5/11/2020 – A draw in the four-game Superfinal gave China tournament victory at the FIDE chess.com Nations Cup, as they obtained draw odds by winning the round-robin phase. After reaching the final in dramatic fashion, the United States were not far from completing an epic comeback by beating the Chinese squad twice in a row. Fabiano Caruana defeated Wei Yi on board two, but Yu Yangyi ended a memorable event with a win over Wesley So, tying the overall score. | Pictured: Yu Yangyi and Hou Yifan | Photos: qipai.org.con / Pascal Simon
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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.
In almost every chess game there comes a moment when you just can’t go on without tactics. You must strike to not giving away the advantage you have worked for the whole game.
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Yu Yangyi gets key win, again
There is no doubt China had the strongest and most stable performance throughout the Nations Cup, merely giving up a draw before losing their round-ten match-up against the United States, when they had already secured their spot in the final. It is also indisputable that Yu Yangyi was the heavy hitter in their line-up. Yu played all but one game, scoring a remarkable 7½ out of 10, with wins over elite players such as Anish Giri, Leinier Dominguez and Jan-Krzysztof Duda.
In a turn of events that consolidated Yu's exceptional performance, he got to even the score with the one player that had beaten him in the round-robin phase — Wesley So. And he did it with the same colour, only a day after his loss, giving his team tournament victory.
Yu's win served only to level the score though, as Fabiano Caruana got the better of Wei Yi on board two. The American had defeated Wang Hao twice during the round-robin section, so China's captain Ye Jiangchuan decided to field a different second board. This was Caruana's sixth win, which wrapped up his undefeated 7½/9 star performance. Thus, the two strongest players of the event were the ones getting wins in the Superfinal.
Top boards: Wei improvises, Nakamura stops trying
At some point it seemed like the Americans had great chances to take the title, as Hikaru Nakamura had a good position with black against Ding Liren, while Wei's adventurous approach was backfiring against Caruana. But then, out of the blue, 'Naka' offered a draw from a slightly superior position:
Studying the content of this DVD and adding these openings to your repertoire will provide players with a very strong tool to fight 1...e5 - as the practice of the author clearly demonstrates.
Ding vs. Nakamura
Position after 38...Bxe5+
Ding later confessed that he was surprised by his opponent's draw offer in this position, as after the forced 39.Rxe5 Black has 39...Qc7 pushing the king to return to the first rank with 40.Kg1 — this opened up the possibility for Black to later give a check with the rook on the a-file, gaining a valuable tempo in the endgame that would ensue once the queens leave the board. Of course, this is not easy to win at all, but given the United States' need for a match victory it would have made sense for Nakamura to test his rival a bit.
Meanwhile, Wei decided to avoid a theoretical discussion with Caruana by playing a Scandinavian with 4...g6, giving White the kind of strategical advantage a player of Caruana's calibre does not let go to waste. The American slowly increased his edge, but did not have an easy time converting his extra pawn in the ending. Wei faltered on move 30 though, prompting Caruana to gain another pawn soon after:
The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.
Caruana vs. Wei
Position after 33...Ng7
After 34.Nxg6 Ra1 White started pushing his kingside pawns with decisive effect. Resignation came on move 43.
Bottom boards: Yu on the attack
Irina Krush was facing women's number one Hou Yifan with the white pieces, and understandably decided to opt for the tame Exchange Variation of the French Defence. Hou did not try to get much with black either, as she knew her team only needed a 2:2 score to win the event. A 37-move draw was the natural result.
In the meantime, a confident Yu Yangyi correctly gave up a pawn in exchange for increased piece activity against Wesley So's undeveloped army. With Black's queenside pieces on their initial squares, Yu opened up his opponent's king position on move 26:
The Ragozin is being played by every top grandmaster in the world - it is time you also add it to your repertoire to get interesting and dynamic positions against 1. d4! GM Alejandro Ramirez analyses every single move that White can play once the Ragozin is reached, but due to several transpositional possibilities he always emphasises strategic goals to keep in mind.
Yu vs. So
Position after 25...Rf6
The Chinese star gave up his knight with 26.Ng5+ hxg5, and after 27.hxg5 Rg6 got to play a nice bishop move:
Position after 27...Rg6
After 28.Bd5 So found nothing better than 28...f4, but then came 29.Be4 and the rook remained pinned until Black resigned five moves later.
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1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Bc54.c3Nf65.d3d66.0-0h67.Re10-0C54: Giuoco Piano: 4 c3 Nf6, main
lines with 5 d4 and 5 d3.8.Nbd2a58...Ne7 is the recent fashion. Played
by Hikaru Nakamura in April 2020.9.Nf1a4The position is equal.10.h3Ra5
Strongly threatening Bxf6.34...d5+35.e5!Ra2And now ...d4 would win.
Not35...fxe5?36.f6+-35...Bxe5+36.Bxe5c537.Qd3+-37.cxd5fxe538.Re6Qh4±36.cxd5cxd5Black is slightly better.37.Re3Rxb2
DecoyAvoid the trap37...Bxe5+?38.Bxe5Kf839.Bd4+-Inferior is37...fxe538.f6±38.Qxb2Bxe5+Accuracy: White = 93%,
Black = 93%.½–½
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.
Throughout the video course, Sasikran shows various examples from his career to explain sacrifices for initiative, an attack, a better pawn structure and much more.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
The Trompowsky is especially suited for faster time controls as you don‘t have to memorise endless lines of theory, and you push your opponent out of their comfort zone after your second move.
Trompowsky Powerbook 2025 is based on 53,000 computer games from the engine room of playchess.com as well as 49,000 games from Mega and correspondence chess.
Trompowsky Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 8727 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 316 are annotated.
2025 European Championship with a German double victory and analyses by Bluebaum, Svane, Rodshtein, Yuffa, Navara and many more. Opening videos by Engel, King and Marin. Training sections “The Fortress”, “The Trap” and “Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" etc.
Powerbook based on more than 618 000 games in which White already sidesteps the main variations of the Sicilian on move 2.
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