Page 3 - Jan Markos News Today

Opposite-coloured bishops (OCB) are tricky beasts. In many (but not all!) endgames, they turn the fight on the board into a boring tea-party, mostly ending in a draw. Many club players therefore expect that in the middlegame they will behave similarly. However, nothing can be further from truth. | Photo: <a href="https://pixabay.com/de/vectors/schach-bischof-meeple-schwarz-wei%C3%9F-36303/">pixabay</a>.

The Italian Game has become popular again in top chess in recent years, not least because it often leads to interesting positions rich in content. In ChessBase Magazine #214 Sergey Grigoriants uses games by Nakamura, Carlsen, Kasimdzhanov and others to show a concept that promises Black "relatively easy play": with 10...Re8 Black prepares the exchange of the light-squared bishops on e6.

Spassky is considered one of the most gifted players ever. A fine attacker and equally strong in the middlegame and endgame, the term universal style was coined for him. For CBM 214 we invited our authors to comment on their favourite Boris Spassky games. The result is a collection of 27 first-class annotated Spassky games from the period 1949 to 1989. You can take a look at two samples here. Enjoy!

Evgeny Postny examines in the current ChessBase Magazine #214 the variation 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.h3 (which, in contrast to the main continuation 6.Bf4, prevents the development of Black's bishop to g4) with the active advance 6...e5. From Postny's point of view a sound reaction, which “offers Black adequate play in all variations” even though an isolani on d5 will be involved.

The column "All in One" was introduced in in ChessBase Magazine about four years ago. On the basis of a single, but very extensively annotated game, you learn everything you need to know about a specific opening line. A compact format with which you can improve your know-how without much effort. In the current ChessBase Magazine #214 Igor Stohl introduces you to the Hippopotamus setup, a system that can be used with Black against practically anything.

The new ChessBase Magazine #214 offers various updates for your repertoire with eleven opening articles from the Dutch to King's Indian. 1.e4 players can be curious about Martin Lorenzini's article on the Scandinavian with 3...Qa5. For the GM from Argentina sees Black in great trouble in the line 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bf5 6.Bd2 e6 7.Ne5!: "The positions that the second player gets are passive, difficult to handle and practically aspire to only a draw". Take a look!

What happens when you find yourself in a lost position? Many chess players - as Jan Markos states in his video for ChessBase Magazine #213 - react to this realisation with a loss of energy or even inner resignation. They make a few more normal moves, and a little later the game is over. In the sixth part of his training series for ChessBase Magazine, Jan Markos explains what it takes to get the maximum out of a lost position in a practical game. Take a look at an excerpt from his video!

The play of the 15th World Champion is appreciated from different perspectives in the current ChessBase Magazine: In Mihail Marin's article "Anand as a positional ace" you will find selected strategic masterpieces (and two interactive training videos). Karsten Mueller presents Anand's best endgames (including a detailed video introduction). And last but not least, our CBM authors Adhiban Baskaran, Imre Hera, David Navara, Igor Stohl, Yago Santiago and others present their favou...

Don't miss it! Today we are offering you a 25% price reduction on everything. That includes software, training DVDs, services, the ChessBase Account. There are some very interesting new products: like the brand new Opening Encyclopaedia 2023, which is a huge fund of ideas and high-quality analysis! And so many other products that will improve your understanding of chess, your skill in the game – not to forget the rating points they will earn you.

The new ChessBase Magazine #213 offers, among many other things, 48 extensively annotated games, from the WR Masters 2023 as well as the EICC 2023, and in the "Special" our authors present their favourite games of Vishy Anand. From the WR Masters tournament winner Levon Aronian as well as Vincent Keymer and Jan-Krzysztof Duda annotate their best games. In addition, Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa each present one of their games in the video! You can watch Aronian's analysis of his first ...