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World class players explain the ideas behind their moves. Opening specialists present current trends and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in terms of tactics, strategy and endgame show you exactly the tricks and techniques that you need to be a successful tournament player!
In this survey we continue to investigate the Exchange Caro-Kann, this time - the line 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.h3 e5.
White's sixth move is directed to cover the g4 square, thus restricting the black light-squared bishop. If Black replies passively, they can easily end up in a very unpleasant position. By the central thrust 6...e5 Black tries to solve problems in a concrete way, opening up the centre. From now on. their piece development will run smoothly, but Black must be ready to play with an isolated pawn, so this decision does contain some strategical risk.
In the diagram White has to exchange on e5, and after 7.dxe5 Nxe5 there is a choice. The most logical moves are A) 8.Bb5+, B) 8.Qe2 and C) 8.Nf3. In general White will try blockade the d5 pawn and put pressure on it. Black, on their part, should create active piece play on the squares around the isolated pawn.
The check is not dangerous at this moment. After 8...Bd7 9.Bxd7+ Qxd7 10.Nf3 Nxf3+ 11.Qxf3 Qe6+ 12.Be3 Bc5
only Black can fight for a slight advantage, see the game Manik,M - Zilka,S ½-½.
It is obviously tempting to pin the knight. Before proceeding to the main response 8...Qe7, it is worth mentioning the alternative 8...Ne4. Black is offering a pawn sacrifice. Now the best option for White is to decline the challenge, and to give a side check 9.Bb5+. In the game Sargsyan,S - Donchenko,A 1-0 White managed to get some pressure.
After the main move 8...Qe7 White has three options:
B1) 9.Be3
Here in the game Gadimbayli,A - Mammadov,Z 1-0 Black chose 9...Qe6 and achieved adequate play. The alternatives 9...Nxd3+ and 9...Bd7 are also acceptable.
B2) 9.Bc2
Here White is trying to preserve the light-squared bishop. Now the most principled reply is 9...b6 creating the tactical idea 10...Ba6. After 10.Na3 Ba6 11.Nb5 0-0-0
we get a sharp position, which is balanced according to the engine. See the game Antipov,M - Vazquez,G 1-0.
B3) 9.Bb5+
The most logical response is 9...Bd7. Now 10.Bf4? is tempting but bad, due to 10...0-0-0! as in the recent game Kacharava,N - Rakhmanov,A 1-0. White should play 10.Be3 and after 10...Bxb5 11.Qxb5+ Qd7
regardless of whether White decides to swap queens or not, Black has no problems. See the game Lednicky,M - Doettling,F 0-1.
Here White doesn't mind giving-up their light-squared bishop, counting on quick development and a safe blockade of the isolated pawn. Black's best response is to grab the bishop: 8...Nxd3+ 9.Qxd3.
Obviously, Black should develop their kingside. 9...Be7 is possible, but a bit passive. After 10.0-0 0-0 11.Be3 White was pressing in the game Alekseev,E - Bocharov,D 1-0. 9...Bd6 is more active and the best way of development. Let's follow the game of the current author for a change: 10.0-0 0-0 11.Be3 Be6 12.Nbd2 Qd7.
Black is planning to play Be6-f5 and then put the bishop or the knight on e4. Later on I managed to seize the initiative and win a decent game - Rabiega,R - Postny,E 0-1.
The principled continuation is 11.Bg5. The pin is annoying, so Black has to get rid of it. After 11...h6 12.Bh4 g5 13.Bg3 Bxg3 14.fxg3
there arises an interesting position. The black king is more vulnerable, and the d5 weakness is still there. However, things are concrete. The best continuation now is 14...g4 15.hxg4 Nxg4. The position is dynamically balanced. See the game Meissner,F - Donchenko,A ½-½.
Conclusion: The advance 6...e5 is perfectly acceptable and offers Black adequate play in all variations. This is not a line with long forced sequences that lead to a draw. Many of the arising positions have a lot of scope for creativity and can be handled with both sides, depending on the players' preferences.
You can find the complete article with all games and analyses in the new ChessBase Magazine #214!
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From the World Championship match Ding Liren against Ian Nepomniachtchi to repertoire ideas for Dutch, Najdorf or Scandinavian or the series "Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" Part 4 by Dr. Karsten Mueller:
Over 7 hours of video playing time with U14 World Champion Ilamparthi, Ivan Sokolov, Jan Markos, Mihail Marin, Dorian Rogozenco et al.
World Championship 2023: Anish Giri, Hou Yifan, Sam Shankland and Wesley So comment on the most important games of a highly entertaining duel.
TePe Sigeman: The veteran Peter Svidler put several young top players in their place at the tournament in Malmö. Analyses of the tournament winner as well as Abhimanyu Mishra, Boris Gelfand, Nils Grandelius and Jorden van Foreest.
CBM authors analyse their favourite game of the 10th World Champion. An exclusive collection of 27 annotated games from the period 1949 to 1989 awaits you!
The Hippopotamus Defence – a setup against everything! Igor Stohl dissects the game Tomashevsky-Carlsen with the opening moves 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Nf3 a6 5.a4 b6 6.Bc4 e6 7.0-0 Ne7 8.Re1 Bb7 9.Bf4 Nd7 10.Qd2 h6
With 9.5 out of 11, the now 14-year-old Ilamparthi won the 2022 U14 World Championship. Play through the decisive moments of his games together with Sagar Shah and the young champion - in interactive format with video feedback!
Ivan Sokolov checks Gukesh's novelty and pawn sacrifice 9.Qc2 in the Catalan from the Menorca Open 2023 - "excellent preparation by Gukesh!" Sipke Ernst examines the novelty 8.h4 in the Ragozin Variation, which was discussed in the duel between his compatriots Van Foreest and Giri at the Tata Steel tournament 2023. And Mihail Marin takes up the opening line 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 c5 4.Be2 Nc6 5.0-0, which came up on the board in the 12th game of the World Championship match, among others.
Ivan Sokolov: Catalan
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.g3 dxc4 6.Bg2 b5 7.Ne5 a6 8.0-0 Bb7 9.Qc2
Sipke Ernst: Queen's Gambit Ragozin Variation
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bf4 Ne4 7.Rc1 Nc6 8.h4
Mihail Marin: Queen's Pawn Opening
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 c5 4.Be2 Nc6 5.0-0
From the Dutch to the King’s Indian –ChessBase Magazine #214 comes with 11 opening articles and lots of new ideas!
Kapnisis: Dutch 1.d4 f5 2.e4Lorenzini: Scandinavian 3…Qa5 with 7.Ne5
Postny: Caro-Kann Exchange Variation 6.h3 e5
Ris: Sicilian Sveshnikov 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nab1
Quintiliano: Najdorf Poisoned Pawn Variation (I)
Papp: French Winawer Variation 5.Bd2 (Part I)
Grigoriants: Italian for insiders 10...Re8
Rosell: Ruy Lopez Delayed Steinitz 4.Ba4 d6
Kuzmin: QG Exchange 6.Bf4 c6 7.e3 Bf5 8.Nh4!?
Sumets: Catalan 6.0-0 dxc4 7 Ne5 Qd6
Szabo: King's Indian 5.Be2 0-0 6.h4
"Queens: flexible, lively or even dancing" - Rainer Knaak presents eight traps from current tournament practice. Including three FritzTrainer videos!
Robert Ris chose the eighth game of the World Championship match between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi for his interactive video – a fascinating game in which the new World Champion missed the win, however.
The Karpov-Yussupov game (1983) is a "real masterpiece of positional play". In this game, the then World Champion demonstrated in an exemplary manner how to prevent any active play on the part of his opponent through perfect prophylaxis.
Should you aim for symmetrical positions if you want to play safe in a game? Jan Markos explains what is important in these positions and why small differences are of great importance!
Strategy expert Mihail Marin sheds light on the strategy of the 10th World Champion on the basis of games before he won the World Championship title in 1969 - because as Korchnoi once said, Spassky played his best chess sometime between 1958 and 1963.
In the tactics article with 45 games, our expert Oliver Reeh has compiled material for more than one training session. His four favourite combinations are best solved move by move in the interactive video format with feedback function!
Karsten Mueller continues his training series. Following an introductory video, your technique is called for in three interactive videos! In addition, Mueller provides a contribution with the most beautiful endgames by Boris Spassky (video introduction + analyses).
Order now in the ChessBase Shop – Single issue € 21.90!
Try out ChessBase Magazine now! Order the ChessBase Magazine taster package!
Read ChessBase Magazine for 6 months (= 3 issues) for the special price of only € 44.90 € (instead of € 65,70 for buying them individually). As a thank you, you will also receive 3 months ChessBase Premium Membership free of charge.
*Bonus for new subscribers only, i.e. there was no CBM subscription for 12 months!
Save twice with ChessBase Magazine: For the annual subscription to ChessBase Magazine you’ll pay only € 109.90 per year (compared to € 131.40 for the 6 individual issues).
* Bonus only for new subscribers, i.e. there was no CBM subscription for 12 months! As a new subscriber you will receive the original ChessBase USB stick with 128 GB
