8/23/2023 – The first game of the FIDE World Cup final ended drawn, as Praggnanandhaa could not get much of an advantage with the white pieces against Magnus Carlsen. In the match for third place, on the other hand, underdog Nijat Abasov managed to upset Fabiano Caruana, after the latter blundered in a sharp middlegame emerging from a Catalan Opening. | Photo: chess.com / Maria Emelianova
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.
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.
Not only did the former world champion bounced back in that match, but went on to score three consecutive wins in the following two rounds (two over Vasyl Ivanchuk and one over Gukesh). In fact, so far in Baku, the Norwegian has gained 5.7 rating points thanks to his 10/13 score in classical chess — note that he has a vast rating advntage over pretty much every other player in the world!
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 a popular interview conducted by Michael Rahal during this event, Carlsen referred to classical chess as “stressful” and “boring”, but that did not prevent him from increasing his already stratospheric classical rating. And after holding Praggnanandhaa to a draw on Tuesday, he is one victory away (with white) from winning the World Cup.
Magnus Carlsen | Photo: chess.com / Maria Emelianova
After the draw, the world number one confessed that he has not been feeling very well the last few days due to a case of food poisoning. In the game, he duly neutralized Pragg’s attempts to get something going on the queenside, nonetheless.
Praggnanandhaa vs. Carlsen
The queens and light-squared bishops left the board here — 18.Qxd8 Rfxd8 19.Bxc6 bxc6, and correct play by both sides led to a 35-move draw.
These video courses feature a black repertoire against 1.d4, 1.Nf3 and 1.c4. The recommended variations are easy to learn and not difficult to remember, but also pose White serious challenges.
Caruana blunders
Right after obtaining yet another upset victory, Nijat Abasov had this to say about his opponent, Fabiano Caruana:
I decided to test my luck [in the Catalan]. I had some ideas, and it turned out that Fabi was not ready against it, I guess.
Indeed, Caruana struggled from the get go, as Abasov got a comfortable position with a coordinated army ready to lash out on the kingside under the correct circumstances. Caruana’s meltdown came earlier than expected, though.
Abasov vs. Caruana
23...Qb4 was played after a 23-minute reflection, and it was a game-losing blunder (23...f5 was the way to go). The refutation was completely straightforward — 24.Bxh7 Kxh7 25.Ne4, and Black found nothing better than 25...Qe7, returning.
Resignation came after the very next move: 26.f5
Incredibly, Black is completely busted after the 3-move sequence following the blunder. A number of nice tactical shots justify Black’s resignation — e.g. 26...exf5 27.Nf6+ gxf6 28.Qxh6+ (diagram below) Kxg6 29.Rh3#
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.
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.
Throughout the video course, Sasikran shows various examples from his career to explain sacrifices for initiative, an attack, a better pawn structure and much more.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
The Trompowsky is especially suited for faster time controls as you don‘t have to memorise endless lines of theory, and you push your opponent out of their comfort zone after your second move.
Trompowsky Powerbook 2025 is based on 53,000 computer games from the engine room of playchess.com as well as 49,000 games from Mega and correspondence chess.
Trompowsky Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 8727 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 316 are annotated.
2025 European Championship with a German double victory and analyses by Bluebaum, Svane, Rodshtein, Yuffa, Navara and many more. Opening videos by Engel, King and Marin. Training sections “The Fortress”, “The Trap” and “Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" etc.
Powerbook based on more than 618 000 games in which White already sidesteps the main variations of the Sicilian on move 2.
€9.90
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