3/30/2017 – A key round, as they all are so near the finish, with nerves taking their toll as was evidenced by several games suffering from irrecoverable catastrophes early on. The biggest game of the say was Wang Hao's victory over Adhiban with black, when the Indian unwittingly entered a line the Chinese player had prepared in detail with a student! He analyzes his win with Daniel King in this illustrated report.
new: ChessBase Magazine 225
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 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 brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the 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 the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post. Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #225 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.!
FM Claus Dieter Meyer has put under the microscope a comprehensive fund of topical and timeless games / fragments. On video Hamburg GM Dr. Karsten Müller has outlined corner points of Meyer's work and created 14 tests plus 10 interactive test sets.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
€59.90
All photos by Anastasiya Karlovich
Geoffrey Borg, the FIDE CEO, arrives to tournament
Before the round starts, Adhiban, Bok, and Saleh enjoy a friendly chat
It isn't often that a grandmaster's queen finds itself attacked with nowhere to hide, yet that is precisely what took place in not one, but two games.
Radoslaw Wojtaszek vs Benjamin Bok
Centralization is key strategical concept in chess, but to every rule there is an exception. Here, just 15 moves have been played, but after 16. Nb3! (oops!), the queen was caught smack in the middle of the board. Black played 16...a4, but eventually waved the white flag 15 moves later. (Note: You can move the pieces on the diagram)
Top seed Wojtaszek probably could not believe his good fortune to find himself winning the queen after just 16 moves
Matthias Bluebaum vs Vishnu Prasanna V
In this game, Black only did better by one move, and after 17. Qb2! resigned in view of the inevitable 18. Nb3! winning the black queen
The queen related tragedies did not stop there, and even decided the top board and the top spot.
Baskaran Adhiban vs Wang Hao
It was a crucial game for the standings, and Wang Hao admitted he had planned to not push hard for tournament strategy reasons, only to find his opponent had other ideas. The opening play seems very offbeat, but little did the Indian know, Wang Hao had analyzed it all in detail.... with one of his students! Daniel King is astonished to learn that an active elite player such as Wang Hao is also a teacher.
When asked how he spent his free days in such events, Wang Hao said he is very relaxed and usually spends it watching anime (Japanese cartoons) or playing video games
Although the chance for a GM norm is no longer on the table, 11-year-old Praggnanandhaa will nevertheless add some Elo points to his already impressive 2455 rating.
Aditya Mital vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov
We are treated to a game between to very young fighters: Aditya Mittal, 11 years old, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, 13, and already clearly of strong IM strength. The young Uzbeki shares his win with Daniel King.
16-year-old WGM Zhansaya Abdumalik has had a challenging event and stands at 4.0/7
Official photographer Maria Emelianova
The very likable Gawain Jones suffered another setback in round seven, and after a 4.0/4 start, has now lost two straight games
Vasanta Wettasinha is 60 years old, and rated a very modest 1718, but the incredibly out-giving player teaches children chess for free in Sri Lanka.
Saleh Salem vs Viani Antonio Dcunha
Top UAE player, Salem Saleh, rated 2652, reached a powerful position against his Indian opponent, but as he explains to Daniel King, who agreed, how he could break through was not at all obvious. He then hit upon a powerful plan, which he executed to eventually convert his advantage to a win. A fascinating video.
After his first round 'slip' when he drew 11-year-old IM Praggnanandhaa, Arkadij Naiditsch is now well on track with 5.5/7 and 5th in the standings. It will all come down to the last two rounds.
French GM Laurent Fressinet is also on 5.5/7 and 6th in the standings
Feel free to navigate through the games, use the embedded engine to analyze, and of course analyze any move directly on the board. Webmasters of any site can embed this by using the simple code here.
The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 14 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Albert SilverBorn in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech as well as the author of Typing Tomes, a powerful typing program.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
In this powerful new course, endgame expert Karsten Müller teams up with rising star Leon Mendonca to deliver what truly matters: 10 essential rules that every player must know.
In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
From the 2026 Candidates Tournament, featuring a video review by Dorian Rogozenco, to Jan Werle’s opening video on the French Tarrasch Defence, and Oliver Reeh’s tactical column ‘Top Grandmasters at Work’. Analyses by Giri, So, Wei Yi and many others.
You will learn how Black's dynamic piece activity and structural counterplay more than compensate for White's extra tempo in the colour-reversed setups.
In this course, you’ll learn how to take the initiative against the London and prevent White from comfortably playing their usual system by playing 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 Nh5.
€9.90
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