7/31/2023 – The tenth edition of the much-anticipated FIDE World Cup kicked off on Sunday in Baku. The 50 top seeds in the open and the 25 top seeds in the women’s section received byes and will join the fray on Wednesday. The remaining 234 contenders (156 in the open and 78 in the women’s) played their first classical encounters, though. There was no lack of surprises on the first day of action, with 14-year-old Ediz Gurel from Turkey (the youngest participant in the open) stunning Velimir Ivic in brilliant style. | Photo: chess.com / Maria Emelianova
new: ChessBase Magazine 225
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. ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post. Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #225 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.!
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
In this video course, Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov explores the fascinating world of Dutch and Grünfelkd structures with colours reversed.
€39.90
No lack of surprises
We can look ahead to three and a half weeks of tense, enjoyable chess battles as the FIDE World Cup has started at the Marriott Hotel Boulevard in Baku, Azerbaijan. For a second time, a women’s knockout event will run concurrently with the now traditional open competition.
In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.
The open sees 206 players, including world number one Magnus Carlsen, fighting for three spots in the next edition of the Candidates. In the women’s section, 103 contenders, including world champion Ju Wenjun, fight for the same three prizes (in the Women’s Candidates, of course). The top 50 seeds in the open and the 25 top seeds in the women’s received a bye and will join the fray in Wednesday’s second round.
As usual, opening day saw a number of imbalanced pairings (rating-wise) and a few of those favouring the underdog. We list below the most surprising results in both sections (200+ rating difference for draws and 100+ rating difference for wins).
Open section
Gianmarco Leiva (2374) beat Anton Demchenko (2623)
Mailie-Jade Ouellet from Canada | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman
Gurel steals the show
The youngest participant in the open section kicked off the event with a remarkable win. Turkish IM Ediz Gurel, aged 14, defeated Velimir Ivic, rated 90 points higher than him, in a 28-move game which featured a familiar bishop sacrifice.
As Gurel explained afterwards, Ivic apparently was not as prepared for this line as he was. When the youngster felt that something had gone wrong for his opponent (21...Bxc5 was wrong, while the difficult-to-find 21...d3 was the only defence), he looked for the kill and noticed that 22.Bxh7+ is winning.
There followed 22...Kxh7 23.Qh5+ Kg8 24.Qh6 g6 25.Ne4 Be7 26.Rf3 Bf5
Before entering the whole sequence, Gurel needed to foresee that here 27.Rxf5 is winning for White due to Ne4-f6+ next. After 27...Ra6 28.Rf3, Ivic decided to call it a day.
Game analysis by Robert Ris
The playing hall in Baku | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
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.
Dutch star Eline Roebers, aged 17, was the highest-rated player in the women’s section on opening day — she kicked off the event with a win | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman
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.
In this course, you’ll learn how to take the initiative against the London and prevent White from comfortably playing their usual system by playing 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 Nh5.
London System Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains in all 11 285 games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 282 are annotated.
The London System Powerbook 2026 is based on more than 410 000 games or game fragments from different opening moves and ECO codes; what they all have in common is that White plays d4 and Bf4 but does not play c4.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
Opening videos: Open Spanish (Sipke Ernst) and Classical Sicilian (Nico Zwirs). Endgame Special by Igor Stohl: ‘Short or long side’ – where should the defending king be placed in rook endgames? ‘Lucky bag’ with 35 master analyses.
YOUR EASY ACCESS TO OPENING THEORY: Whether you want to build up a reliable and powerful opening repertoire or find new opening ideas for your existing repertoire, the Opening Encyclopaedia covers the entire opening theory on one product.
The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 5.Bf4 has a great balance between positional play and sharp pawn pushes; and will be a surprise for your opponents while being easy to learn for you, as the key patterns are familiar.
€9.90
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