3/1/2013 – What a round! Two great games were played today and the spectators cannot be unhappy. The more rational one was a victory and the crazy game turned out to be a draw! And once again Garry Kasparov was present, commenting and even participating in the postgame analysis. In addition to the video coverage of all this we have some lovely impressions from an Alpine excursion on the free day.
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.
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.
Master the Catalan – Strategic depth, dynamic plans, and a lifetime repertoire. Now on sale!
€79.90
In one of the strongest tournaments of the year the World Champion Viswanathan Anand (India) is facing the former title-holder Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), last year’s World Championship challenger Boris Gelfand (Israel) and the rising star Fabiano Caruana (Italy). At the Savoy Hotel, Paradeplatz, Zurich, the four masters are playing a double round-robin tournament from 23 February to 1 March 2013.
Round four report
By GM Alejandro Ramirez
4th round: 27 February 2013 at 15:00
Viswanathan Anand
2780
0-1
Fabiano Caruana
2757
Boris Gelfand
2740
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik
2810
Anand, Vishy – Caruana, Fabiano 0-1
Fabiano continues to impress with his very deep opening preparation. The 14... Nh7 and 15... Qf6 idea was strong and allowed him to equalize without problems against the World Champion, who pressed for an advantage anyways. This might have backfired slightly, as once the center was open his rook was in an awkward position. Anand sacrificed it with Rxe5!? for interesting compensation – mainly a strong passed pawn. However he got outplayed move by move, until the compensation ran out and he was forced to resign.
Gelfand, Boris – Kramnik, Vladimir ½-½
Gelfand will be counting his lucky stars tonight! This Closed Catalan was far from dull. Kramnik's setup with Bc6-Qb7 proved to be very strong and Gelfand had problems proving any time of opening advantage. The unbalanced position resulting after the trade of the d and f pawns was murky and hard to evaluate, but it was Big Vlad that had the better understanding of the situation! The fantastic sacrifice 22... Nxf2! emphasized the poor position of White's pieces and the power of the bishops. Yet immediately after that both players started making serious mistakes! A tactical melee ensued and Black came out ahead the pair of bishops and a strong initiative, but through a series of passive moves Kramnik let go of his advantage and the game fizzled into a draw.
Once again Garry Kasparov was a special guest at the Zurich Chess Challenge, commenting on the games and participating in the postmortem analysis. If you missed it live you can watch it all on the streaming video provided by the organisers.
It was a free day at the Zurich Chess Challenge, but Dr Christian Issler planned a memorable visit to Mount Pilatus, some 100 km from Zurich. Situated in the heart of Switzerland, Lucerne's "Dragon Mountain" – steeped in dragon legend and with spectacular views of the Alps and central plains – attracts thousands of international visitors every year. The unique Alpine panorama with 73 peaks and six lakes, circular hiking trails and easy-to-reach vantage points, make a Mount Pilatus excursion the ultimate Alpine experience.
The summit is reached from Alpnachstad, the bottom station of the Pilatus Railway – with a 48% gradient, the world's steepest cogwheel railway – from Kriens to Fräkmüntegg by aerial gondola and then up to the Pilatus summit by aerial cableway.
The City of Kriens recently opened a chess museum, where hundreds of chess pieces from various part of the world are on show, collected by the Werner and Roland Rupp brothers, in over 20 years. Here are some chess sets:
They had put up an excellent collection of anything connected with chess – the museum has more than 52,000 stamps and some 100,000 books and publications.
In the following video you see Pilatus, the museum and Dr Christian Issler playing against GM Genna Sosonko
The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Alejandro RamirezGrandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.
Ruy Lopez Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 12092 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 1276 are annotated.
In this 60 Minutes, Andrew Martin guides you through all the key ideas you need to know to play with confidence. Whether you’re looking to surprise your opponents, or simply want a straightforward weapon against e5, the Centre Attack has you covered.
Videos by Mihail Marin: Najdorf Variation with 6.f4 and Nico Zwirs: Italian ‘giucco pianissimo’. ‘Lucky bag’ with 45 analyses by Edouard, Ftacnik, Gupta, Pelletier and others. Update service with over 50,000 new games for your database!
This video course provides a comprehensive and practical White repertoire in the Ruy Lopez! Through instructive model games and in-depth theoretical explanations, you will learn how to confidently handle both main lines and sidelines.
€49.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.
