Scotch Gambit News Today

In this Episode, Svitlana presents to us the fundamentals of openings, with an example played by Paul Keres. With a cunning sacrifice, White gains some advantage. Or not? How to actually evaluate a position best? The Canadian WIM tells us about the six rules of evaluation!

Now, all of us chess players know that the World Championship is battled out by Gukesh and Ding Liren. Both players faced each other in classical chess only twice before, in Wijk aan Zee 2023, and 2024. One of their games was fairly interesting, and Svitlana is analysing it.

Arne recently played in a chess tournament, and one of his opponents played the unusual 1.f4, which was quite a surprise. Sadly, he didn't film this Smart Moves episode before the tournament, to get to know the surprising answer Nh6!? The so called - Horsefly Defence in the Bird Opening. Even the engines think that this counter is absolutely legit, and the Mega Database shows excellent results as well. Svitlana shows, why it is a powerful move!

Together with Arne Kähler, Canadian WIM Svitlana Demchenko (photo) regularly entertains and trains readers of our website on the <a href="https://en.chessbase.com/search?pattern=Svitlana%20Demchenko">Svitlana’s Smart Moves</a> show. The 20-year-old from Ukraine also made smart moves at the Canadian Women’s Zonal tournament in Toronto, which ended at the beginning of April. She started as number 5 in the seeding list and ended up in a tie for first place with 7&#189...

Svitlana dug deep to find some outstanding, beautiful tactics, by all the men's and women's candidates, who will compete in Toronto soon. Arne is trying hard to solve all the puzzles, and get 8 out of 8 in both videos. Will he succeed? And how will you do, dear viewer? These two videos are the perfect start to get into the mood for the candidates tournament!

Svitlana dug deep to find some outstanding, beautiful tactics, by all the men's candidates, who will compete in Toronto soon. Arne is trying hard to solve all the puzzles, and get 8 out of 8. Will he succeed? And how will you do, dear viewer?

The Carlsbad Pawn structure, or formation, is normally deriving from the Queen's Gambit declined, London System, or the Caro-Kann. A common structure, which actually has some ideas, and plans to accomplish. Svitlana tells us, what the major plans are for White, and Black, by showing us two example games. One of them is Garry Kasparov vs. Nigel Short!

The Methodical Attacking Principles within certain pawn structures hold high importance. From the opening to the middlegame, the patterns, plans, and theories derived from our initial pawn moves necessitate different actions. Those who frequently play the Queen's Gambit likely have a better understanding of an isolated pawn compared to aficionados of the Ruy Lopez. Svitlana discusses an excellent game by Jan-Krzysztof Duda, highlighting how he gradually leverages his pawn structure advantage...

With the stunning result of 5 out of 5 on board 1, Svitlana participated in the Canadian University Championship! One of her games included the Portuguese Variation in the Scandinavian Opening, which is "Svitlana's Smart Moves" most viewed episodes! She won against an FM, and her opponent was almost without a chance. Maybe, this opening is much better, than everybody thought?

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...