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!

Adhiban Gambit against 1.c4 Adhiban Gambit against 1.c4

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.

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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.

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
Position not in LiveBook
27...Qxe5
28.Nf5 Bxf5 29.Rxf5 Qxb2 29...Qe6! 30.Rg5 Bc7! 30...Bb8 31.Bd4 31.Bd4 f6! 31...g6 32.Qh6 f6 33.Rxg6+ hxg6 34.Qxg6+= 30.Rfxf7 Be5 30...Rxf7 31.Qxf7+ Kh8 32.Re7 h6 33.Re8+ Rxe8 34.Qxe8+ Kh7 35.Qxe4+ Kh8= 31.Qf5 31.Rxf8+ Rxf8 31...Qb1+ 32.Bg1 Bd4 32...Bc3 32...Rxf7 33.Qxc8+ Rf8 34.Qe6+ 33.Rxf8+ Rxf8 34.Qd5+ 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Chen,Z1921Wang,S24841–02023B90ch-CHN GpB Men 20236.4
Nagy-Elek,T2056Szabo,G25141–02023B27ch-ROU 20231.6
Heinemann,J2336Nakamura,H27681–02023A82PRO League Prelim 20231.1

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

A Complete Black Repertoire against 1.d4, 1.Nf3 & 1.c4

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.
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