The Weekly Show: The French Top 12

by Lawrence Trent
5/21/2019 – On the show today, the French team championship is taking place in Brest, and Lawrence was intrigued by some upset wins scored by 2200 players. A harbinger of the improvement of average standard? Live beginning at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, 12 Noon EDT) and free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.
Welcome to the Bombastic Bird's, a revolutionary repertoire for one of the most enterprising and underrated openings in chess theory (1.f4). In this series, IM Lawrence Trent uncovers a number of groundbreaking theoretical novelties and new ideas that will soon have scorners of this romantic system regretting they ever doubted its soundness.

"Échec et mat"

Each week, I bring you the latest trends, games and combinations from elite chess tournaments on Tuesday at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, 12 Noon EDT).

Today I am going to be looking at the French Top 12 (the team championship of France) with a focus on a few defeats if GM Sebastian Maze vs 2200 players. How difficult is it for GMs to play lower rated opponents nowadays?

But first...The diagram below is the final position between Daniil Dubov and Anish Giri from the first round of the ongoing Moscow Grand Prix knockout tournament. How would Dubov have finished off the game if given the chance?

 

Give up? You'll find the complete game at the bottom of this article!

This week

Lawrence is live this week and free to watch, or to replay on-demand, you can register a free 90-day account and will gain access to this and many more shows from a variety of authors.

Follow along, and try your own analysis in the game viewer below

 

Lawrence is live most Tuesdays at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT)

Previous shows on-demand

After each show, the video is available along with all previous editions in the videos archive. To watch those you'll need a ChessBase Premium Account.

Lawrence Trent's latest

Read a recent review of Trent's previous FritzTrainer on the "Baffling b3 Sicilian"!

Make life difficult for the Sicilian! 2.b3 is a thoroughly venomous but still solid kind of "Anti-Sicilian". No matter what setup black chooses, the bishop on b2 will always be unpleasant for him.

Solution to today's puzzle:

In the final position, White would win after 37.♘xf7+ ♜fxf7 38.♖d8+ ♜f8 39.♖xf8# 1-0.

 

Links:

Born in 1986, Lawrence Trent is an international master, who has represented England in numerous international youth championships (including a 7th place in the U18 WCh in 2003). The Londoner, who has a degree in Romance languages, already has a lot of experience as a trainer. Trent has recorded several DVDs for ChessBase.

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