Game of the Week #383
The theme of this week is Beating the Caro-Kann. While the Advance Variation is an interesting, but complex fighting weapon, the Two Knights Variation is going through a renaissance recently. This has to do with a key concept that has been discovered a few years ago, but only now is fully appreciated. A few days ago Bacrot convincingly beat Iturrizaga with it.
The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium accounts.
Warm-up question: How would you recapture the pawn here with White?
Bacrot vs Iturrizaga, Linares 2019
The solution will be revealed tonight!
This week's show
The Caro Kann is a very tricky opening. Black’s play is based on controlling and fighting for key light squares. It is a line which was very fashionable in late 90s and early 2000s due to the successes of greats like Karpov, Anand, Dreev etc. Recently due to strong engines lot of key developments have been made and some new lines have been introduced, while others have been refuted altogether. I have analyzed the new trends carefully and found some new ideas for Black.
To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows. Merijn is on-demand at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT).
1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Ne4 5.Ne2 Qb6 6.d4 e6 7.Ng3 c5 8.Bd3 Nxg3 9.fxg3 cxd4 10.0-0 Nc6 11.a3 Bd7 12.b4 a6 13.Qe2 h6 14.g4 g5 15.Bd2 Be7 16.Be1 Rf8 17.Bg3 a5 18.b5 Na7 19.a4 Bb4 20.Bf2 Bc5 21.Nd2 Bb4 22.Nb3 Bc3 23.Qf3 f6 24.Bg6+ Ke7 25.Qxc3 fxe5 26.Qh3 1–0
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
- Create an account to access the games cloud.
Bacrot,E | 2671 | Iturrizaga,E | 2626 | 1–0 | 2019 | | TCh-ESP Div Honor 2019 | 6.2 |
Please, wait...
Follow along with Merijn as you watch
Over 1,100 special theoretical databases, 180 new opening surveys, a large number revised — in total 6,680 surveys — and over 38,000 illustrative games.
Watch previous shows

Many more Game of the Week shows are available in ChessBase Videos
Links