8/2/2023 – Round 1 is over at the World Cup in Baku. A total of 33 matches (24 in the open and 9 in the women’s section) were decided in rapid and blitz tiebreaks. Now that the first round has been completed, all the players who received byes — the rating favourites — will join the fray on Wednesday. Magnus Carlsen will face Levan Pantsulaia (Georgia, 2564), while Ju Wenjun will face Eva Repkova (Slovakia, 2312). | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
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.
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.
€49.90
Shooting for the stars
Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi are four of the fifty players who will begin their runs at the FIDE World Cup in Baku. Out of the four, only Nakamura will face a contender who advanced in round 1 without needing tiebreaks.
The open section saw 24 matches going to rapid and blitz tiebreaks in the first round, and 16 of those were decided in the first pair of rapid games (25+10 time control). The longest match of the round saw Aydin Suleymanli (Azerbaijan, 2586) and Xu Yinglun (China, 2531) drawing nine games in a row, before the Azerbaijani finally managed to break the deadlock and thus secure a spot in the next round — where he will face Iranian star Parham Maghsoodloo.
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.
In contrast, Vahap Sanal (Turkey, 2585) and Zdenko Kozul (Croatia, 2532) played eight decisive games in a row, with the 2-time Turkish champion finally emerging victorious in the blitz (5+3 time control).
Vahap Sanal and Zdenko Kozul | Photo: chess.com / Maria Emelianova
The top pairings for round 2:
Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2835) vs. Levan Pantsulaia (Georgia, 2564)
Hikaru Nakamura (United States, 2787) vs. Karthik Venkhataraman (India, 2565)
Fabiano Caruana (United States, 2782) vs. Mikheil Mchedlishvili (Georgia, 2561)
Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE, 2779) vs. Vugar Asadli (Azerbaijan, 2567)
Smirin does it again
After bouncing back in style from his game-1 defeat against Santiago Ávila, Ilia Smirin showed yet another nice finish in the fifth game of the tiebreaks.
The exciting match saw the fighting contenders drawing both 25-minute games and exchanging wins with white in the 10-minute encounters.
And then came the Israeli’s brilliant finish.
30.Rg6 threatens mate on h6, while 30...fxg6 fails to 31.fxg6#. Ávila simply resigned, but failed to bounce back in the next encounter — it had been Smirin who twice scored in must-win situations to keep the match going.
Mastering these tactical motifs is essential to deepen your understanding of the game and become a better player. After all, you neither want to overlook the given chances by your opponent, nor blunder yourself!
The experienced grandmaster will face Kirill Shevchenko in the second round. See below IM Robert Ris’ excellent analysis of Smirin’s classical win from Monday:
Round 1 games - Open
Women’s: Only one match goes to 10-minute tiebreakers
No tiebreaker in the women’s section reached the blitz phase, with 8 out of the 9 matches being decided in the first pair of rapid encounters.
The one match that needed the contenders to play four games was the confrontation between Pauline Guichard (France, 2384) and Assel Serikbay (Kazakhstan, 2139). A 2-time French champion, Guichard prevailed over her lower-rated opponent in the end.
The top pairings for round 2:
Ju Wenjun (China, 2564) vs. Eva Repkova (Slovakia, 2312)
Aleksandra Goryachkina (FIDE, 2557) vs. Lisandra Ordaz (Cuba, 2318)
Humpy Koneru (India, 2553) vs. Priyankka Nutakki (India, 2293)
Kateryna Lagno (FIDE, 2552) vs. Mary Ann Gomes (India, 2326)
The Jobava London System is a minor form of the London System. White tries to play Lf4 quickly followed by Nc3.
Deysi Cori (Peru, 2369) advanced to round 2 despite losing the first classical game against Julia Alboredo (Brasil, 2208) | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
Karina Cyfka (Poland, 2356) twice beat Melissa Castrillón (Colombia, 2235) in rapid to make it through to the second round | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
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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