Opening trap and repertoire recommendation
Sicilian Paulsen: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Qc2 Qc7 8.a3 Bxc3+ 9.Qxc3
Black has just exchanged his bishop for a knight on c3 and is already under a bit of pressure here; because quiet continuations like 9...d6 or 9...0-0 no longer equalize because of the white bishop pair. So many resort to 9...Nxe4? and soon face much bigger problems, since White gets a winning position after 10.Nb5!.
How do you continue after 10.Nb5! axb5 11.Qxg7 Rf8? Raienr Knaak shows you the solution in one of his videos in CBM #210!
As usual, we will analyze the opening traps of the last months, where both players should have at least a rating of 2000. You can also watch the traps 3, 7 and 8 in the video.
Catalan - update from CBM 205: 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 d5 4.0-0 Be7 5.c4 0-0 6.d4 c6 7.Nc3 b6 8.Ne5
IIt has already been shown that after the last white move 8.Ne5!? the most played 8...Bb7?! is strongly answered with 9.e4, because 9...Nbd7? 10.Nxc6! leads directly to a big white advantage. However, the position in the diagram has another trap in store, which Black falls into with 8...Nfd7? Although c6 is then covered, the disaster happens on the long diagonal: 9.cxd5! and so on.
Queen's Gambit - update from CBM 207: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Qb6 7.Qc2 Ne4 8.Nxe4 dxe4 9.Qxe4+ Be6
IIn practice White usually castles long, but after 10...Qa5 he already has to be very careful not to get into a disadvantage. Much more difficult is Black's task after 10.Nf3 Qxb2 11.Rb1. Starting with 11...Qxa2 (in the game the weaker 11...Qc3+ was played) some precise moves have to be found to keep the balance. However, you should play through the game, which is only 14 moves long, to the end, also because of the beautiful finale.
Ruy Lopez - update from CBM 177: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 d6 5.Re1 Bd7 6.c3 Be7 7.d4 0-0
White's move should undoubtedly be a bit better, but many miss an important detail: the bishop b5 is uncovered. That's why the most played move 8.Nbd2? is answered with 8...Nxd4!
London System - update from CBM 191: 1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.c3 Qb6 6.Qc2
With last move 6.Qc2!? White deviates from the main variation 6.Qb3 c4 7.Qc2 Bf5 8.Qc1 and many Black players believe that after immediately 6.Qc2 it continues the same way with 6...Bf5. But 7.dxc5! immediately forces an endgame (7...Bxc2 8.cxb6 axb6), in which the double b-pawn is a small but long-lasting handicap for Black.
Tarrasch Defence:1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.g3 Nf6 7.Bg2 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.b3 Ne4 10.Bb2 Bf6 11.Na4
Actually it's quite simple: after 11...b5? 12.Nxc5! Rxc5 13.Tc1 White wins back the piece and remains with an extra pawn. But many stop calculating after 12...Nxc5 and fall into the trap.
Pirc Defence:1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.Bc4 d5 5.exd5 b5 6.Bb3 b4
The somewhat unusual black setup tempts some white players to look for a refutation. They 'find it' with play on the long diagonal h1-a8 combined with an attack on f7. But in fact they fall right into the trap with 7.dxc6? bxc3 8.Qf3. Then 8...e6! 9.c7 Qxc7 10.Qxa8 Nc6 leads to a winning position for Black. However, the risk should not be underestimated. Many move the Nc3 away without much thought and then simply stand a little better.
Sicilian Paulsen: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Qc2 Qc7 8.a3 Bxc3+ 9.Qxc3
Black has just exchanged his bishop for a knight on c3 and is already under a bit of pressure here; because quiet continuations like 9...d6 or 9...0-0 no longer equalize because of the white bishop pair. So many resort to 9...Nxe4? and soon face much bigger problems, since White gets a winning position after 10.Nb5!
French Advance Variation: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 Nh6 7.b4 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nf5 9.Be3 Bd7
White played 10.Nc3 here, unpleasantly threatening 11.Na4. However, Black strikes first and with the typical pin motif 10...Nxe3 11.fxe3 Nxb4! 12.axb4 Bxb4 he wins a pawn.
You can find all eight opening traps with detailed analyses by Rainer Knaak in ChessBase Magazine #210!
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A rich training programme awaits you in ChessBase Magazine #210! The editors have put together a selection for you as a special recommendation on the Start page:
Chess Olympiad 2022: Review with analyses of more than 20 participants and Ivan Sokolov's contribution "Steps to Gold" - "Special" on the new World Championship candidate Ding Liren: exclusive collection of 18 annotated games + contributions on strategy and endgame - "The Indian Gambit": Daniel King presents a fresh and exciting idea in the English Opening: 1.c4 e5 2.Sc3 Sf6 3.Sf3 e4 4.Sg5 c6!? (Video) - "Practical Tips for the Tournament Player" Episode 3: How to play against a stronger opponent (Video by Jan Markos + small collection of exercises) - "Full Throttle in the Open Spanish": Robert Ris examines the highly topical Dilworth Variation and much more.
CBM authors analyse their favourite games of the top player from China. Look forward to an exclusive collection of 18 annotated games!
Chess Olympiad 2022: The major event of the year with 186 teams in the Open Tournament is the focus of this issue. Over 20 participants comment on their best games from Chennai in this issue, including Praggnanandhaa, Anish Giri, Wesley So, Arjun Erigaisi, Jules Moussard, Luke McShane, Pentala Harikrishna, Matthias Blübaum, Maxime Lagarde, Rasmus Svane, Viktor Erdos, the silver medal team from Armenia and the gold medallists in the women's tournament, Anna and Mariya Muzychuk. Moreover, the coach of the winning Uzbek team, Ivan Sokolov, presents highlights of his young team in his article "Steps to Gold".
How would you behave if you encountered a bear in the forest? Correct: You try not to panic. What you need is a plan. And it's the same in chess when you have to play against a much stronger opponent! In the third part of his series, GM Jan Markos presents three strategies for this kind of situation in the video and rounds off his contribution with a small collection of exercises.
The game Gukesh-Abdusattorov played a key role in the fight for medals in Chennai. Replay it in the interactive training format with IM Robert Ris!
New opening ideas explained on the basis of one game with detailed commentary. In this issue: King's Indian (Imre Hera) and English (Tanmay Srinath).
Daniel King presents a fresh and exciting gambit in the English Opening. Jan Werle explains positional ideas in the Rubinstein Variation of the Nimzo Indian. And Mihail Marin has come across the novelty 14...a5! in a game of the Benoni expert Aleksandar Indjic at the Olympiad.
Daniel King: English – "The Indian Gambit"
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 e4 4.Ng5 c6!?
Jan Werle: Nimzo Indian
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 Be7 8.Bd3 0-0 9.Nge2 Re8 10.Qc2 Nbd7 11.f3 b5
Mihail Marin: Benoni
7.h3 Bg7 8.e4 0-0 9.Be3 Re8 10.Nd2 a6 11.a4 Nxe4 12.Ncxe4 f5 13.Be2 fxe4 14.Nc4 a5!
ChessBase Magazine #210 covers the usual broad spectrum with 10 fresh opening articles:
Roven Vogel: English 1.c4 e5 2.g3 f5 3.Bg2 Be7
Martin Lorenzini: Scandinavian 3...Qa5 and 6.Ne5 (II)
Patrick Zelbel: Modern Defence 4...a6 5.g4
Petra Papp: Grivas Sicilian 4...Qb6 5.Nb3 Nf6 6.Nc3 e6
Krisztian Szabo: Sicilian O’Kelly Variation (Part I) 3.d4/3.c3
Sergey Grigoriants: Philidor Defence 6.Bf4
Robert Ris: Open Ruy Lopez Dilworth
Evgeny Postny: Botvinnik Variation 12.h4
Alexey Kuzmin: Nimzoindian 4.e3 0–0 5.Bd3 d5 6.a3
Andrey Sumets: Catalan 5.Bg2 a6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Qd2
"From the London System to the Ruy Lopez". The expert Rainer Knaak presents eight traps with detailed analyses and three videos.
Mihail Marin sheds light on aspects of Ding's play - his “typical rook lifts” and also his play with the pawns. Incl. video introduction and many training exercises.
Dorian Rogozenco starts his new series in a befitting manner - Bobby Fischer himself described the 7th game against Petrosian as the best of their 1971 Candidates Match.
Oliver Reeh's yield from the Chess Olympiad is abundant: 41 games, peppered with many tactical exercises, await you. Don't miss the chance to solve his favourite combinations, move by move in interactive video format!
This issue offers no less than four articles by Karsten Mueller. In addition to the article on Ding Liren, the expert also presents the most beautiful endgames from the 2022 Chess Olympiad. Moreover, Mueller provides a collection of training tasks and answers the letters to the editor in detail as usual.
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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 39.90 € (instead of 59,85 € 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 €99.70 per year (compared to €119.70 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
