7/28/2021 – Magnus Carlsen and Sam Shankland made a big step towards reaching the semifinals of the 2021 FIDE World Cup in Sochi, as they kicked off their matches against Etienne Bacrot and Sergey Karjakin with victories. While Carlsen displayed excellent dynamic feel for the position to win with the black pieces, it was Shankland’s endgame technique which allowed him to make the most of an unlikely blunder by his opponent. | Expert analysis by GM Karsten Müller. | Photo: Eric Rosen
new: ChessBase 16 - Mega package Edition 2022
Your key to fresh ideas, precise analyses and targeted training!
Everyone uses ChessBase, from the World Champion to the amateur next door. It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.
ChessBase is a personal, stand-alone chess database that has become the standard throughout the world. Everyone uses ChessBase, from the World Champion to the amateur next door. It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it.
The Big Database 2023 contains more than 9.75 million games from 1560 to 2022 in the highest ChessBase quality standard with ChessBase opening classification with more than 100,000 key positions, direct access to players, tournaments, middlegame themes, e
€79.90
Inspired
Barely making it past Andrey Esipenko in Tuesday’s tiebreakers seems to only have inspired Magnus Carlsen on his fourth attempt at winning the World Cup — he got his best result in 2007, when he lost in semis against Gata Kamsky. In the first game of the quarterfinals, the world champion beat Etienne Bacrot with the black pieces, showcasing excellent dynamic feel for the position in a double-edged struggle.
Bacrot did not shy away from entering a deep strategic battle, as he played the flexible 10.Bd2 instead of a more forcing line.
The Marshall Attack is one of the most dynamic replies Black has at his disposal against 1.e4. At the cost of a pawn, Black takes over the initiative from the get - go and goes after the white king. Wrongly considered to be mainly a drawing weapon by some, this DVD offers many new ideas for Black, showing how to keep the queens on the board and to play for a win in almost all cases.
After thinking for almost a half hour, Carlsen responded with 10...Qd7, which demonstrates the richness of possibilities emerging from such a setup in the early middlegame.
The world champion later gave up a pawn, as he correctly assessed that he had more than enough compensation in a setup that resembled a position emerging from the Marshall Gambit. Bacrot had a far-from-comfortable position by move 26:
26.Qh3 was a mistake, as it allowed 26...c4, and White will need to make concessions in order to coordinate his pieces — it should be noted that, by then, it was already difficult to find moves for the Frenchman.
There followed 27.d4 Rde8 28.d5 (giving back the pawn to untangle) Qxd5 29.Rad1
And here Carlsen went for it with 29...Rxe4 30.Rxd5 Rxe1+ 31.Kf2 Rfe8 32.Re5 (only move) Bxe5 33.Kxe1 Bxc3+
When it comes to strategy, one of the key things that chess professionals understand much better than amateur players is the role of the bishop which is the key theme on this video course.
Capturing with the bishop on move 32 was not optimal, but Black still has the upper hand in this position.
We let GM Karsten Müller take over at this point. In his annotations below, he shows that both contenders played imprecise moves shortly before the time control, although it was always going to be difficult to defend with white against Carlsen’s pair of bishops (see Jon Speelman’s column praising the Norwegian’s ability to handle this very strategic trump!).
It is never easy against the champ — Etienne Bacrot | Photo: Anastasiia Korolkova
Post-game analysis with Almira Skripchenko and Magnus Carlsen
Shankland beats Karjakin
Seeded 31st in the 206-player field, Sam Shankland arrived in Sochi shortly after winning a strong 8-player single round robin in Prague (ahead of Radoslaw Wojaszek and fellow quarterfinalist Jan-Krzysztof Duda). The American is still undefeated in the event, having needed tiebreaks only once while knocking out Baadur Jobava, Alexader Areshchenko, Rinat Jumabayev and Peter Svidler.
The Californian’s good form continues in the quarterfinals, as he made the most of Sergey Karjakin’s unexpected mistake on move 38.
Let endgame expert Dr Karsten Müller show and explain the finesses of the world champions. Although they had different styles each and every one of them played the endgame exceptionally well, so take the opportunity to enjoy and learn from some of the best endgames in the history of chess.
After the unsightly 38...f5, White gets a decisive grip on the position thanks to his space advantage, as GM Müller demonstrates in his annotations below. Shankland showed great technique in conversion, correctly calculating that simplifying into a pawn endgame at the right time was winning for him.
Dreaming with the Candidates? He certainly has reasons to do so! — Sam Shankland | Photo: Eric Rosen
Two draws
The first game to finish on Wednesday was Vidit vs Duda, as the players handled a Catalan Opening grandmasterly until reaching a 33-move draw. Already two well-known faces in the elite circuit, it would certainly be fitting to see either of the contenders in the next edition of the Candidates!
Smyslov cultivated a clear positional style and even in sharp tactical positions often relied more on his intuition than on concrete calculation of variations. Let our authors introduce you into the world of Vasily Smyslov.
Not long after Vidit and Duda agreed to split the point, Amin Tabataei and Vladimir Fedoseev also signed a draw. Out of an Exchange Variation of the Queen’s Gambit, both players castled long and entered a complex middlegame. As chess historian Olimpiu G. Urcan captured on his tweet, both the game and the potential continuations in the final position were far from simple to discern.
The semifinalists of the women’s tournament had a rest day on Wednesday, but they will join the 8 quarterfinalists of the open section tomorrow, when Bacrot and Karjakin will need to win on demand to remain in contention.
Select an entry from the list to switch between games
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.
Most players prefer to attack rather than defend. But what is the correct way to do it? GM Dr Karsten Müller has compiled many rules and motifs to guide you, along with sharpening your intuition for the exceptions.
Videos: Caro-Kann with 2.Nf3 d5 3,d3 by Christian Bauer and Saemisch Benoni by David Navara. "Lucky bag" with 45 annotated games - analyses by Anish Giri, Alexander Motylev, Romain Edouard et al. Update service with 43,000 new games.
Looking for some action against the Ruy Lopez? The Delayed Jaenisch, arising from the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 f5, will be your choice from now on!
2nd Move Anti-Sicilian Powerbase 2023 is a database and contains a total of 10131 games from Mega 2023 or the Correspondence Database 2022, of which 847 are annotated.
In a total of 6 chapters, we look at the following aspects: the right decision based on tactical factors, decisions in exchanges and moves, complex and psychological decisions in longer games and in defence.
Start of the Bundesliga season 22/23 with analyses by Eljanov, Van Wely, McShane, l'Ami and many others. "Special" on Mikhail Tal, opening videos by Ponomariov, King and Marin. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more.
€19.95
Fritztrainer in App Store
for iPads and iPhones
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.