At the end of last year, the Uzbek Grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov won the World Rapid Championship in Warsaw at the age of 17, becoming the youngest World Rapid Champion of all time. In the course of the event he defeated Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Ian Nepomniachtchi – and Magnus Carlsen! "What a fight!" writes Anish Giri about Abdusattorov's encounter with the World Champion in his analysis for ChessBase Magazine Extra #206. It's "The brilliancy" of the new issue. Take a look!
Opening videos: Robert Ris shows the latest trends in the Hennig-Schara Gambit. Mihail Marin presents a Fianchetto setup against the Gruenfeld and King's Indian. Total playing time of the videos: just under one hour. "Lucky bag" with over 80 analyses by Anish Giri, Nijat Abasov, Romain Edouard, Marie Sebag and many others. In "The brilliancy" between the new rapid chess champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov and world champion Magnus Carlsen - commented by Anish Giri! - with 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e4 Bb4 a trendy variation of the English Opening appeared on the board. ChessBase Magazine Extra is the perfect complement to ChessBase Magazine. Available as a single issue or by subscription (6 issues per year). Available as download or on DVD.
The final round (ten) of the Battle of the Sexes match-tournament, held at Gibraltar, saw the men’s team win by 6½-3½ to finish overall winners by 53-47. The winners on the final day were Bobby Cheng, who beat Jovi Houska; Ravi Haria, who beat Olga Girya; and Bilel Bellahcene, who defeated Marie Sebag (her only loss of the event). Balazs Csonka drew his game with Marsel Efroimski and this was enough to secure his second grandmaster norm.
Round nine of the #GibChess Battle of Sexes, held at Gibraltar’s Garrison Library saw a turnaround in fortunes as the women’s team ran out 6-4 winners on the day. This still leaves them three points behind the men’s team going into the final round (in which they will have the black pieces) requiring a 6½-3½ score to force a tie-break or a 7-3 score to win the match outright. Report and photos by John Saunders.
Round eight of the #GibChess Battle of Sexes, held at Gibraltar’s Garrison Library on Tuesday 1 February, resulted in a 5½-4½ victory for Team Sabino with the White pieces, increasing their overall score to 42½-37½ – a lead of five points for the men’s team with two rounds to go. The battle is now well and truly joined, with various chances coming and going, but the men’s team lead is starting to look hard to overturn. Report and photos by John Saunders.