6/3/2024 – Magnus Carlsen climbed to sole first place in the standings of the Norway Chess super-tournament after inflicting what was Ding Liren’s fourth consecutive classical loss in Stavanger. The world champion blundered a mate-in-two in a balanced position to lose the game. Meanwhile, Fabiano Caruana and Alireza Firouzja prevailed in Armageddon tiebreakers against Hikaru Nakamura and R Praggnanandhaa, respectively. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / Norway Chess
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Concerning
In a recent interview given to The Indian Express, Ding Liren reflected on his latest, subpar performances, noting that he hoped “not to finish in last place” at the Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger. After suffering four consecutive classical losses in the event, the world champion stands in clear last place with 2½ points to his name, a whopping 4 points behind fifth-placed Fabiano Caruana.
In round 6, it was Magnus Carlsen who got the better of Ding, as the Chinese GM incredibly blundered a mate-in-two in a position that engines evaluated as balanced. Carlsen had referred to Ding’s form in a recent podcast, mentioning that he hoped for his colleague not to be “permanently broken”.
In this course, we will learn how to identify passively placed pieces in any given situation and how to improve their health by bringing them into active squares.
Ding has already talked about the mental health issues he had to deal with after beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the 2023 match for the World Championship. As shared by Tarjei J. Svensen on X, Ding provided more details about his struggles in a recent interview given to Die Tageszeitung:
I was exhausted, but still couldn’t sleep very well. That led to depression. I was treated in a clinic twice. Fortunately, things are slowly getting better. Chess is mentally exhausting.
A few of Ding’s colleagues in Norway, including Hikaru Nakamura, have shared their concern about Ding’s form and their desire for him to recover from this low point in his career.
Ding Liren | Photo: Stev Bonhage
As per the race for first place in Stavanger, Carlsen’s classical win allowed him to take the sole lead in the standings. The local hero has a 1-point lead over Nakamura, who was defeated by Caruana in Armageddon on Sunday. Standing in third place is R Praggnanandhaa, who also lost in round-6’s rapid tiebreaker, against Alireza Firouzja.
Monday’s seventh round will see the clash between Nakamura and Carlsen, while Ding will try to stop the bleeding in his game with black against Pragg.
In this Video-Course we deal with different dynamic decisions involving pawns. The aim of this Course is to arm club/tournament players with fresh ideas which they can use in their own practice.
On Sunday, Fabiano Caruana defeated Hikaru Nakamura with the black pieces in Armageddon | Photo: Stev Bonhage
1.Nf3d52.g3Nf63.Bg2c54.0-0e65.c4d46.e3Nc67.exd4cxd48.d3Bd69.Nbd2Carlsen had certainly studied the game:9.Bg5h610.Bxf6Qxf611.Nbd2Qe712.a3a513.Ne4Bc714.c50-015.Nfd2f516.Nd6Bxd617.cxd6Qxd618.Nc4Qd819.Rc1Ra620.Qb3Kh821.Rfe1f422.Qb5Rf523.Qb3f324.Bh3Rf625.Ne5Qd626.Nxc6Rxc627.Qb5Qc728.Rxc6bxc629.Qh5c530.Rc1Ba631.Qe8+Kh732.Bxe6Rxe633.Qxe6Bxd334.Qd51-0 Fridman,D (2590)-Ding,L (2762) Karlsruhe Grenke 4-6 rapid 2024 (2)9...0-09...h6The following had been seen in some games:10.Nh4e.g.:e511.Ne4Be712.Qf3g613.a3Nd714.b4a615.Bd2Nf816.b5axb517.cxb5Na518.Bb4f519.Nd2Kf720.Rfe1Bf621.Rac1Kg722.Qd5Nd723.Qd6Re824.Rc7Ra725.Rec11-0 Saric,I (2627)-Palac,M (2562) Blagoevgrad op 2013 (9)10.Ng5Be711.f4Rb8Here, in some of the games11...h6was played.12.Qe2Qc7
The real struggle is just starting.13.g4A somewhat unexpected advance of the g-pawn.b514.b3bxc415.bxc4Rb616.Nde4Nxe417.Nxe4Bb718.f5White conquers space with his kingside pawns, which he wants to use for an attack.exf519.gxf5Ne520.Bf4f621.Rae1Perhaps Ng5 is a threat.Bxe422.Qxe422.Bxe4Bd623.Bd5+22...Bd623.Kh1Qc524.Bg3Rd825.Qe2White has the upper hand.Nd726.Bf2Be527.Bd5+Kh828.Qh5More precise was28.Rg1+-28...Qf8After28...Rb229.Re4h6White only has a small advantage.29.Re4
29...Rb2??Overlooks the following two-move combination.30.Qxh7+1–0
I give promising mainlines for white against all black’s main replies to 1.d4 d5 that are engine-proof, easy to learn and can be played almost instantly.
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.
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.
How do you play the Queen's Gambit Accepted? Does White have promising variations or can Black construct a water-tight repertoire? The Powerbook provides the answers based on 300 000 games, most of them played by engines.
The Queen's Gambit Accepted Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 11827 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 240 are annotated.
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The greater part of the material on which the Rossolimo/Moscow Powerbook 2025 is based comes from the engine room of playchess.com: 263.000 games. This imposing amount is supplemented by some 50 000 games from Mega and from Correspondence Chess.
Focus on the Sicilian: Opening videos on the Najdorf Variation with 6.h3 e5 7.Nb3 (Luis Engel) and the Taimanov Variation with 7.Qf3 (Nico Zwirs). ‘Lucky bag’ with 38 analyses by Anish Giri, Surya Ganguly, Abhijeet Gupta, Yannick Pelletier and many more.
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