ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. Our columnist Nagesh Havanur takes a look at our recent issue, CBM 218. 540 games from Tata Steel Chess and Chessable Masters 2024, 12 opening surveys, 3 opening videos, 6 demo lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Wei Yi, Anish Giri, Nordibek Abdusattorov, Alireza Firouzja, Vidit Gujrathi and Praggnanandhaa among others. The icing on the cake is a special feature on Richard Rapport, with 28 annotated games. | Pictured: Gukesh D playing white against Ding Liren in Wijk aan Zee | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024
We owe the vast majority of chess knowledge available to us today to the masters of the past, no matter whether it's about opening theory, strategic concepts or techniques in the endgame. Former German national coach Dorian Rogozenco honours the achievements by these masters in his "Modern Classics" series in ChessBase Magazine. In each issue he familiarises you with a selected brilliancy. This week we offer you Nezhmetdinov-Chernikov (1962) from the current CBM #218 as a free sample - you can even watch and enjoy the video analysis on your smartphone in ChessBase book format. Have fun!
This week we are once again offering you a free sample from the current ChessBase Magazine #218 in ChessBase book format: strategy expert Mihail Marin looks back on the 1992 Linares tournament - one of the strongest tournaments in chess history, which also marked an important historical moment: the end of the dominance of the two "Ks" - Kasparov and Karpov. In his article, Mihail Marin analyses games by Kasparov, Karpov, Ivanchuk, Short, Anand, Timman and others. Including many training exercises and two interactive training videos. Have fun!
ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. The latest issue, CBM 216, is out. Our columnist Nagesh Havanur takes a look. Included are 968 games (34 annotated), decisive encounters from the World Cup deeply annotated, 11 opening surveys, 3 opening videos, 6 demo lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Anish Giri, Peter Heine Nielsen, Nijat Abasov, Vidit Gujrathi and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, among others. The icing on the cake is a feature on Hou Yifan with 22 annotated games. She has just won the Julius Baer Women’s Speed Championship for the second consecutive time. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
World-class chess explained in video: Dorian Rogozenco shows two win by Magnus Carlsen from the World Cup 2023 – From a surprise weapon to a fashionable variation: Luis Engel shows why 6.Rg1 is being used by more and more top players against the Najdorf Variation (video) – Analyses of Nijat Abasov, Anish Giri, Vidit Gujrathi, Ferenc Berkes, Jan Krzysztof Duda, Andrey Esipenko, Nils Grandelius, Anna and Mariya Muzychuk, Praggnanandhaa, Peter Svidler et al. from the World Cup 2023 – “Special” on Hou Yifan: exclusive collection of 22 encounters with detailed commentary from the period from 2008 to 2020 – "Crushing the Benoni": Petra Papp recommends the attack with 6.e4 g6 7.f4! – Carlsbad 1923: Mihail Marin surprises us with how modern the old masters already laid out the game 100 years ago, incl. two interactive videos – "Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" Part #6: Karsten Mueller reveals tips and tricks in the endgame with more than two pawns on one wing and much more.
With eleven opening articles, ChessBase Magazine #215 covers the usual broad spectrum and provides new repertoire ideas for every tournament player. For example, a concept against the Alekhine Defence: Sergey Grigoriants presents the "sharpest and most principled approach against the Alekhine Defence" with 5.f4! and is convinced that he has "proved White's advantage in all variations". Alekhine expert Christian Bauer attests our author an "excellent job. I now know why the variation 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 Bf5 7.Nc3 e6 is bad for Black!".
Take a look! You can find the complete article with all games and analyses in the current CBM #215.
An opening trap is particularly effective if it is built up with natural-looking development moves and is thus hardly recognisable for an uninformed opponent. Trap expert Rainer Knaak presents a collection of promising traps from tournament practice in every issue of ChessBase Magazine. In the current issue #215 there are eight examples - from Trompowsky via Sicilian and Ruy Lopez to King's Indian. Rainer Knaak also demonstrates three of his favourite traps in video in CBM #215; you can watch one of the videos here!
ChessBase Magazine #215 offers over an hour of video playing time with its three opening videos alone (the total playing time of all videos in CBM #215 is more than seven hours). Robert Ris uses three new games by Richard Rapport to examine what White can hope for in the Vienna Game after 5.Qf3. Ivan Sokolov examines the highly topical variation 11.h4!? in the Semi-Tarrasch, especially Giri's novelty 13.Rh3 against Praggnanandhaa. And Daniel King gives a recommendation for the side line 3...e5 against the Sicilian Rossolimo Variation which has already been tested at the highest level. You can watch an extract from Robert Ris' analysis here!
Thanks to his tournament wins in the American Cup and Norway Chess this year, Hikaru Nakamura moved up to second place in the FIDE world rankings (August 2023). In the "Special" of ChessBase Magazine #215 our authors analyse their favourite games of the top grandmaster - an exclusive collection of 19 great encounters from the period 2007 to 2023 awaits you! In addition, Mihail Marin sheds light on "Nakamura's strategy in practice" with videos + many training exercises. And Karsten Mueller presents a selection of the most beautiful endgames from "H-Bomb". As a sample from the "Special" you can watch Michal Krasenkow's analysis of his game against Nakamura from 2007 here. Have fun!
Are chess players ice-cold creatures who always make their decisions at the board out of pure calculation? Of course not, even Magnus Carlsen is not emotionless, says GM Jan Markos in his contribution to the current ChessBase Magazine #215. In fact, very different emotions can influence decision-making in chess - often to one's own disadvantage. Markos presents three examples of this from his own practice and explores the question of how the influence of emotions can be counteracted. You can watch an excerpt from his video contribution here.