10/12/2019 – From Mumbai, AMRUTA MOKAL updates on the penultimate round of the World Youth Championship, where Praggnanandhaa is poised to take the prestigious Under-18 Open section and Polina Shuvalova continues to lead the Under-18 Girls. | Photos: Amruta Mokal
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.!
Every pawn structure has its typical plans and to know these plans helps you to find your way in these positions. On this DVD Mikhalchishin presents and explains the most common central structures: The Hedgehog, the Maroczy, Hanging pawns and the Isolani.
Unlock the secrets of one of the most resilient and strategic openings in chess with our comprehensive video course, “The Caro-Kann Defence.”
€36.90
Heartbreak and triumph at the top
The penultimate round of the World Youth Championships 2019 was filled with action. Praggnanandhaa continued his sprint towards the title in under-18 open section by winning his game against Paulius Pultinevicius. Shant Sargsyan was saved by the skin of his teeth against Mitrabha Guha and is still right on the heels of Praggnanandhaa. Polina Shuvalova keeps her lead intact in under-18 girls. Nazerke Nurgali has finally managed to edge out Leya Garifullina in under-16 girls and Rudik Makarian has taken the sole lead in under-16 open. Aydin Suleymanli from Azerbaijan leads in the under-14 open while Bat-Erdene Mungunzuul has come strongly to the top as the sole leader in under-14 girls. The last round is played on today when the 18 medal winners will be decided.
The team of officials inaugurates round 10 of the under-18 open top board | Photo: Amruta Mokal
No draws on top boards! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Praggnanandhaa beat Pultinevicius and confirmed a medal for India whereas Shant Sargsyan beat Mitrabha Guha taking the second spot for now.
26.c4!? was a well-timed decision by Pragg. You may feel that after 26...dxc4 27.bxc4 b4, the pawn on c4 is weak and the knight on c5 is very strongly placed. But Pragg had seen it beforehand that the knight on c5 is not stable and can be evicted with ♘b3, when either Black has to take on b3 and give White a protected passer or move from c5, when the c-pawn starts marching down the board.
35.c6 by Pragg in this position was a mistake because Black could take 35...♜xc6 36.♖dxc6 ♝xc6 37.♗xa6 ♜a8! 38.♗xc8 ♜xa5 39.♖xc6 and it seems like White is simply a piece up, but...
39...b3!! This is the point that is easy to miss! This would help Black to save the draw!
The Caro Kann is a very tricky opening. Black’s play is based on controlling and fighting for key light squares. It is a line which was very fashionable in late 90s and early 2000s due to the successes of greats like Karpov, Anand, Dreev etc. Recently due to strong engines lot of key developments have been made and some new lines have been introduced, while others have been refuted altogether. I have analyzed the new trends carefully and found some new ideas for Black.
Pultinevicius took on c6 with his bishop and after 36.♗xa6 everything was fine for White. Pragg went on to win the game.
Praggnanandhaa with Sagar Shah
With a great interest and stamina Praggnanandhaa explaining the game for the viewers and never disappointing someone for autographs and selfies! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Praggnanandhaa explains his round 10 win
Shant Sargsyan scored a lucky victory in the tenth round. He was completely lost in the endgame against Mitrabha Guha. But Mitrabha hallucinated for a move and it was all over!
Rules of thumb are the key to everything when you are having to set the correct course in a complex endgame. In this final DVD of his series on the endgame, our endgame specialist introduces you to the most important of these rules of thumb.
White is completely winning here. He is a pawn up and has the bishop pair:
After a few inaccuracies it was already time to start thinking about a draw here with 44.♗xd2 followed by taking on c6. However, Mitrabha took on c6 allowing Black to queen. What was the point of his play? Isn't the bishop on d5 hanging with a check? Well, he played his bishop back to f3.
In the classical system of the King's Indian White develops naturally and refrains from chasing ghosts looking for a refutation of Black's set-up. White instead relies on the fact that natural play should yield him a small but lasting advantage.
After 45...♛c2 he had to throw in the towel as cxb7 is met with Bd4! White can make a queen, but there is mate coming up! Mitrabha resigned.
The Italian Game is considered a sound but quiet opening without early trades, giving rise to rich positions where plans are more important than forced variations. So shows black's plans on this DVD.
Polina Shuvalova maintained her half point lead after defeating Lara Schulze on board one | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Vantika Agrawal chases the top spot with a crucial win over Yan Tianqi | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Vantika Agrawal speaks about her win over Yan Tianqi
The American Hans Niemann suffered another loss against Arash Daghli of Iran | Photo: Amruta Mokal
It was a King's Indian where White seemed to have made early inroads on the queenside. But it turns out that although White broke through on the queenside, the real action was on the kingside where Arash Daghli struck with his pawns, typical of the King's Indian.
The aim of these Dvd's is to build a repertoire after 1.c4 and 2.g3 for White. The first DVD includes the systems 1...e5, the Dutch and Indian setups. The second DVD includes the systems with 1...c5, 1...c6 and 1...e6.
Rudik Makarian sailed ahead with his victory against Harshavardan G B | Photo: Amruta Mokal
He is now the sole leader in under-16 open.
Under-16 open standings after round 10
The draw between the top board Zhang Xiao and Leya Garifullina made it possible for Nurgali to get the sole lead after defeating Laman Hajiyeva on board two | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Nazerke Nurgali from Kazakhstan is the sole leader in under-16 girls | Photo: Amruta Mokal
She had some nervous moments in the tenth round, but finally managed to come out on top!
Black to play and win!
Under-16 girls standings after round 10
Aydin Suleman drew with Vo Pham Thien Phuc who is on a blazing streak by increasing 256 points and a whopping performance of 2438! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The game saw many ups and downs, but in this final position where the players repeated their moves with 44...♛e1 45.♖f1 ♛e5 46.♖f5, Thien Phuc could have continued the game with 44...♛d6! The main point being that 45.♖xd5 is met with 45...♜e8! and Black is winning!
Jeet Shah, the local boy from Mumbai, has played really well and is gaining 170 Elo points
Under-14 open standings after round 10
Eline Roebers lost to Bat-Erdene Mungunzul who now becomes the sole leader with 8.0/10 for the first time in this event | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The Indian duo who drew with each other is still in contention for the medal and will face the leaders in the last round | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Under-14 girls standings after round 10
Chess Players flaunting their style in chess! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Mr. Samir Yagnik, the Executive Director of Electra EV with the Tournament Director Mr. Ravindra Dongre | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Three different professions come together! Chess is fun! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Talks by Experts
IM Sagar Shah was the final speaker on October 11th and he spoke about "What stopped him from becoming a GM"
The entire talk by Sagar
The session was attended by many coaches and parents, including Sagar's parents as well!
Amruta MokalAmruta Mokal is a professional chess player with four WIM norms, but also an enthusiastic photographer who loves to cover tournaments, capturing various expressions and emotions of players engrossed in the game. She is the wife of ChessBase editor Sagar Shah, with whom she has founded ChessBase India.
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.
In this dynamic and practical video course, IM Andrew Martin arms you with powerful antidotes to White’s most annoying sidelines.
€34.90
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