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The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
The main event of the Julius Baer Women's Speed Chess Championship took place online from 22 August to 5 September. It was a knockout tournament featuring 16 players (10 invited and 6 qualifiers). Women's world champion Ju Wenjun and Russian IM Polina Shuvalova reached Thursday's final, a 150-minute match including sections of 5-minute games, 3-minute games and 1-minute games (all with 1-second increments).
Ju prevailed in all 3 sections, outscoring her opponent by 1 point in each of the segments - the final score was 12½-9½ in favour of the Chinese grandmaster. Ju was thus crowned champion of the online event.
How to play the Sicilian Defence!
The continuous stream of new ideas in the Sicilian makes 1..c5 the most popular answer to 1.e4. On this DVD I do give an introduction to the most important Sicilian systems.
On her way to the final, Ju obtained clear victories over Anna Sargsyan (13-3), Alice Lee (9½-5½) and Kateryna Lagno (14½-7½). Notably, the 33-year-old did not lose a single section throughout the 4 matches. Her worst result in a single section was a 2½-2½ draw with Lee in the bullet section of their quarterfinal encounter.
Ju has been the women's world champion in classical chess since 2018, when she defeated Tan Zhongyi in a 10-game match played in China. She has defended her title 3 times since, first in a 64-player knockout and then in 12-game matches against Aleksandra Goryachkina and Lei Tingjie. Ju will attempt to keep the crown in another match next year - Tan Zhongyi will be the challenger, as she prevailed in the Women's Candidates earlier this year.
Ranked second in the world in the classical ranking (behind long-time leader Hou Yifan), Ju is the fourth highest-rated blitz player in the world - her compatriots Hou, Lei and Tan are the top 3 in the world in this format. Notably, none of the 4 Chinese stars will participate in the upcoming Women's Chess Olympiad.
5-minute game
Attack & Master Advanced Tactics and Calculations like a Super Grandmaster
Two Super Grandmasters from India explain the ins & outs of Attack, Tactics an Calculations in these two video courses.
Master Class Vol.16 - Judit Polgar
In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.
