2/17/2020 – The Cairns Cup has just concluded in St. Louis with Humpy Koneru taking top honours. GM Simon Williams examines the highlights. | Puzzle time: In the position below it's White to play and win! | Watch for free live and on-demand (for a limited time, or forever with a ChessBase Premium account) starting at the usual hour: 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET / 12 Noon EST).
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.!
Simon Williams presents the London System, providing the theory you need for your games (7 h 16 min). In addition Williams also introduces into typical tactics and patterns in a seperate product. (53 games, 96 training questions and 3h 14 min)
The Neo-London System offers many new, creative possibilities to present your opponents with serious problems in the early stages of the game.
€49.90
Top-class women
In this Simon Says we take a look at some sparkling highlights from the Cairns Cup, a fantastic competition in St Louis with top prizes. Come and join me at 5pm GMT to join in the fun!
Warm-up: What move now gave Gunina a large advantage?
Gunina vs Kosteniuk, 2nd Cairns Cup 2020
Position after 12...Nd8
Find the full game below!
This week's show
Live for free from 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET / 12 Noon EST). You can also watch it in the archive with a ChessBase Account. Don't have an account? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!
On this DVD Grandmaster Daniel King: ● demonstrates typical tactical patterns ● shows how strong players use their tactical awareness ● puts your tactical abilities to the test — but this is a test with a difference. Although the emphasis is on tactics, there are also positions that require a strategic solution. You don’t know what’s coming next...
Simon is live most Mondays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET / 12 Noon EST)
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About Simon Says
In early 2015 Simon Williams launched his own show called "Simon says" after producing the first of his ChessBase video series. On a weekly basis (with breaks for tournaments and chess events) Simon entertains the chess world with attacking ideas, play strategies and witty manoeuvres on the chess board.
ChessBase Premium members have permanent access to the videos in the archive. Over 60 shows and counting have been published to date. Their lengths differ but most of them run for about 60 minutes.
Opening with the Chigorin shows your intention to play for a win right from the outset. After 2...Nc6 Black's pieces fly into the game putting pressure on White's position from a very early stage. This opening is ideal for the type of player who strives for an unconvential yet attacking game right from the start.
Over the last couple of years nearly all the world's elite grandmasters have been employing the London System, and on this DVD Simon Williams shows what we can learn from their practice. The "Ginger GM" takes a look at all the latest developments whilst teaching you all the basics that you need to know in order to play this opening with success.
Simon Williams presents the London System, providing the theory you need for your games (7 h 16 min). In addition Williams also introduces into typical tactics and patterns in a seperate product. (53 games, 96 training questions and 3h 14 min)
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1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bb5a64.Ba4Nf65.d3d66.c4Bg4C77: Ruy Lopez: 3. ..a6 4 Ba4 Nf6, unusual lines.7.Be3Nd78.h3Bh5The
position is equal.9.Nc3
Predecessor:9...Qb8N9...Bxf3=remains equal.10.Qxf3Be79...Be710.g4Bg611.Qe2h512.0-0-0b513.cxb5axb514.Bxb5Nb415.a3c616.axb4cxb50-1 (34) Pirttimaki, T-Johnston,G Valetta 198010.Nd5Qc811.g4Bg612.Nh4Black
should playNd812...Rb813.Bb6±Ne6
14.Bxc7!b515.cxb5axb516.Bxb5Nxc717.Rc117.Nb6±Nxb518.Nxc8Rxc819.Rc117...Nxb518.Rxc8+Rxc8Much worse is19.Qa419.Nxg6hxg620.Qa4Nd419...Rb820.0-0Be721.Nxg621.Nf3±21...hxg6=22.Rc1Black must now prevent Nc7+.Bd823.Qa60-0
And now ...Nc5 would win.24.b4!Nf625.Rc8Rxc826.Qxc8Nxd527.exd5Nd428.a4f5...Bh4 is the strong
threat.29.g5!e430.dxe4Bxg531.Qc4Nf3+!32.Kg2Ne533.Qc2?33.Qa6=and White has nothing to worry.fxe434.Qxd633...fxe4-+34.Qxe4Rf435.Qe135.Qe3Rg4+36.hxg4Bxe337.fxe335...Bh436.b5Nd3?36...Rxf2+-+37.Qxf2Bxf238.Kxf2Kf737.Qe8+?37.Qe3=and White
stays safe.Rxf2+38.Kh137...Kh738.f3Rxa4Black mates.39.f4Ra2+40.Kf3Ne1+Accuracy: White = 56%, Black = 69%.0–1
Simon WilliamsSimon Williams became a IM in 1998 and a GM in 2008. For the last 15 years he has concentrated on teaching, playing and making instructional chess DVDs. He also has a lot of experience commentating about chess. Being the regular commentator at the strongest and best open tournament in the world, Gibraltar. Simon Williams is the author of numerous chess books. His first chess book. 'Play the Classical Dutch' got voted, in New in Chess, as one of the top 10 chess books of all time. His playing style is very aggressive, preferring attacking chess to positional grinds. No wonder he produced two widely acclaimed ChessBase DVDs on the King's Gambit. More information about Williams can be found on his website.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
The Trompowsky is especially suited for faster time controls as you don‘t have to memorise endless lines of theory, and you push your opponent out of their comfort zone after your second move.
Trompowsky Powerbook 2025 is based on 53,000 computer games from the engine room of playchess.com as well as 49,000 games from Mega and correspondence chess.
Trompowsky Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 8727 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 316 are annotated.
2025 European Championship with a German double victory and analyses by Bluebaum, Svane, Rodshtein, Yuffa, Navara and many more. Opening videos by Engel, King and Marin. Training sections “The Fortress”, “The Trap” and “Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" etc.
In this dynamic and practical video course, IM Andrew Martin arms you with powerful antidotes to White’s most annoying sidelines.
€34.90
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