7/15/2021 – Two matches — out of the 28 that went to playoffs in round 1 — reached the third set of tiebreaker games at the World Cups in Sochi: in the open, Neuris Delgado knocked out Niaz Murshed, while in the women’s section, Gulnar Mammadova eliminated Mai Narva in the longest matches of the inaugural round. Youngsters Volodar Murzin (14 y.o., pictured), Gukesh (15), Nurgyul Salimova (18) and Jennifer Yu (18) also made it through to round 2 on Wednesday. | Photo: Eric Rosen
Tata Steel 2023: Analyses by Giri, Van Foreest, Praggnanandhaa, Donchenko and many more. "Special" on Anthony Miles. Kasimdzhanov, Marin and Zwirs show new opening ideas from Wijk in the video. 11 opening articles with repertoire ideas and much more!
Winning starts with what you know 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 Big Database 2025 contains more than 11 million games from 1475 to 2024.
€99.90
No more byes
First, try to solve these two quick tactical puzzles. Both positions were seen during Wendesday’s playoffs, one in the open section and one in the women’s section.
Find Black’s most forcing way to win
White to play and draw
The top 50 players in the open tournament and the top 25 players in the women’s tournament were directly seeded into round 2 of the World Cups in Sochi. In addition, 8 players could not make it to the city along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, which means 8 more players got to rest three days before joining the fray.
Out of the 109 matches that did take place in round 1, 28 were decided in Wednesday’s tiebreakers, which means some of the players who made it into round 2 will face well-rested top grandmasters after winning a tough three-day match. Specifically:
The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.
Gukesh (2578) vs Daniil Dubov (2714)
Ravi Haria (2440) vs Etienne Bacrot (2678)
Federico Perez Ponsa (2554) vs Alexander Grischuk (2776)
Alexadr Fier (2569) vs Vidit (2726)
Boris Savchenko (2553) vs Anish Giri (2780)
Bobby Cheng (2552) vs Levon Aronian (2781)
Abdelrahman Hesham (2397) vs Constantin Lupulescu (2656)
Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian (2554) vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2770)
Volodar Murzin (2502) vs Vladislav Artemiev (2704)
Susanto Megaranto (2550) vs Fabiano Caruana (2820)
The same will be seen in one round-2 match in the women’s section...
Jennifer Yu (2316) vs Dinara Saduakassova (2500)
...although Yu — who won the 2019 US Women’s Championship — has plenty of experience facing higher-rated opposition. The same can be said about Gukesh and Murzin in the open section, two teenage rising stars who are most likely far from their peak rating.
Let us hope that the confidence boost and the fact that they have already warmed up in the first round will allow the lower-rated players to put up a strong fight against their famed rivals. After all, many of them have not played over-the-board chess for quite a while!
Ravi Haria | Photo: Eric Rosen
Going back to the tactical puzzles, the first one was seen in the first rapid game between Adly Ahmed and Abdelrahman Hesham. Black is completely winning, but Hesham surprised the commentators by playing a good-looking forcing move.
The aim of this course is to help you understand how to make tactical opportunities arise as well as to sharpen your tactical vision - these selected lectures will help to foster your overall tactical understanding.
Adly vs. Hesham
35...Rh2+ 36.Kxh2 Qh6+ 37.Rh3, and now came the move that justifies the line.
37...Rh1+ 38.Kxh1 Qxh3+ — the queen and knight duo win the game for Black. Hesham went on to draw the second game to advance to the second round after knocking out his higher-rated compatriot.
Other highlights from day 3 in the open section:
English IM Hari Ravia knocked out Russian GM Vadim Zvjaginsev by scoring back-to-back wins in the 25-minute games.
Paraguayan GM Neuris Delgado needed six tiebreak games to knock out Bangladeshi GM Niaz Murzhed.
14-year-old Russian IM Volodar Murzin knocked out Moldovan veteran GM Viorel Iordachescu.
Neuris Delgado | Photo: Anastasiia Korolkova
Similarly to the all-Egyptian confrontation shown above, the lower-rated Ingrid Aliaga (Peru) had a completely winning position with black against Nurgyul Salimova (Bulgaria) in the first rapid game of the playoffs. The Peruvian WIM, however, was not careful enough in conversion.
Enjoy Capablanca's fine technique, Tal's magic, Lasker's fighting spirit, Petrosian's defensive skills, Smyslov's feeling for harmony, and Alekhine's and Spassky's flair for the attack.
Salimova vs. Aliaga
Wondering why strong players continue playing in totally lost positions? Sometimes they are waiting for an opportunity like the one Salimova received in this game: the Bulgarian drew by stalemate after 60.Qg8+ Kg6 61.Qf7+ Kh6 62.Qxh5+ Kxh5 and the white king cannot move.
Salimova went on to win the second rapid encounter and advanced to round 2, where she will meet German number 1 Elisabeth Paehtz.
Other highlights from day 3 in the women’s section:
Azerbaijani IM Gulnar Mammadova knocked out Estonian WIM Mai Narva in an extremely hard-fought match.
Jennifer Yu | Photo: Eric Rosen
Endgame analyses
GM Karsten Müller sent instructive analyses from three positions seen in Wednesday’s tiebreakers. In Bilel Bellahcene vs Hovhannes Gabuzyan, White failed to defend an ending with bishop and two pawns against six pawns.
Bellahcene vs. Gabuzyan
Bellahcene’s 55.e6 was the losing mistake. GM Müller demonstrates that 55.h3 was the very precise way to hold the draw. He also took a more in-depth look at the stalemate trick shown above and at a game between Hjorvar Gretarsson and Kirill Stupak — the former moved on to round 2, where he will face Maxim Matlakov.
New ...
New Game
Edit Game
Setup Position
Open...
PGN
FEN
Share...
Share Board (.png)
Share Board (configure)
Share playable board
Share game as GIF
Notation (PGN)
QR Code
Layout...
Use splitters
Swipe notation/lists
Reading mode
Flip Board
Settings
Move
N
Result
Elo
Players
Replay and check the LiveBook here
Please, wait...
1.e4c52.Nf3Nc63.b4Nxb44.c3Nc65.d4cxd46.cxd4e67.Nc3d58.e5Bb49.Bd2Nge710.a3Bxc311.Bxc3Bd712.Bd3Rc813.Qd20-014.0-0f615.Rfe1h616.Rac1f517.a4Be818.Qb2b619.Qa3Bh520.Nd2Ng621.Bb5Qg522.Kh1Nh423.Rg1Qf424.f3Rf725.Qb2Nd826.Be8Qe327.Nf1Qd328.Bb5Rc429.Nd2Rfc730.Nxc4dxc431.Rgd1Qe332.Qd2Nxg233.Kxg2Bxf3+34.Kf1Qe435.Re1Qg436.Re3Nf737.Qf2Ng538.Qg3Qh539.Be8Qxe840.Rxf3Nxf341.Qxf3Rd742.Ra1Rd543.Ra2Kh744.Qe2b545.axb5Rxb546.Rb2Rxb247.Qxb2Qc648.Kf2Qe449.Qe2Qxe2+50.Kxe2g551.d5exd552.Ke3f4+53.Kd4f354.Ke3g4"The principle of one diagonal". This is always important for bishops in
endings:55.e6?This just weakens the e-pawn as White does not control
everything on the long diagonal anymore.55.h3draws due togxh355...h556.hxg4hxg457.e6Kg858.Kf2Kf859.Kg3Ke760.Bd4a561.Kxg4Kxe662.Kxf3=56.Kxf3a556...Kg6??runs into57.e6+-and White wins by
zugzwang as Black's pawns are all under complete control. The bishop on the
long digonal is really powerful here.57.Kg3Now White controls everything
on the long diagonal and his fortress holds, e.g.Kg758.Kxh3Kf759.Kg4Ke660.Kh5a461.Kxh6Kf562.e6Kxe663.Kg5d464.Bxd4Kd565.Bb2Ke466.Kf6Kd367.Ke5c368.Ba3=55...Kg8!Black now stops the e-pawn, while
Black's pawns are unstoppable. They are simply too many and not under control.56.Be1Now56.h3comes too late due togxh357.Kxf3Kf858.Kg3Ke759.Kxh3Kxe660.Kg4a5and White can not keep control on the long diagonal and61.Bxa5is met byd462.Bd2h5+63.Kxh5c3-+56...Kf857.Kf4h558.Ke558.Bh4a5-+58...c359.Kd6Ke8Black stops all counterplay, which
is good technique.59...c2?!wins as well after60.Kd7c1Q61.e7+Kg762.e8QQf4-+but matters are much more complicated of course.0–1
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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.
Experts examine the games of Max Euwe. Let them show you which openings Euwe chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were, which tactical abilities he had or how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame.
This interactive video course of over 8 hours, provides an in-depth exploration of the Pirc Defence, a favoured opening for people looking to play for the win with the black pieces.
Pirc Defence Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 10027 games from Mega 2025 or the Correspondence Database 2024; of these 874 are annotated.
The Pirc Defence Powerbook 2025 consists for a greater part of engine games (168 000), to which has been added high value material from Mega and the Correspondence Database (115 000).
The free app from ChessBase! ChessBase Mobile has everything you need as a chess player on the go:
access your chess data in cloud databases - and 13 million games.
€0.00
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.