Patrick Zelbel News Today

Why is the rook’s pawn called the "worst enemy of the knight"? How do you make best use of the "Knight Check Shadow" and when should you enter the "Karpov Distance"? In the new ChessBase Magazine #219, Karsten Mueller shows you the most important techniques in the endgame with knight against pawn(s) in part #9 of his series "Fundamental Endgame Knowledge". Take the chance and test your technique in two interactive training videos in this week’s CBM rea...

The new ChessBase Magazine #219 offers complete mobile access again with the ChessBase book format. All analyses, repertoire articles, videos and training exercises can be loaded directly in your web browser! In this and the coming weeks, we will be presenting the new issue to you in a series of free reading samples. We start with Lars Schandorff's opening article on the Caro-Kann Advance Variation. After the moves 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h6!? he recommends White to start the game with...

Prague Masters 2024: analyses by tournament winner Nodirbek Abdusattorov as well as Erwin l'Ami, David Navara, Thai Dai Van Nguyen, Praggnanandhaa and many more. - "Special" on Fabiano Caruana: CBM authors show their favourite games of the world no. 2 - exclusive collection of 26 annotated games from 2007 to 2023 – A fresh English repertoire: Felix Blohberger presents an idea based on the game Gukesh-Navara from the Prague Masters 2024 with 3.e3 and 4.Qb3 (video) – Everything o...

What role do traps play in chess? And what is important for successful trapping? In the current ChessBase Magazine #217, Jan Markos deals with the topic of "traps" in his series "Practical Tips for the Tournament Player" and works out four rules that you should definitely observe in your own games. We invite you: this week you can download Jan Markos' article - consisting of a video and a small collection of exercises - as a free sample. Directly via your web browser in t...

Play like Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura & Co! ChessBase Magazine gives you the chance to do just that: in an interactive training format with video feedback, you can go through selected games by top players “Move by Move” - together with our author, Robert Ris. We invite you: this week you can replay Magnus Carlsen's Black win against IM Bojan Maksimovic from ChessBase Magazine #217 - directly via your web browser in the new ChessBase Books format. CBM #217 is the first issue to in...

ChessBase Magazine is breaking new ground. The new CBM #217 (January 2024) is the first issue to include full mobile access, so you can download it directly via the web browser on your iPad or tablet, enjoy world-class games with analyses by the players, learn about new opening ideas, solve training tasks or replay selected master games move by move in interactive video format. Also this week we offer you a complete CBM article from the current issue free of charge. "A promising structure a...

36 analyses from the Grand Swiss 2023: the champions Vaishali and Vidit comment on their best games as well as Abdusattorov, Deac, Erigaisi, Giri, L'Ami, Mendonca, A. and M. Muzychuk, Praggnanandhaa, Saric and others - Strategy special by Mihail Marin: Richard Rapport between originality and classicism - Creeping poison: Patrick Zelbel sheds light on the current 1. e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 Bg4 4.d4!? in the Caro-Kann Two Knights Game - "Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" part #7: Karsten M...

While the participants of the No Castling Masters had a rest day, the contenders in the A-Open and the Sportland NRW Cup played the sixth rounds in their respective tournaments. Alexander Donchenko defeated Matthias Blübaum for the first time in a classical tournament game to take the sole lead in the open, while Dinara Wagner caught Ruben Köllner in the lead of the Sportland NRW Cup. | Photo: Michelle Lassak

Dinara Wagner became the first sole leader at the Sportland NRW Cup in Dortmund, as she is the only player to have started the tournament with two wins in a row. Wagner beat Alexander Bagrationi with black on Sunday. Meanwhile, in the A-Open, the top three seeds — Matthias Bluebaum, Alexander Donchenko (pictured) and Michael Adams — also kicked off the event with 2 out of 2. The No-Castling Masters, with Vladimir Kramnik and Fabiano Caruana, starts on Monday.

All five games ended decisively in the first round of the Sportland NRW Cup in Dortmund. WGM Dinara Wagner (pictured), IM Georgios Souleidis and 12-year-old FM Hussain Besou had a dream start: they beat the three participating grandmasters. In the A-Open, most of the favourites won their games, although the accelerated Swiss format made for interesting fights on the very first day of action.