New: ChessBase Magazine #230

by ChessBase
3/5/2026 – Tata Steel 2026: Analyses by Bluebaum, Giri, L'Ami, Woodward and many more – News from the ‘Erigabava’ Sicilian: Yago Santiago promotes 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4! – Slav Marshall Gambit: white queen on d8! Lars Schandorff examines 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e6 4.e4 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Qxd4 7.Bxb4 Qxe4+ 8.Be2 Na6 9.Ba5 f6!? – Easy to remember, important to know: Dorian Rogozenco shows a classic fortress motif with king against knight + edge pawn – Strategy: the right double pawn! Mihail Marin explains when to knock out the centre with fxg and when not to, and much more. Includes ChessBase Book for iPad, tablet, etc.
Tata Steel 2026 with analyses by Bluebaum, Giri, L'Ami, Woodward and many more. Opening videos by Kasimdzhanov, Marin and Zwirs. 10 exciting opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more.
ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their best games and explain the ideas behind their moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you exactly the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a download (including magazine as a PDF file) or as a magazine with download key by post.
Included in delivery: CBM #230 as a ‘ChessBase Book’ for iPad, tablet, Mac, etc.! At books.chessbase.com
 

ChessBase Magazine #230

Highlights

From Tata Steel 2026 to Rustam Kasimdzhanov's opening video on the Two Knights Game and Dorian Rogozenco's ‘The Fortress’ to Karsten Mueller's training series ‘Fundamental Endgame Knowledge’.

Over 6 hours of video training with Martin Breutigam, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Jan Markos, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller, Oliver Reeh, Robert Ris, Dorian Rogozenco and Nico Zwirs.

Top games and master analyses

Tata Steel 2026: At the ‘Wimbledon of chess’ in Wijk aan Zee, the Uzbek top player Nodirbek Abdusattorov was among the leaders in the Masters from the outset and ultimately prevailed with 9 out of 13, ahead of his compatriot Javokhir Sindarov (8.5 out of 13). In the Challengers, the decision was made in the final round, when Andy Woodward prevailed against Erwin L'Ami and Aydin Suleymanli, who had been level on points until then, lost to Velimir Ivic. From a German perspective, Christian Glöckler's triumph in the Qualifiers (8.5 out of 9 – see cover!) is particularly  leasing. In this issue, you will find game analyses by Blübaum, Giri, Nguyen, Suleymanli, Warmerdam and Woodward.

Opening videos

Mihail Marin and Nico Zwirs take two games from the Tata Steel tournament as the starting
point for their opening theory analyses. Aravindh-Blübaum featured the Catalan, while Van Foreest-Giri saw the Sicilian Najdorf Variation. And Rustam Kasimdzhanov reports on his experiment with the Two Knights Game against McShane in the German Bundesliga.

Mihail Marin: Catalan
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0–0 6.0–0 dxc4 7.Qc2
Nico Zwirs: Sicilian Najdorf
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.f3 Be6 9.Qd2 Nbd7 10.0–0–0 h5 11.Kb1 Qc7
Rustam Kasimdzhanov: Two Knights Game
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ Bd7

Opening articles

ChessBase Magazine #230 provides plenty of new ideas for your repertoire with ten opening articles – from Sicilian to King's Indian!

Krisztian Szabo: Rossolimo 3.Bb5 e6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.b3 e5!?
Yago Santiago: Sicilian 2... e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6
Petra Papp: French Winawer Variation 7.Qg4
Alexy Kuzmin: Berlin Defence Showalter Gambit
Robert Ris:Queen's Gambit Accepted 3.e4 e5 4.Nf3 Bb4+ 5.Nc3
Lar Schandorff: Slav Marshall Gambit 9.Ba5 f6
Evgeny Postny: Queen's Gambit 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 b6 7.Bd3 Ba6
Spyridon  Queen's Gambit 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4
Balaczs Csonka: Gruenfeld Fianchetto 4...d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5
Sergey Grigoriants: King's Indian 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0

‘Special’: Vlastimil Hort

CBM authors comment on their favourite games by the German-Czech chess legend. Exclusive
collection of 24 games from 1965 to 2016.

Ris: ‘Move by Move’

Robert Ris' favourite game from the 2026 Tata Steel Masters was Jorden van Foreest's brilliant
victory in 26 moves against the world number 5, Vincent Keymer. Interactive video with 14 training questions and feedback on your ideas.

Rogozenco: ‘Modern Classics’

The 2010 game between Boris Gelfand and Wang Yue has everything a master game needs – from the concept of the game plan to the consistent expansion of the space advantage to the decisive breakthrough in the endgame!

Markos: Practical tips for tournament players – ‘The Hook’ 

The ‘hook’ is a lesser-known strategic motif. The attacker often invests a tempo to provoke the advance of a castled pawn with a piece – and suddenly you have a nice attacking point to break open your opponent's king position!

... and much more!

Order now in the ChessBase Shop  – Single issue € 21.90!

NEW: ChessBase Magazine subscription: Each issue for € 19.90 instead of € 21.90! (Download and ChessBase Book)

The new ChessBase Magazine subscription can be cancelled at any time. Available with payment by credit card or PayPal.

<< Prague Masters: Keymer beats Anton, Aravindh misses big chance
Topics: Blübaum, ChessBase Magazine, Giri, Kasimdzhanov, Marin, Markos, Reeh, Rogozenco, Tata Steel 2026, Woodward
Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.
Discussion and Feedback Submit your feedback to the editors

See also

CBM #228: World Championship candidates comment

11/10/2025 – At the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 in September, the decision was made on two places in the 2026 Candidates Tournament. In a dramatic final round, Anish Giri secured the tournament victory with a win against Hans Moke Niemann. Matthias Bluebaum drew with Alireza Firouzja, finishing second in the overall standings. The two World Championship candidates comment on games from Samarkand in the current ChessBase Magazine #228. In addition, many other participants of the Grand Swiss contributed analyses, and Dorian Rogozenco looks back on the event in a detailed video (running time: over 40 minutes). In this week's CBM reading sample, you can view Matthias Bluebaum's analysis and Rogozenco's video contribution free of charge – in your web browser in the ChessBase Books format. Enjoy!
More...
 3

See also

New: ChessBase Magazine #228

11/3/2025 – FIDE Grand Swiss 2025: analyses by Giri, Bluebaum, Vaishali, Abdusattorov, Mishra, Vidit and many more – "The double blockade": Mihail Marin highlights scenarios in which it is advantageous to block passed pawns with a knight and bishop – Action in the Nimzo-Indian: Balázs Csonka examines 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.e5!? – "The key defender": In his ‘Practical Tips for Tournament Players’, Jan Markos shows how to identify and eliminate your opponent's most important piece – All in One: Romain Edouard himself was amazed at how well 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 e5!? works, and much more.
More...
 1

Video

60m English A solid scandinavian surprise

On this 60 mins video we are going to concentrate on a simple, very solid idea in the main line Scandinavian, which even Magnus Carlsen has used to win games. Black focusses on making his life easy in the opening and forces White to work very hard to get advantage – but it is doubtful if White can get an advantage. Club players are always on the lookout for effective, time-saving solutions and here we have just that. Accompany FIDE Senior Trainer and IM Andrew Martin on this 60 mins video. You can learn a new opening system in 60 mins and start to play it with confidence on the very same day!