3/1/2020 – This Agony and Ecstasy features some English games from an experienced club player from Wales, which GM JON SPEELMAN gives his usual pedagogic attention. As a bonus, Jon recorded a video version of his analysis. | Send in your own games! | Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
Winning starts with what you know The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
Whether it’s a weak pawn, a vulnerable king, or poor piece coordination, this course will teach you how to pinpoint the critical targets, prioritise your attack, and execute a clear, effective plan.
€39.90
Agony & Ecstasy #117
This week's games are by Alan Llewellyn [pictured foreground with White] a Welshman who lives in Cumbria and writes:
I've played chess seriously at the Barrow and Ulverston clubs since 1989. Being Welsh, I'm into rugby and my chess often resembles a rugby pitch after a long aggressive series of actions. I have played in the Isle of Man Masters and beaten some strong players including Keith Arkell online.
Alan's chess is rather up and down and of a number of games he sent me a couple were fairly disastrous but, at his best, he has an excellent feel for what needs to be done.
I've chosen three, starting with a painfully quick loss in the Isle of Man against the Israeli IM and problem composer [and ChessBase contributor] Yochanan Afek. The other two are excellent wins in complicated middlegames. He provided some notes and assessments and I've added mine as 'JS'.
New ...
New Game
Edit Game
Setup Position
Open...
PGN
FEN
Share...
Share Board (.png)
Share Board (configure)
Share playable board
Share game as GIF
Notation (PGN)
QR Code
Layout...
Use splitters
Swipe notation/lists
Reading mode
Flip Board
Settings
Move
N
Result
Elo
Players
1.e4
1,187,378
54%
2421
---
1.d4
960,973
55%
2434
---
1.Nf3
287,046
56%
2440
---
1.c4
185,216
56%
2442
---
1.g3
19,908
56%
2427
---
1.b3
14,615
54%
2428
---
1.f4
5,961
48%
2376
---
1.Nc3
3,923
50%
2383
---
1.b4
1,791
48%
2379
---
1.a3
1,253
54%
2406
---
1.e3
1,081
49%
2409
---
1.d3
969
50%
2378
---
1.g4
670
46%
2361
---
1.h4
466
54%
2382
---
1.c3
439
51%
2425
---
1.h3
289
56%
2420
---
1.a4
118
60%
2461
---
1.f3
100
47%
2427
---
1.Nh3
93
66%
2506
---
1.Na3
47
62%
2476
---
Please, wait...
1.c4Nf62.Nc3g63.e4d64.d3Bg75.f4e56.Nf3Nc67.Be2
7...Nh5
JS A good move which puts pressure on White immediately and I imagine may have
been prepared by Afek at home.8.f5This is the nornal reaction but here it
doesn't work especially well.8.fxe5dxe58...Nxe59.d4JS is nice for
White9.Nd5was reasonable. When I started thinking about this properly I
wondered about Nb8 but White probably gets an edge afterNb810.Bg5f611.Be3c612.Nc3Nf413.Bxf4exf414.d4though this is unbalanced and I
think it would be a decent punt for a strong player to try as Black.8...gxf59.Nxe5?Again the normal reaction to a knight on h5 but with Qh4+
coming it's simply bad.9.0-0=f410.Nxe5dxe511.Bxh50-0this is
very pleasantly better for Black.9.exf5Bxf510.0-0Bg6JS gives some
play for the pawn or9...Bxe510.Bxh5Qh4+11.Kf1Be6
With White's
pieces all over the place Black is already (close to) winning but Alan's next
desperate move makes things worse.12.g3??Weakens the h3 squareBxg3!13.Qf3!Be5?JS Apparently the engine gives Be1 but with would Black
bother when Be5 is completely winning anyway.13...Be114.exf5Ne515.Qe2Bxf516.Qxe1Bxd3+17.Be2Qh3+18.Kf2Qf5+19.Kg1Rg8+20.Qg3Rxg3+21.hxg3Bxe222.Nxe2Qd3and Black is nearly won.14.exf5Nd4!15.Qxb7?It looked good at the time.Bxf5!Of course he plays the winning move
here.16.Qxa8+Kd717.Qxa7Bh3+
I resigned here as 18.Kg1 Rg8+ 19.Bg5
Rxg5+ 20.Bg4 Rxg4 is mate but he has the even simpler 18...Qe1+#. JS A
horrible game for Alan against a very strong opponent who (probably in advance)
found a very annoying idea against his pet line. If Alan had changed tack
after 7...Nh5 by exchanging on e5 then he could have gotten a perfectly good
game (as you'd definitely hope as White so early on). But he played the
"normal" answer of f5 which was already a mistake and compounded the error
with Nxe5? after which he was already in desperate trouble.0–1
The aim of these Dvd's is to build a repertoire after 1.c4 and 2.g3 for White. The first DVD includes the systems 1...e5, the Dutch and Indian setups. The second DVD includes the systems with 1...c5, 1...c6 and 1...e6.
At the airport, in the hotel or at home on your couch: with the new ChessBase you always have access to the whole ChessBase world: the new ChessBase video library, tactics server, opening training App, the live database with eight million games, Let’s Check and web access to playchess.com
Did you enjoy the column and instructive analysis by GM Jonathan Speelman? Do you wish you could have a world-renowned grandmaster analysing your play? You can!
To submit your games just upload a PGN or ChessBase file (.pgn or .cbv archive), along with your name and e-mail address. Send one success story (Ecstasy) and one loss (Agony).
Tell why you chose them, where or when they were played. Please do include your email address, so Jon can reply, and preferably a photo of yourself for our article.
If your game is selected Jon will contact you personally, and not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!
Premium access to the Playchess server with ratings, simuls, lectures, and live commentary of top games
Access to all Web apps with no restrictions, such as the Cloud database, and more!
Full access to the Video archive, which not only includes all the past lectures by Daniel King, Simon Williams and others, but also many full ChessBase products you would normally need to buy in the ChessBase Shop but that you can view for free as a Premium subscriber.
Jonathan SpeelmanJonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.
In this 60-minute course, IM Andrew Martin introduces you to a flexible and refreshingly simple opening setup - that Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura has used to rack up numerous impressive wins.
If you are looking for a practical, easy-to-learn system to sidestep the main lines and catch your opponent off guard, the Two Knights Variation is your perfect weapon against the French!
ChessBase is re-releasing this timeless classic in the modern ChessBase Media format - complete with brand-new training features. Get ready to rediscover a masterpiece of chess instruction!
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.
€9.90
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.