!?

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Meet the Fritztrainer

with Sipke Ernst

Hundreds of different Fritztrainers have been teaching us chess on ChessBase for more than a decade. Maybe you sometimes wonder what else the authors do?

"Meet the Fritztrainer" takes a look behind the scenes, telling us more about the private life of your favourite chess trainer.

  • 0:26 - Where, and when, did you learn to play chess?
  • 1:31 - Twenty years later you became a Grandmaster. How did this feel like for you?
  • 3:05 - You even reached a higher rating than 2600. Was this your last goal in chess for you?
  • 4:43 - How did you keep up with chess until today? Were you actively playing?
  • 5:57 - According to the Megadatabase, you played the Queen's Gambit, and the Ruy Lopez most often. How come?
  • 7:44 - Did you choose the Fritztrainer from last year, due to your massive Spanish knowledge?
  • 8:14 - What is your newest Fritztrainer about?
  • 9:27 - What is your favourite feature from ChessBase?
  • 10:13 - What else do you do besides playing chess?
  • 11:07 - Arm wrestling is one of your greatest hobbies. How does one train for this?
  • 12:00 - "I also enjoy running, and mountain biking"
  • 13:20 - Back to arm wrestling. Is a requirement to build up large arms?
  • 14:24 - Analysis of one of Sipke's favourite games (Luke McShane - Sipke Ernst, 2012)
  • 34:39 - One last arm wrestling question - What inspired you to do this?
 

Attacking the Taimanov with g4 in 60 Minutes

In this 60-minute video course you will learn how to anticipate Black's developing schemes, and you will become acquainted with typical sacrifices that white can use to gain a powerful initiative.

The "In 60 Minutes" Video by Sipke Ernst

The flexible Open Spanish

In this opening Black opts for active piece play and is not afraid to fight for the initiative from an early stage. One of the many good features of this opening is that Black is often the side which controls the pace of the game.

A very popular Fritztrainer on ChessBase

3.h4 against the King's Indian and Grünfeld

It's a great idea to take Grunfeld and King’s Indian players out of their comfort-zone right from the start! Let’s go 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 first and now play 3.h4!?

The newest Fritztrainer by Sipke Ernst

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Arne 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.