3/10/2025 – What is the Ultimate Underdog chess game, ever played? This is obviously a very difficult question to answer, and moreover, very subjective. Nonetheless, one game would probably be set in the top 10 list - Adams vs. Torre from 1920. In this game, which is suspiciously beautiful, Adams tries really hard to sacrifice his queen several times, against the Mexican super talent Torre. Apparently, Adams was unknown, and not that strong of a chess player after all. Even if it was simply a brilliant analysis, it remains brilliant, and worthy to appear on this show.

2/27/2025 – Recently, Marc Andria Maurizzi was performing like a super GM at the Djerba Open, with 7.5 points out of 9 games. His performance was close to 2900! It was also a meeting of the two youngest GM's in French history - the youngest is Maurizzi, against the second-youngest Etienne Bacrot. The higher rated Bacrot didn't stand a chance against the underdog. Robert Ris analysed this crazy game.

1/29/2025 – The first Underdog of 2025 has been chosen by Robert Ris. It is IM Lu Miaoyi. Currently, she is playing formidable at the Tata Steel Chess Festival tournament. She is second worst rated in the Challengers group, but could already gather 4.5 out of 8 points. One favourite to win the Challengers in Wijk aan Zee is Frederik Svane, who advanced to Germany's second-best player behind Vincent Keymer. Frederik Svane played as Black in the French exchange variation, against Lu Miaoyi, and the board was on fire quickly.

12/4/2024 – Besides the World Chess Championship, some other important chess tournaments are currently going on. The US Chess Masters in Charlotte was crucial for Fabiano Caruana, to qualify for the candidates in 2026! He started with 5 out of 5, until he faced Nikolas Theodorou! The Greek GM also had 5 points, and got a nice king-side attack against Caruana in the English opening. Robert Ris has the full analysis of this fascinating game!

11/7/2024 – In the European Club Championship, lower rated players occasionally faced GM superstars, such as Erigaisi, Gukesh, Abdusattarov, Praggnanandhaa or others. And in the very first round, Pragg had to deal with IM Francois Godart from Belgium, rated 2377. In a Sicilian Rossolimo, Godart had a pawn less, but strong counterplay. Counterplay that was so strong that the strong moves seemed to play themselves. Robert Ris took a closer look.

10/3/2024 – Round 1 was the main source for Robert Ris to find plenty of Underdog upsets at the Olympiad in Budapest. One game in particular was not only a big surprise result, but also interesting in many ways. Yakubboev, Nodirbek vs. Cabralis, Quinn! Roughly 500 rating points difference, didn't scare the man from Trinidad & Tobago, and he pursued a fabulous game against his opponent of the Bronze Medal-winning team.

9/12/2024 – Obviously, Alireza Firouzja cannot be considered an Underdog, right? But who would have guessed that he could play so brilliantly against one of the best players in the world with the Black pieces? Fabiano Caruana is still considered one of the best prepared players ever, and just like Magnus Carlsen, can rarely be beaten, when leading the White pieces. Robert Ris presents an unusual Underdog, which can rise back to his "overdog" status, end of 2021!

8/6/2024 – During the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships in Astana, a player from the all-Chinese team, Decade China, made headlines: Pang Bo! The 26-year-old dominated the amateur board, winning every single Rapid game and excelling in the Blitz section. His official FIDE rating is 1400, but he has yet to play an international tournament and is virtually unrated. However, he has successfully played strong tournaments and opponents in China and is much stronger than players with a real rating of 1400. No wonder, his pawn-pushing style gave his opponents in Astana a hard time. Robert Ris shows an interesting example of how Pang Bo tackles the London System!

7/4/2024 – Recently, a Chinese chess player won the Arona International Chess Festival. Surprisingly, the winner has no title yet, and started at rank 29. Alan Pichot, Bartosz Socko, and Felix Blohberger couldn't keep up with Haowen Xue. Last year, the then 15-year-old, beat Hans Niemann in the Dubai Open 2023. Time to have a more profound look at this Underdog, before he has 2700+!

6/7/2024 – Bodhana Sivanandan is another name on the list of super talents, which you should keep in the back of your head. The 9-year-old girl, playing for England, beat WIM Mariam Mkrtchyan from Armenia. Roughly 300 Elo points, and 10 years of age, separated the two players. Robert Ris shows us how this happened.

3/19/2024 – The famous Reykjavík Open is up and running, and ready for some surprises. Popular streamer Alexandra Botez managed to win against a South African opponent rated almost 400 Elo points higher than her! In the French Defence, her opponent played the MacCutcheon, which was covered by Robert Ris in ChessBase Magazine 198, and his Fast and Furious show (Links below). In the wild game, with several sacrifices, Alexandra converted the endgame in her favour.

2/29/2024 – In the latest episode of "The Underdog," we have a monumental moment in chess history, where 8-year-old Ashwath Kaushik shattered expectations by defeating a grandmaster in a classical chess game. Despite the crazy rating difference of almost 500 points, Ashwath demonstrated remarkable skill and strategic finesse. IM Robert Ris provides a comprehensive analysis of the game, breaking down the critical moves and strategies that led to this young prodigy's incredible victory.

2/9/2024 – The Tata Steel 2024 tournament is over, and the masters tournament had at least one clear Underdog with Ju Wenjun, as the only player with a rating under 2600! But despite this setting, she won against the third highest rated player - Alireza Firouzja. Master coach Robert Ris describes perfectly well, why this happened, what went wrong for Alireza, and what Ju Wenjun accomplished delightfully.

1/11/2024 – In the first episode of 2024, Robert found a couple of Underdogs during the Rapid and Blitz World Championship. But having a 1900 rated player win against a Grandmaster with 2600, is truly rare. And when you know that the underdog is only 8-years old, it is even more impressive! The Dutch IM also found an underdog victory game by the Argentinian supertalent Oro Faustino, which is very instructive!

12/27/2023 – Should there ever be an underrated underdog, it would be Shreyas Royal. In the London Chess Classics, the 14-year-old IM, had to face nine Grandmasters! With his ELO rating of 2404, he had a rating 200-350 lower than all other players. Still, he ended up with 4/9 points, finishing ahead of players like Moussard, Vitiugov, and McShane. Robert Ris shows us the game the young Brit played against Jules Moussard!

11/27/2023 – Teimour Radjabov had a terrible tournament at the European Team Championship, and couldn't win a single game. Robert Ris steps in to the rescue. When Radjabov was just 15 years old, he faced Garry Kasparov, who had an incredible rating of 2847 at that time. In a French Defence game, we can witness several Knight sacrifices, and stunning attacks against Garry's king, by the Underdog.

11/2/2023 – After the sixth round of the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss, every chess player should know all participants who remain in the top 20. Unless, Ramaza Zhalmakhanov shows up! The young talent from Kazakhstan is probably playing his best tournament ever, with draws against Giri, Sevian, Sarana, and Firouzja, and two wins against Pichot and Bassem! Let's see if the IM can keep up with the elite until the final round. His win against Amir Bassem, in the Ruy Lopez, is a tactical masterpiece.

10/13/2023 – Offerspill Sjakklubb started the 38th European Chess Club Cup Open as fourth seed. Magnus Carlsen, Offerspill's first board, was certainly the main reason for this - after all he is the world number one with a rating of 2839. But it was still a big surprise that the Norwegians won the cup! One team member in particular - Pranav Venkatesh (whose birthday is today!) - rocked the house with 5.0/7 points. His game against Super Grandmaster Jorden Van Foreest was particularly daring. Robert Ris shows this magical Underdog victory.

9/6/2023 – The World Cup had it's fair share of underdog surprises in the first round. Robert Ris decided to pick a game from round three, though! Anish Giri faced Nijat Abasov, and in the tiebreaker, the GM from Azerbaijan played aggressive moves, which caused a lot of trouble for Giri. Ris shows us exactly, how the 150 points weaker player won impressively.

7/24/2023 – Of course, Viswanathan Anand isn't the topic at hand! But the Underdog Vignesh Anand Junior from the US was the player, who is more than 500 ELO points weaker than his opponent, GM Zaven Andriasian. In the Sicilian game, both players committed little errors that allowed the Armenian Grandmaster to gradually get the upper hand until everything went wrong. Yet another intriguing and fascinating instance of an underdog who shocked both his adversary and most likely himself.

5/16/2023 – In today's episode Robert presents a rapid game that is quite stunning. When you use a very solid set-up like the London System, the move order is less important as long as you understand the basic ideas. And although the underdog in this game made a few small mistakes here and there, the Grandmaster on the other side of the board couldn't find a way to gain a clear winning advantage. Watch this fascinating game with Robert Ris!

4/1/2023 – In today's episode, we will delve into an astonishing upset from the first round of the Reykjavík Open 2023, where a relatively unknown Norwegian with the Black pieces defied all odds by defeating an opponent with a staggering 400 Elo rating advantage. IM Robert Ris will expertly dissect the game, revealing the critical moments and ingenious strategies that led to this David versus Goliath victory. Get ready to be inspired by the power of perseverance and the beauty of the unexpected as we explore this thrilling upset together.

3/11/2023 – ‘The Underdog’ is the newest series on ChessBase. We will witness some of the greatest upsets of the month, where dark horses get to beat the rating favourite! Robert Ris shares some beautiful examples, in which a rating difference of 500 or more points simply does not make a difference. One of the biggest upsets this month was achieved by Josephine Heinemann, who got the better of Hikaru Nakamura. What a brilliant start to the series!