1/31/2018 – The quartet at the Tradwise Masters in Gibraltar became a quartet. Rapport beat Howell and drew with Nakamura after he played only a draw against Wang Hao. Daniil Dubov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also score 6.5 points. | Photo: Sophie Triay
new: ChessBase Magazine 225
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more. ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post. Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #225 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.!
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.
The Modern Steinitz (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 d6!?) is an uncompromising weapon that lets Black put White under pressure from the very start.
€49.90
Four fight for first
Hikaru Nakamura lost momentum at the Tradwise Gibraltar Open and made his third draw — with Black against Wang Hao — in yesterday's round eight of the Masters, after a fairly uneventful and short game. His co-leader David Howell was defeated in a one-sided match against Richard Rapport.
Rapport played 36.b4! — an ingenious move to activate his bishop, which swings over to h5 with check — giving him a winning position. Now the Hungarian Grandmaster has caught up with Nakamura.
Rapport-Howell
In a French derby, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated the surprising Jules Moussard, who was in fifth place after seven rounds, and thus also comes to 6½ points. The fourth in the group is Daniil Dubov after his victory over Mikhail Antipov. Dubov now has 6½ points and completes the quartet.
Oparin-Aronian | Photo: Sophie Triay
Trying to make his way up as well is top seed Levon Aronian. But with the black pieces he did not get more than a draw in the seventh round against Grigoriy Oparin. Aronian played a rare variation, not for the first time, and the Russian GM forced Black to a new move to a draw.
The venerable Ruy Lopez is one of the most interesting of chess openings. In this diverse and instructive DVD, International Master Andrew Martin explains how the opening works, with the help of mostly recent, complete master games, although there are some classics too! The most important ideas are highlighted and there are some repertoire suggestions, all presented in the light, easy, relaxed style for which this author is noted.
Vassily Ivanchuk suffered another setback in the eighth round. He lost against Abhijeet Gupta, when a victory would have brought him in striking distance to the top group. Now the Ukrainian legend has to win his remaining two games to finish anywhere near the top.
Ju Wenjun | Photo: Sophie Triay
Ju Wenjun dealt a blow in the fight for the special prize for the best woman in the tournament. Boris Gelfand proved to be a powerful stumbling block. The Israeli top grandmaster, born in 1968 in Minsk (Belarus), Vice World Champion of 2012, who will turn 50 in June. Four years ago, in January 2014, Gelfand was still number eight in the world. Currently, his Elo rating is just under 2700. However, Gelfand had in previous years, phases in which he underperformed, but then recovered and climbed up in the world rankings once again.
The Nimzo Indian is one of Black's most popular and reliable openings. White strives for an opening advantage and interesting, rich positions with ample room for creativity. It is often a good idea to avoid the well trodden paths. Thus, the variations 4.f3 and the Sämisch, which are presented on this CD, are ideally suited to fight the Nimzo Indian. They usually give rise to sharp, unbalanced positions with chances for both sides.
After the defeat of Ju Wenjun, Nino Batsiashvili is currently the most promising candidate for the first women's prize. The Georgian beat the Hungarian Grandmaster Gabor Papp yesterday and is the only woman in the field with 5½ points. She's pursued by a number of women in the group of players with 5 points: Pia Cramling, Mariya Muzychuk, Ju Wenjun, Lei Tingjie, Katerina Lagno, Valentina Gunina, Anna Muzychuk, Alexandra Kosteniuk and also Elisabeth Pähtz. Of course, they all still have chances for the special prices.
@malfa, I considered that, but the comment "Also playable, but barely" still seems unjustified by the game continuation.
malfa 2/1/2018 03:23
@JoshuaVGreen
Maybe the evaluation of 6...bxc6 takes into account the game situation: Aronian is one of the favorites, has had a slow start and is therefore supposed to play for a win even with Black, especially against an opponent who in theory is rather weaker than him. Given such conditions, it seems correct to mark as dubious an opening choice which practically forced him to a quick draw, even if that variation is objectively worth more than its subjective value in this specific game.
JoshuaVGreen 2/1/2018 03:00
It seems odd to give Aronian's 6. ... bxc6 (against Oparin) a mark of "?!" with the comment "Also playable, but barely" when White's supposedly excellent move 11. e5 (adorned with "!") only leads to a quick forced draw.
FIDE World Cup 2025 with analyses by Adams, Bluebaum, Donchenko, Shankland, Wei Yi and many more. Opening videos by Blohberger, King and Marin. 11 exciting opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more.
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
Opening videos: Sipke Ernst brings the Ulvestad Variation up to date + Part II of ‘Mikhalchishin's Miniatures’. Special: Jan Werle shows highlights from the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 in the video. ‘Lucky bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, Illingworth et al.
€14.90
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