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.
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
EXPAND YOUR CHESS HORIZONS
It doesn't get any better than this: the premium equipment perfect for tournament players and professionals: with ChessBase program '26, Mega Database, CORR-Database and much more.
€499.90
Vintage Vishy
Chess fans in Norway watching TV2 were undoubtedly disappointed by the quick draw in Magnus Carlsen vs Wei Yi — it was so quick, in fact, that Magnus had barely run a minute off his clock, needing only the 30 second bonus per move to reach a repetition draw on move 46. In all, five of the seven games in the Masters were drawn, but fans attending in Wijk aan Zee nevertheless had plenty to cheer for. In particular, Viswanathan Anand notched an impressive win, one that brought him back into a tie for first.
Despite the weekend being over we once again had huge numbers of chess fans at the De Moriaan today and the weekday tournaments also got underway. pic.twitter.com/eGrBm7uFpk
Afterwards, speaking on the live webcast, Anand struggled to explain his opponenet's decision on move 28 that gave Anand a vital tempo and initiative:
"I think axb4 is just astonishing, because I dreamed of getting this position with the rook on a5, and here I get it just for free."
A few moves later, it appeared as though Caruana had some attacking chances, but Anand 'called his bluff', finding a precise defence that shut down Black's counterplay:
Black is menacing ...Rc2, but Anand put a stop to it with 34.Ra2! correctly recognizing that shifting to the first rank with 34...Qd1+ 35.Kh2 Rc1 was relatively harmless. The white king can be reasonably safe on g3 in the event of a check on h1. That left Caruana 'short-stacked' and needing to go 'all-in', and in the process he weaked his own king position beyond repair.
The coup de grâce, however was the flashy move that forced resignation:
In the post-game analysis Anand said he was actually tempted by 42.Bxg7, but while on air worked out that in fact this would allow black back into the game! Instead his 42.Rd6! was immediately decisive. White is threatening Rxh6# and the only move to stop it 42...Qc1 would be refuted by 43.Rd8! with multiple mate threats. Anand lamanted that there is no longer a daily beauty prize, referring to the "prize of the public" that was once traditionally awarded before the start of rounds 2 to 13. It was discontinued in 2014.
He did, however earn the admiration of his successor to the World Championship:
The first DVD with videos from Anand's chess career reflects the very beginning of that career and goes as far as 1999. It starts with his memories of how he first learned chess and shows his first great games (including those from the 1984 WCh for juniors). The high point of his early developmental phase was the winning of the 1987 WCh for juniors. After that, things continue in quick succession: the first victories over Kasparov, WCh candidate in both the FIDE and PCA cycles and the high point of the WCh match against Kasparov in 1995. Running time: 3:48 hours
Vishy Anand is one of the greatest chess talents of all times. On this DVD he speaks about his career, his views on chess, and presents the most beautiful and interesting games of his career.
Viswanathan Anand goes through his win with GM Robin van Kampen |Tata Steel Chess YouTube
Gawain gets a win
Gawain Jones' debut so far in the Masters group has gone quite well, as a solid draw against Karjakin and a turbulent one with Caruana must have aided his confidence going into today's game against the uncompromining Adhiban Baskaran.
As Simon Williams warned in his round-up of the day's action (which you can replay below), "Don't underestimate his calculation skills, he might get some very big scalps in this tournament."
Play through the moves right on the live diagram!
In this position after 30.Ra1, Adhiban needed to immediately regroup with 30...Bd8, when White has nothing concrete. But by inserting 30...Qb2 31.Ra7 and only then 31...Bd8 Jones' attack was too strong: 32.Qd6! Qb1+ 33.Kh2 Re8 34.Qc6! and the threat of Nf6+ with a discovered attack is unstoppable.
Here Adhiban unfortunately had no time to go for mate with 38...Nf2, as 39.Qh5+ Kg8 40.Ra8+ and White mates first! But the necessary retreat 38...Qb8 39.Qxf6 Qxa7 40.Qh4+ Kg8 41.Qd8+ picking up the black knight, left Gawain two pawns up and winning comfortably.
Build a first-class repertoire against the French with the help of one of its leading exponents in a new interactive video format! Includes tests with video feedback for every move. A must have for anyone wanting to beat the French with 3.Nd2!
Jones could scarcely have asked for a better start | Tata Steel Chess YouTube
Standings after three rounds
Click or tap a player name to see rating progression, or on a result to open a game via live.chessbase.com
The other player in the chasing pack with 2 / 3 is Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Today facing Maxim Matlakov, 'Shak' was quite critical of his opening play, saying that only black had chances for an advantage as the game unfolded. Yet, the game remained equal throughout, and the players shook hands on move 25.
The Semi-Slav (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6) can arise via various move orders, has decided World Championships, and is one of Black's most fascinating replies to 1 d4. Magnus Carlsen's second, Grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen explains in detail what this opening is all about.
Mamedyarov was pleased with his round two win, which he described as "like Karpov" | Tata Steel Chess YouTube
Wesley So called chess, "over scientific", with a heavy burden of theory making it difficult to fight for an advantage. He praised Karjakin's "accurate defense" resulting in a draw.
The Ragozin is being played by every top grandmaster in the world - it is time you also add it to your repertoire to get interesting and dynamic positions against 1. d4! GM Alejandro Ramirez analyses every single move that White can play once the Ragozin is reached, but due to several transpositional possibilities he always emphasises strategic goals to keep in mind.
So: "As Bent Larsen said, 'you've got to win Wijk aan Zee once before you die', and I have won it once". | Tata Steel Chess YouTube
Hou Yifan got on the score board finally, with a draw with black against Vladimir Kramnik. Afterwards they analysed for quite a long time at the board, and she emerged pleased with the improvement of her play today, following a rough start.
Hou: "I actually threw away a very good position against Anish [Giri]...today I'm satisfied with the result.
Hou has been awarded a prestigous Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University and she said she has "no clear idea" how much she'll be able to combine chess and university. Prioritising the most significant tournaments to play, will be the key. This is already her seventh time playing in Wijk aan Zee.
"It should be a kind of turning point in my life, considering how to balance chess [with my studies and future career.]"
She will try to maintain her level, but admits that it will be difficult.
Round 3 round-up show
Simon Williams looks at the games of the day:
Watch live at 21:00 CET (3 pm EST) each day or replay all daily round-ups in ChessBase Videos
All games of Round 3
Complete Round 3 commentary
Commentary by GM Robin van Kampen and Stefan Kuipers | Tata Steel Chess YouTube
The Challengers
Vidit Gujrathi's back-to-back wins put him in a good position to take the lead, as he'll have white against Harika on Tuesday. His victim Monday was Bassem Amin, the first African player to break 2700, who, along with Vidit, is making his Wijk aan Zee debut.
Amin blundered in the endgame, right after time control:
Black's d-pawn is dangerous, but 42.Kf3 keeps it under control for now. Unfortunately going the other way with 42.Kf1 led to disaster. Can you see why? (Replay the game below.)
Matthias Bluebaum got off the mark on a lucky break in an equal ending against Jorden van Foreest:
Essential was 31.Ke3, but van Foreest thought he could get away with 31.Rd5?
The position would be equal but for the straightforward 31...Bf3, embarrasing White's rook. (If 32.Rd6 there's Ke7 double-attack, not to mention Bc6 exploiting the pin.)
Anton Korobov also netted his second win of the tournament when his opponent Benjamin Bok tried to force matters in a minor piece ending:
After the exchange on d4, White found the strong 48.h5! forcing Bok to give up his knight on g5, since 48...gxh5 49.g6 leaves black with no way to defend his a and h-pawns.
Standings after three rounds
All games of round three
Additional photos
Alina l'Ami is the official photographer and her photo galleries can be found at the tournament's Facebook page.
Macauley PetersonMacauley served as the Editor in Chief of ChessBase News from July 2017 to March 2020. He is the producer of The Full English Breakfast chess podcast, and was an Associate Producer of the 2016 feature documentary, Magnus.
Globally, I don't disagree with you. Nonetheless, I am rather under the impression that when a player is above 40 AND declining in terms of Elo ratings (when going under 2750), it is more difficult for him that for a younger GM in the same situation (as Nepomniachtchi, who was under 2750 in December 2017, for example) to obtain invitations for top-level tournaments.
Thomas Richter 1/16/2018 09:18
@Petrarlsen: The issue with Topalov might rather be that he is no longer fully devoted to chess, plays only sporadically and only financially very attractive events such as a rapid/blitz show in Saint Louis - but many organizers won't pay him the appearance fees he used to get at his prime.Players just below Topalov - Radjabov, Harikrishna, Navara, Wojtaszek - get occasional invitations. Not regular ones, not Chess Tour, but occasional ones. Any GM can also find Swiss opens and team competitions corresponding to his level and to realistic financial expectations. The late Viktor Korchnoi played a blitz event in the Netherlands asking and getting rather modest conditions - just because he wanted to play chess and had no other commitments/opportunities on that particular weekend.
thirteen 1/16/2018 12:20
"Don't tell Gawain!" Another thrilling ginger GM round up show. R3. The irrepressible Simon Williams continues his style.
Resistance 1/16/2018 11:59
Sweet victory from Gawain J. against B. Adhiban, and congratulations to both, Vishy and Fabi C., for the great game they gave us... (you gotta have bllz, and feel pretty confident of your powers to conduct the game in such creative, sacrificial fashion against a player of Vishy's caliber, who took up the gauntlet and came out victorious. Bravo!).
Petrarlsen 1/16/2018 10:05
@ Danstacey : I fully agree indeed !...
Petrarlsen 1/16/2018 10:02
@ digupagal : Yes, it more or less boils up to one thing : as long as Anand will have the necessary playing level to stay in the "2750+ zone", it will be sufficient for him to play against all the top-players, and when he will go under 2750, he will not participate anymore in top-level tournaments (unless he goes back later to the "2750+ zone", which could also be possible). It is what seems to be happening to Topalov, who is 2749, today, and doesn't seem to participate in any top-level tournaments, these days... Indeed, why on earth would Anand have to retire, if he keeps a very high playing level ??? (...and, seeing his last game against Caruana, he DOES really keep a very high playing level !!...)
Danstacey 1/16/2018 09:59
I love the comment from Magnus. Great respect at the top level.
digupagal 1/16/2018 08:18
Besides this is an individual sports and there is no team as such which gets affected by his bad play. Eventually once his game deteriorates, he would move down the ladder in terms of rating points and would not be invited to these events. And so he would not be an obstacle to any new player's ambitions at such premium tournaments.
Petrarlsen 1/16/2018 04:29
To win such a game (Anand - Caruana) against the World n° 2 isn't a small feat ! If Anand had retired several years ago, following some of his critics, we would be deprived from games as this one, and Chess would be the poorer...
I've never understood why Anand "should" retire, and I think that this game is a good demonstration in this direction. Yes, from time to time, Anand has an "off" tournament, but when he plays well, he can still perfectly well play astounding games, as this one... And, in my opinion, this is the only thing that really counts, all in all...
London System Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains in all 11 285 games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 282 are annotated.
The London System Powerbook 2026 is based on more than 410 000 games or game fragments from different opening moves and ECO codes; what they all have in common is that White plays d4 and Bf4 but does not play c4.
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.
Opening videos: Open Spanish (Sipke Ernst) and Classical Sicilian (Nico Zwirs). Endgame Special by Igor Stohl: ‘Short or long side’ – where should the defending king be placed in rook endgames? ‘Lucky bag’ with 35 master analyses.
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.
€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.
