3/24/2017 – The Sharjah Masters 2017 was off to a rollicking start with about 180 players competing. While there were many upset draws, the one thing that stood out was the number of no-shows. The biggest upsets of the day were scored by the Indians—Viani Antonio Dcunha, Vignesh NR and Nihal Sarin. Illustrated report with video analyses by Daniel King.
new: ChessBase Magazine 208
The new European champion, Matthias Bluebaum, comments. New video series by Jan Markos: "Practical tips for the tournament player". Opening videos by Sokolov, Rogozenco and Marin. 10 opening articles for your oening repertoire and much more!
ChessBase is a personal, stand-alone chess database that has become the standard throughout the world. Everyone uses ChessBase, from the World Champion to the amateur next door. It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it.
In this two-volume video course former world-champion and startrainer Rustam Kasimdzhanov shows you the ins and outs of this hugely complex opening.
€29.90
Sharjah Masters 01: Upsets and Walkovers
Photos by Maria Emelianova
The Sharjah Masters 2017 began with 230 players. But the picture after the round began was strange—40 of the 230 players never arrived to play! This included six Indians and 15 grandmasters.
To make matters very interesting, the officials decided to enforce the accelerated pairings system in the first three rounds. This saw 2450 players take on the 2700s in the very first round. In the top 15 boards, there were 8 draws, 4 walkovers.
The time control is 90 minutes with 30 seconds increment for the full game. This promised a lot of fighting chess.
Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2745) is the top seed but already in the first round....
...he was held to a draw by Ukraine's Valeriy Neverov (2477).
GM Eltaj Safarli was held to a draw by IM Shyaamnikhil P.
GM Gawain Jones managed to defeat WGM Zhansaya Abdumalik.
IM Praggnanandhaa R. landed in a soup with the black pieces against Arkadij Naiditsch (2702).
But in typical Praggu style, he fought back and held a draw, despite the ticking clock almost crushing him. Nerves of steel, indeed. But this is not surprising—his fighting spirit is what makes him so strong and special.
Playing his last few moves with seconds on the clock, Praggnanandhaa held Naiditsch to a draw.
And it is this fighting spirit that differentiates the best from the rest. IM Nihal Sarin was playing with black against German GM Matthias Bluebaum (2632).
Nihal is becoming well-known for his unique ability to switch styles at will. Here, instead of playing a solid positional game with black, he chose to play a sharp Vienna leading to a double-edged middlegame. His plan was clear--the one who would go wrong first would most likely lose. A street fight ensued...
With both Bluebaum and Nihal under time-pressure, it was the German who went wrong first and the 12-year-old finished the game swiftly.
Joining Praggnanandhaa and Nihal at the 'prodigy party' was Uzbek IM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, also a 12-year-old wunderkind, who held Vladimir Akopian (2675).
GM B. Adhiban destroyed IM Swayams Mishra's king in a neat attack.
Daniel King analyzes with Adhiban
White to play
But probably the most beautiful game of the day was IM Viani Antonio Dcunha's crushing victory against Argentine GM Sandro Mareco (2664). A beautiful little gem with a sparkling sacrifice.
Priyadarshan BanjanPriyadarshan Banjan is a 23-year-old club player from India. He works as an editor for ChessBase News and ChessBase India. He is a chess fanatic and an avid fan of Vishy Anand. He also maintains a blog on a variety of topics.
The starting point of this video course is 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5. Rogozenco explains the ins and outs of the mainline and sidelines.
Sicilian Sveshnikov Powerbase 2023 is a database and contains a total of 8553 games from Mega 2023 or the Correspondence Database 2022, of which 578 are annotated.
The greater part of the material on which the Sicilian Sveshnikov Powerbook 2023 is based, comes from the engine room in playchess.com: 199 000 games. This imposing number has been supplemented with another 14 000 games from the Mega Database and from cor
Most players prefer to attack rather than defend. But what is the correct way to do it? GM Dr Karsten Müller has compiled many rules and motifs to guide you, along with sharpening your intuition for the exceptions.
Videos: Caro-Kann with 2.Nf3 d5 3,d3 by Christian Bauer and Saemisch Benoni by David Navara. "Lucky bag" with 45 annotated games - analyses by Anish Giri, Alexander Motylev, Romain Edouard et al. Update service with 43,000 new games.
2nd Move Anti-Sicilian Powerbase 2023 is a database and contains a total of 10131 games from Mega 2023 or the Correspondence Database 2022, of which 847 are annotated.
Powerbook based on more than 508 000 games in which White already sidesteps the main variations of the Sicilian on move 2.
€9.90
Fritztrainer in App Store
for iPads and iPhones
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.
