Training with the ChessBase Magazine

The ChessBase Magazine 192 – a personal view

I am a member of Germany's women's national team and ChessBase provides me with the latest ChessBase Magazine (CBM) every two months for training purposes. I would like to use CBM 192 as an example to show the structure of the magazine and to explain why I find it so useful for training.

Games begin with the opening and each issue of the ChessBase Magazine CBM also begins with the opening – with "Ideas for your repertoire". I have to admit that I often only glance at this part because of my rather haphazard approach to studying opening theory in general. Most of the time I only look at the opening index (where all opening articles of all CBMs are listed) to find a suitable idea when I need to prepare for a game.

But I still believe that this column is helpful if you want to try something new because experts explain the most important ideas of a variation in detail. The CBM 192 begins with three opening videos: Daniel King and Alexei Shirov talk about the Najdorf Variation and Erwin l’Ami explains the Petroff. They show the current opening trends with recent games – many of the games in CBM 192 come from the FIDE World Cup 2019.

After that follow eleven opening articles by different authors about a variety of openings – from the Symmetry Variation of the English to the Benoni and the King’s Indian. Finally, Rainer Knaak presents "Opening Traps", which is quite entertaining. I think this is enough material to keep aspiring chess players busy for two months.

Next is the "Top tournaments" section, in which grandmasters such as Giri, Kasimdzhanov, Firouzja etc. analyse current games. Here, games from the World Cup 2019 again play a prominent role, e.g. when Niclas Huschenbeth analyzes his theoretically interesting win in the French Winawer against Arkadij Naiditsch. For me, this is always one of the most interesting sections of the magazine as it gives exciting insights into the thinking and decision-making process of the grandmasters.

The "Training with experts" section starts the real training. Simon Williams' "Move by Move" format might be familiar to the reader. You are asked to predict the moves in a top game and you receive points if you get it right.

Play the Pirc like a Grandmaster Vol. 2: Attacking lines

The resulting positions are usually dynamic or double-edged and offer fairly balanced chances. The better tactician may win, but do not be dissappointed if the game ends in a spectacular and logical draw!

Structured: Mihail Marin

Mihail Marin takes a look at positional topics and he does so in a very structured way by dividing them into sub-categories. In CBM 191 he showed how to play against an isolated pawn, in CBM 192 he shows attacking ideas in the Italian.

He follows the typical pattern of many ChessBase training-DVDs and after a short introduction to the topic presents a number of typical games and asks the reader in crucial moments to find the right move. This interactive format helps you to test your knowledge.

Finally, Dorian Rogozenco presents "Classics" in a 15-minute video. For people like me who have neglected the historical aspects of chess so far, this is a good opportunity to catch up. You learn about plans and strategies and see what an educated player could / should know. In CBM 192, Rogozenco looks at the game Rubinstein-Schlechter (1912) and summarizes its crucial moments at the end.

But my favorite column is "Tactics total". However, what can you say about this column except that it keeps you busy and that I always have a lot of fun when a new issue comes with new tactics from current tournaments!

Karsten Müller's endgame column has the same, excellent quality we are used to from his endgame DVDs. It mixes instructional videos with exercises. Like Marin, Müller likes to divide the topics into sub-categories to structure makes learning easier. On top of that he always offers many interactive tasks to test your skills.

Chess Endgames 1 to 14

All endgame DVDs by Karsten Müller in one package! More than 70 hours of instruction! from "Basic knowledge for beginners" (volume 1) to "Practical Rook Endgames" (volume 8) to the ever-popular "Golden Guidelines of Endgame Play" (volume 14).

The ChessBase Magazine helps me a lot with my training. It offers a wealth of training material for every part of the game (openings, middlegames and endgames) but I particularly like the interactive training, such as tactics and endgame. Basically, the ChessBase Magazine is like a training-DVD, but with more material from a variety of authors and with a stronger focus on current events.

Filiz Osmanodja | Photo: Pascal Simon

ChessBase Magazine 192

Analyses by Giri, Anand, Nisipeanu, Huschenbeth, Vidit, Vitiugov, Tomashevsky and many more. Plus videos by King, Shirov and l'Ami, 11 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and training sessions in strategy, tactics and endgame!

DVD-ROM + Magazine
19,95 EUR incl. 19% VAT
Available since 29th of October 2019

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