.jpeg)
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.
Despite having broken numerous records and kept the first spot in the world ranking for over twelve years, Magnus Carlsen continues to be motivated to win the biggest rapid and blitz titles. After winning both events last year in Almaty, the Norwegian obtained a double-double — a term that basketball fans surely recognise — by defending both titles this year in Samarkand.
The victory obtained in the blitz section was his seventh in this category, which means he has now won no fewer than 17 World Championship titles (5 in classical chess, 5 in rapid and 7 in blitz). After finishing the exhausting five-day double-championship with two more trophies in the bag, Carlsen celebrated ‘vociferously’ on X:
Middlegame Secrets Vol.1 + Vol.2
Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!
YES YES YES!!!!
— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) December 30, 2023
Despite scoring a remarkable 16/21 in the blitz, with 12 victories, 8 draws and only 1 loss throughout the two days of action, Carlsen lost 1.1 rating points — which goes to show just how stunningly high his 2887 rating actually is.
The Norwegian’s ability to outscore such strong opposition in games with faster time controls (i.e. with a higher degree of volatility) is second to none. For many, his dominance lasting over a decade in all three major categories of the game (classical, rapid and blitz) already places him as the best-ever in history — as explained by Ukrainian GM Pavel Eljanov:
Another amazing achievement of @MagnusCarlsen! Someone tried to argue when I wrote earlier that he is GOAT but for me it's indisputable. This level of competition has never existed before and he still dominates. It’s a great honor for me that I worked with him 10 years ago.
— Pavel Eljanov (@Eljanov) December 30, 2023
Magnus Carlsen | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes
Things did not work out perfectly smoothly for Carlsen on the final day of action in Samarkand. In fact, after losing his first game of the day (the one game he lost in both the rapid and blitz competitions), he was trailing co-leaders Vladislav Artemiev and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave — who beat him in round 13 — by a full point.
But then came a remarkable 6-game winning streak that allowed him to retake the lead and go into the final two rounds with a half-point lead over Daniil Dubov. In rounds 14-19, Carlsen defeated Alexey Sarana, Arjun Erigaisi, Aleksandar Indjic, Yu Yangyi, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Richard Rapport.
Dubov, who had been forfeited a half point on Friday, came from scoring 6/7 points, with wins over, among others, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Fabiano Caruana.
Navigating the Ruy Lopez Vol.1-3
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.
The two contenders for the title going into the last round have worked together in the past — Daniil Dubov and Magnus Carlsen | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes
The two in-form players seemed to be heading to an exciting fight for first in the last two rounds, but that is not how the action developed at the end of the day.
In round 20, Carlsen played solidly with white against 17-year-old Volodar Murzin and eventually signed a 36-move draw, while Dubov agreed to split the point with Baduur Jobava after merely 7 moves. Two more rather short draws in the final round meant that Carlsen and Dubov remained in sole first and sole second places, respectively, in the final standings.
Vladislav Artemiev, who took home the bronze medal, also drew his last two games. However, his final two encounters in Samarkand — against Sarana and Caruana respectively — were both hard-fought battles that could have gone either way.
Vladislav Artemiev | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes
Analysis by GM Karsten Müller
How to attack - principles of training
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.
The one player who beat Magnus Carlsen in Samarkand — Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Carlsen, Magnus | 2887 | 16 | 256,5 | ||||
| 2 | GM | Dubov, Daniil | 2763 | 15,5 | 262,5 | ||||
| 3 | GM | Artemiev, Vladislav | 2799 | 15 | 260,5 | ||||
| 4 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2748 | 14,5 | 260,5 | ||||
| 5 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2795 | 14 | 263 | ||||
| 6 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2729 | 14 | 256 | ||||
| 7 | GM | Aronian, Levon | 2772 | 14 | 239,5 | ||||
| 8 | GM | Lazavik, Denis | 2556 | 14 | 233 | ||||
| 9 | GM | Indjic, Aleksandar | 2631 | 13,5 | 256,5 | ||||
| 10 | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 2775 | 13,5 | 255 | ||||
| 11 | GM | Rapport, Richard | 2748 | 13,5 | 244,5 | ||||
| 12 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2815 | 13,5 | 244 | ||||
| 13 | GM | Yu, Yangyi | 2762 | 13,5 | 242,5 | ||||
| 14 | GM | Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. | 2584 | 13,5 | 240 | ||||
| 15 | GM | Grischuk, Alexander | 2699 | 13,5 | 233,5 | ||||
| 16 | GM | Andreikin, Dmitry | 2741 | 13,5 | 232 | ||||
| 17 | IM | Makarian, Rudik | 2540 | 13,5 | 225,5 | ||||
| 18 | GM | Daneshvar, Bardiya | 2483 | 13,5 | 225 | ||||
| 19 | GM | Murzin, Volodar | 2591 | 13 | 257 | ||||
| 20 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | 2707 | 13 | 254 | ||||
| 21 | GM | Tsydypov, Zhamsaran | 2626 | 13 | 244,5 | ||||
| 22 | GM | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | 2716 | 13 | 243 | ||||
| 23 | GM | Svidler, Peter | 2689 | 13 | 243 | ||||
| 24 | GM | Jobava, Baadur | 2599 | 13 | 230 | ||||
| 25 | GM | Tomashevsky, Evgeny | 2663 | 13 | 227,5 |
The women’s championship also came down to the wire, as Valentina Gunina, who entered the second day of play with a big 1½-point lead, barely outscored an inspired Alexandra Kosteniuk to claim her second world blitz title — she had won the title for the first time back in 2012, in Batumi, Georgia.
Much like Carlsen, Gunina suffered a single loss on Saturday. Unlike the Norwegian, though, Gunina never actually lost the sole lead. Her setback against Zhu Jiner in round 15 left her with a half-point lead over Kosteniuk with two games to go.
At that moment, Kosteniuk came from scoring 4/5 points, and was set to play white against the ever-dangerous Humpy Koneru in the penultimate round.
Attacking with the Jobava London System
The Jobava London System is a minor form of the London System. White tries to play Lf4 quickly followed by Nc3.
Unlike in the open, the contenders for the title among the women scored back-to-back wins in the final two rounds, with Gunina clinching the title thanks to a 35-move victory over Anna Muzychuk. Kosteniuk, who beat both Humpy (in 219 moves!) and Meruert Kamalidenova, obtained a well-deserved silver medal.
The bronze went to Zhu Jiner, the only player who managed to beat Gunina in the blitz tournament. Zhu only signed one draw in all 17 games of the event, and finished the championship with five wins in a row!
Silver medallist Alexandra Kosteniuk scored 6½/8 points on Saturday | Photo: FIDE / Anastasia Korolkova
Zhu Jiner beat Valentina Gunina in round 15 | Photo: FIDE / Anastasia Korolkova
In a candid post-tournament interview, Gunina explained why she often performs better in rapid and blitz than in classical chess. She confessed that she suffers from lupus, an autoimmune disease which prevents her from performing at a high level for long periods of time due to chronic fatigue.
As the Russian noted, however, in blitz, she gets to focus solely on the game, which actually serves as a good stimulant — she enjoys forgetting about her illness while calculating sharp lines in short encounters. Gunina explained:
When you put me on a chessboard, and you tell me to train or play, I feel much better because I don’t think about my illness and how hard it is... Again, I need to mention how proud I am of myself — it is really hard.
Master Class Vol.16 - Judit Polgar
In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.
An inspiring story by one of the most esteemed players in the circuit.
So happy for Valya, one of the very nicest people in the chess world! What an incredible title, especially given the circumstances. Congratulations!! 🏆 https://t.co/HtFfqf4KHb
— Fiona Steil-Antoni (@fionchetta) December 30, 2023
Alexandra Kosteniuk, Valentina Gunina and Zhu Jiner on the podium of the 2023 Women’s World Blitz Championship | Photo: FIDE / Anastasia Korolkova
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Gunina, Valentina | 2348 | 14 | 170 | ||||
| 2 | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2455 | 13,5 | 173,5 | ||||
| 3 | GM | Zhu, Jiner | 2384 | 12,5 | 170 | ||||
| 4 | WGM | Munkhzul, Turmunkh | 2211 | 11,5 | 176,5 | ||||
| 5 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | 2522 | 11,5 | 165,5 | ||||
| 6 | IM | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 2476 | 11 | 168,5 | ||||
| 7 | GM | Dronavalli, Harika | 2420 | 11 | 168 | ||||
| 8 | WGM | Kamalidenova, Meruert | 2314 | 11 | 161,5 | ||||
| 9 | GM | Muzychuk, Anna | 2447 | 11 | 160,5 | ||||
| 10 | GM | Stefanova, Antoaneta | 2398 | 11 | 158,5 | ||||
| 11 | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2475 | 11 | 157,5 | ||||
| 12 | IM | Shuvalova, Polina | 2342 | 11 | 157 | ||||
| 13 | WGM | Divya, Deshmukh | 2315 | 11 | 155,5 | ||||
| 14 | GM | Ju, Wenjun | 2522 | 11 | 153 | ||||
| 15 | WIM | Mkrtchyan, Mariam | 2150 | 10,5 | 159,5 | ||||
| 16 | IM | Narva, Mai | 2292 | 10,5 | 158 | ||||
| 17 | GM | Koneru, Humpy | 2452 | 10,5 | 156 | ||||
| 18 | WIM | Nurmanova, Alua | 2249 | 10,5 | 155 | ||||
| 19 | GM | Muzychuk, Mariya | 2443 | 10,5 | 153 | ||||
| 20 | IM | Munguntuul, Batkhuyag | 2348 | 10,5 | 151,5 | ||||
| 21 | IM | Bivol, Alina | 2250 | 10,5 | 135 | ||||
| 22 | IM | Garifullina, Leya | 2216 | 10 | 168 | ||||
| 23 | GM | Lei, Tingjie | 2530 | 10 | 151,5 | ||||
| 24 | IM | Charochkina, Daria | 2254 | 10 | 149 | ||||
| 25 | WIM | Balabayeva, Xeniya | 2202 | 10 | 148 |
