8/13/2024 – Day 1 of the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz tournament saw Maxime Vachier-Lagrave grabbing the lead after collecting a draw and two wins for a 5/6 score (wins are worth 2 points in the rapid section). Ian Nepomniachtchi, Levon Aronian and Leinier Dominguez stand at a 1-point distance in shared second place. | Photo: Crystal Fuller
new: Fritz 20
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.
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.
In this video course experts examine the games of Steinitz. Let them show you which openings Steinitz chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
€34.90
MVL escapes first, then wins two in a row
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's resourcefulness helped him grab the sole lead after 3 rounds of rapid chess at the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz tournament. The French GM first escaped with a draw against Hikaru Nakamura and then scored back-to-back wins over R Praggnanandhaa and Nodirbek Abdusattorov to end the day with a 5/6 score (wins grant 2 points in the rapid section of the Grand Chess Tour events).
In round 1, Nakamura failed to find the pawn break that would have allowed him to grab the initiative in a tricky position - MVL had just faltered with 34...Bh8
Despite having 1 minute and 13 seconds to MVL's 19 seconds, Nakamura quickly played 35.Rb3 instead of 35.h4, when 35...gxh4 is not playable due to 36.Bxh6 - otherwise, the engine's 35...h5 leaves White with a clear advantage after 36.Nxg5.
In this video course, experts including Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver Reeh, examine the games of Boris Spassky. Let them show you which openings Spassky chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were and much more.
In the game, MVL placed his bishop back on g7, and a draw by repetition was soon agreed.
Hikaru Nakamura taking a stroll during the first round | Photo: Austin Fuller
Sharing second place are Ian Nepomniachtchi, Levon Aronian and Leinier Dominguez. The latter beat defending champion Fabiano Caruana in the second round - in an equal position, Caruana played a one-move blunder.
38.Rb1 simply leaves the e5-bishop undefended (38.Bb2, for example, keeps the balance). Dominguez played 38...Nxe5, which was followed by immediate resignation.
Before this game, Caruana had drawn with Wesley So, while in the third round of the day, he was defeated by Nakamura in a thrilling encounter. Caruana is now tied for last place with Pragg, but will get a chance to bounce back in style in Tuesday's first round, when he will play white against sole leader Vachier-Lagrave.
Leinier Dominguez | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Always in a good mood - Levon Aronian | Photo: Lennart Ootes
In this video course, GM Surya Ganguly joins IM Sagar Shah and drawing from his colossal experience, shares some uncommon endgame wisdom. The material mostly features positions with rook against rook and a pawn, and starts by covering the fundamentals.
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
YOUR EASY ACCESS TO OPENING THEORY: Whether you want to build up a reliable and powerful opening repertoire or find new opening ideas for your existing repertoire, the Opening Encyclopaedia covers the entire opening theory on one product.
The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 5.Bf4 has a great balance between positional play and sharp pawn pushes; and will be a surprise for your opponents while being easy to learn for you, as the key patterns are familiar.
After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Bb5 Bd7 6.Qd3, White sidesteps mainline theory and steers the game into less explored, strategically rich positions.
In this course, you will learn the foundations and key ideas of the Vienna Game and discover a variety of systems that make you extremely difficult to prepare for.
Tata Steel 2026 with analyses by Bluebaum, Giri, L'Ami, Woodward and many more. Opening videos by Kasimdzhanov, Marin and Zwirs. 10 exciting opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more.
In this course, Dutch Grandmaster Jan Werle presents a modern and practical repertoire in the French Advance Variation, focusing on the critical line 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3.
One of the major battlegrounds of the Queen’s Gambit Declined is the Catalan, and against it Zwirs chose an ambitious strategy: accept the pawn and hold onto it with …c6 and …b5, aiming for an unbalanced fight from the very start.
€9.90
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