When the underdog wins! Beating a player 563 points higher rated

by Arne Kaehler
3/11/2023 – ‘The Underdog’ is the newest series on ChessBase. We will witness some of the greatest upsets of the month, where dark horses get to beat the rating favourite! Robert Ris shares some beautiful examples, in which a rating difference of 500 or more points simply does not make a difference. One of the biggest upsets this month was achieved by Josephine Heinemann, who got the better of Hikaru Nakamura. What a brilliant start to the series!
After 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 e4 Black is giving up a pawn. By sacrificing the e-pawn, Black gains a lot of time harassing the white knight and seizes the initiative in the centre.

The Underdog!

with IM Robert Ris

We all love stories where a vastly underrated player surprises everyone by winning against a far stronger player. Luckily, we are all human, after all.

But how do these things happen? What are the moves that lead to success? And what can we learn from these examples for the times we get to face a stronger opponent?

Dutch IM Robert Ris presents us real examples of such encounters from the last month. With his co-host Arne Kaehler, they look at the tactics and strategies that led to the upset win.

 

Robert Ris has authored plenty of FritzTrainers for ChessBase — check out the newest from his vast collection:

These video courses feature a black repertoire against 1.d4, 1.Nf3 and 1.c4. The recommended variations are easy to learn and not difficult to remember, but also pose White serious challenges.

Links:

Arne Kaehler, a creative mind who is passionate about board games in general, was born in Hamburg and learned to play chess at a young age. By teaching chess to youth teams and creating chess-related videos on YouTube, Arne was able to expand this passion and has even created an online course for anyone who wants to learn how to play chess. Arne writes for the English and German news sites, but focuses mainly on content for the ChessBase media channels.