10/9/2019 – Russia came to the under-14 open section with two medal hopefuls Volodar Murzin (2433) and Andrey Tsvetkov (2382), but both were beaten by the same Indian player — Abinandhan R. His rating? Just 1830! IM SAGAR SHAH shows you how in this report from Mumbai, plus Hans Neimann's fine win over Rudik Makarian in under-16 open and Aryan Gholami's victory to snatch sole lead in under-18 open. But that's not all — the game of the day was definitely Polina Shuvalova's rook and queen sacrifice! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
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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.!
Grandmaster Daniel King presents ten exemplary attacking performances. At key moments he stops and asks you to play a move. King then gives feedback on the most plausible continuations. It’s the next best thing to having your own personal trainer!
The Black Sniper is back – sharper and deadlier than ever! This dynamic system (1...g6, 2...Bg7, 3...c5 against 1.e4, 1.d4 and 1.c4) creates unpredictable, high-pressure positions, leaving opponents struggling to adapt.
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The underdog: Abinandhan R
Going into the rest day, and with four rounds left to be played, it is a good time to take stock of what's going on in each category and who are the people who have chances to win medals. But first let's speak about the biggest achiever of the tournament: Abinandhan R.
The youngster from Tamil Nadu has played some amazing chess at the World Youth Championships 2019 to perform at an Elo of 2568 and already gain 211 Elo points! He is currently in joint lead with 6.0/7 in the under-14 open section and has played some scintillating chess.
This DVD offers Black a complete repertoire against all weapons White may employ on move six. The recommended repertoire is not as risky as other Sicilians but still offers Black plenty of counter-play.
The find of the tournament — Abinandhan R | Photo: Amruta Mokal
What is a squeeze? When you take control of a game, deprive your opponent of counterplay and slowly squeeze the life out of your opponent. The motto of the squeeze could be: “To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.” from The Art of War, Sun Tzu, Chinese general, born c. 500 BC This DVD will help you to recognise when a squeeze is possible and how to execute it.
Abinandhan's win against Tsvetkov in round seven was even more impressive as he played quite originally to checkmate Black's king:
As White, how do you continue the attack?
Under-14 open
Overnight leader Aydin Suleymanli was held to a draw on board one by Sreeshwan Maralakshikari.
Aydin Suleymanli vs Sreeshwan Maralakshikari | Photo: Amruta Mokal
This meant that Aydin was now joined at the top by two Indians: Srihari and Abinandhan.
On this DVD IM Trent shows the Albin Counter-Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5). Trent found a number of extremely dangerous Theoretical Novelties which will truly put the Albin Counter-Gambit back on the map.
Srihari (right) went for a risky opening strategy with the Albin Counter Gambit to beat Pranav Anand | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Under-14 open standings after round 7
Under-14 girls
Rakshitta Ravi beat Dhyana Patel for the top board clash in the under-14 girls section | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Rakshitta is now one of the leaders with 6.0/7:
The move 5...g6 in this position by Rakshitta was not so great. It allowed White to play 6.♘g5 and get a better version of the two knight's variation with 4.♘g5. Dhyana had a clear advantage after the opening, but she made a couple of mistakes and lost the thread of the game.
Ekaterina Nasyrova felt intuitively how she should attack in the position and played some excellent chess! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The third leader in under-14 girls who is also on 6.0/7 is Eline Roebers. We interviewed Eline after the game. She showed us her seventh round win and also told us preferences when it came to Indian food!
Eline Roebers on her win against Safiye Ince
The under-14 girls is heating up also because the top seeded Divya Deshmukh has made a strong comeback winning her last three rounds and is now on 5½/7.
Divya Deshmukh's caveman approach!
Under-14 girls standings after round 7
Under-16 open
The sole leader in the under-16 section after round seven is Hans Niemann. After beating Rudik Makarian, we asked him as to how he would spend his rest day. "I will relax a bit in the pool, and yes complete my school assigments!" Hans Niemann's laptop is also not working and he is preparing with the help of his friend in the US. This goes to show what a big talent he is. In spite of not focusing on chess with all his might, he is able to lead such a strong event.
Hans Niemann played some inspired chess to beat the in-form Rudik Makarian | Photo: Amruta Mokal
He was a child prodigy and he is surrounded by legends. In his best times he was considered to be unbeatable and by many he was reckoned to be the greatest chess talent of all time: Jose Raul Capablanca, born 1888 in Havana.
Hans Niemann speaks to IM Sagar Shah after his game and tells us about his thought process and why he made specific moves
Under-16 open standings after round 7
Under-16 girls
Nazerke Nurgali beat Kamaliya Bulatova to join Leya Garifullina at the top | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The favourite to win the title Leya Garifullina drew her game against Anousha Mahdian | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Under-16 girls standings after round 7
Under-18 open
Aryan Gholami beat Nikoloz Petriashvili and moved into sole lead with 6.0/7 | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Aryan's play was extremely instructive, particularly at one moment where he sacrificed a pawn:
How should Black play here?
Black has just given a check on a2. Where do you move your king?
The much-awaited clash between top two seeds in under-18 open section Shant Sargsyan and Praggnanandhaa ended in a draw | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Under-18 open standings after round 7
Under-18 girls
Polina Shuvalova is now the sole leader in girls under-18 after she scored a fine win over Anna Afonsieva.
White to move. What would you play?
Polina played 30.♗f2, pushing the queen away. Afonsieva played 30...♛e7
White to play
Can you guess what was in store for her?
31.♖xg7! ♝xg7 32.♕xh7!
Polina Shuvalova vs Anna Afonsieva | Photo: Amruta Mokal
BAM!! The queen is sacrificed to mate Black's king!
After 32...♚xh7 33.f6+ ♚h6 34.♗e3+ ♚h5 35.♗f3+ ♚h4 36.♗f2+ Black decided to throw in the towel.
Final position
The king was dragged out in the open and checkmated with two bishops and a rook!
For her beautiful play, especially the rook sac on g7 followed by the queen sac on h7, Shuvalova gets ChessBase's best game of the day award.
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.
Vantika Agrawal beat Thalia Cervantes and moves to 5½/7 | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Lara Schulze won a fine game in the Sicilian against Alicja Sliwicka and is now in joint second position with 5½/7
Under-18 girls standings after round 7
Food
One of things that the organizers have taken care of at the World Youth Championships is the food. Usually Indian food is spicy, but at the Renaissance hotel the chefs have ensured that the spice is always under control so that players from 64 different countries can enjoy Indian cuisine.
Every day you have two soups — a vegetarian and a non-vegetarian one | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Marinated fish in Soy sauce | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The Naan bread which is liked by a lot of international players | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Paneer Masala an Indian vegetable speciality | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The Salad bar | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Why are they standing in a queue? | Photo: Amruta Mokal
That's the LIVE pasta station which is very popular | Photo: Amruta Mokal
You often have to wait for 10-15 minutes to get your pasta made, but it is worth it! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The desserts include cakes, pastries and ice creams of different flavours for the players | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Talks by experts
After the talk by a physiotherapist on October 5th and a nutritionist on the 6th, it was now time to bring on a psychologist. The topic on October 7th was parents' psychology.
Rekha Nahar, a certified psychologist | Photo: Amruta Mokal
She is also the mother of two chess kids and she was the perfect person to deliver the lecture.
Around 100 parents and coaches attended the session | Photo: Amruta Mokal
There was a unique segment with music at the end of the session which you shouldn't miss in the video below | Photo: Amruta Mokal
These sessions have proved to be quite a value addition for all the parents who are present at the venue | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Usually they await the games of their children to come to an end. But because of these lectures, they are able to spend their time fruitfully.
Rekha, the person who gave a lecture, was accompanied by her husband Pinkesh | Photo: Amruta Mokal
October 8th is a rest day at the World Youth Championships. The eighth round will take place on Wednesday.
Sagar ShahSagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.
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.
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