ChessBase Magazine 153 (April 2013)

ChessBase Magazine, som vi pleier å kalle det, nummer 153 har som vanlig 12 nyttige åpningsartikler og mye treningsstoff, samt gjennomgår partier fra toppturneringene Baden-Baden, Wijk-aan-Zee (Magnus), Gibraltar og Zürich. I sistnevnte var Kasparov ikke spiller, men kommentator!

Selvfølgelig masse deilig sjakkstoff i DVD-format for skikkelige entusiaster. Slik presenteres denne gang innholdet bit for av ChessBase selv:

Intro

Grandmaster Karsten Müller takes a quarter of an hour to give you an overview of the various content on the DVD and presents one or two highlights. In this way you get a peek into either a Carlsen or Anand game from Wijk and selected articles on opening theory. The "new" strategy column, of course, cannot go without a mention, and to finish, the opening trap by Rainer Knaak is "raised".

Tournament Highlights Grandmaster Dorian Rogozenco also begins his video with a game from Wijk and he doesn't forget to give Magnus Carlsen a mention. With highlights of three games the exceptional strengths of the Norwegian are demonstrated. Of course, Rogozenco offers a little look at the uncrowned best game prize Aronian-Anand. Further game fragments come from the top tournaments Baden-Baden and Zurich.

Pure Training

Here we have collected all games with training questions. By clicking at the icon you get by chance one position with a training question. 23.02.-01.03.2013

Zürich Chess Challenge

Only four participants but strong ones: Anand, Kramnik, Gelfand and Caruana. In the first round of the Zurich Chess Challenge all games were drawn but none under 40 moves. In the second-half Fabiano Caruana landed two victories making him the winner by some way. In the third tournament in a row (after Wijk and Baden-Baden) the Italian remained strong and ruthlessly fought every game to the end.

For ChessBase Magazine Fabiano Caruana has annotated his White game against Kramnik. The Russian opened with the Benoni - not exactly his main opening weapon. Caruana soon stood better but he allowed a liquation, which brought Kramnik a material advantage. However, the Russian had to park a knight on h3 where it also stood in the final position. The commentator is also very critical of his own play. In the diagram he played 32.Nd6 without realizing that the knight would be weak on f5 rather than strong. For this reason it later had to move to e3 where it could have landed in the diagram in one move. Nevertheless, on the whole the balance was kept and thus the game ended peacefully.

Sure thing for Magnus Carlsen Wijk aan Zee

It is hard to imagine the next WC challenger to Anand being anyone other than Magnus Carlsen. At the Tata-Steel tournament the world number one won overwhelmingly in Wijk aan Zee with a 10 out of 13 result and a record 2930 performance. As a result he has hiked his Elo-rating up to the never-before-seen 2872. Only the world champion himself was able to keep pace with Carlsen but then had to let him go. On the DVD you will find game analysis by Carlsen, Anand, Giri and van Wely among others.

An example of how Magnus Carlsen creates his dominance in the middle and endgame is offered in his decisive game against Sokolov in round 6, which the Norwegian himself annotates on the DVD. With the rare book move 9.Bg5 "I aimed for a little advantage", is how Carlsen explained his opening choice. However, after this, not much of an advantage was in evidence. No problem for the Norwegian though as long as his position still offers a "long-term potential". Load the game and let Carlsen explain how he first brought his pieces to optimum positions and then broke the Black position. The diagram shows the position before the last move. Can you spot the nice way in which the Norwegian brought the game to a finish?

Wijk aan Zee 2013 Openings report Based on a total of 39 annotated games grandmaster Mihail Marin again looks at the latest developments and trends in his Opening report. The Romanian is able to draw on analysis and comments by Anand, Breutigam, Carlsen, Ftacnik, Giri, Gormally, Krasenkow, L'Ami, Postny, Rogozenco, Sumets, Kr. Szabo and Van Wely.

The game Aronian,L - Anand,V 0-1 from the fourth round was one of the real highlights of the tournament. Not just because it involved, in only 23 moves, an unusually short victory for Black in top-level chess. Anand referred to the game in the subsequent interview as one of the best games of his entire career. "To win a game like that against my dreaded opponent Levon is just great."

Aronian,L - Anand,V 0-1 Position before 16...Nde5 As preparation for his WC-match against Gelfand the world champion had taken a good look at the "astonishing move" 11...Rc8 and found it to be good. Now the time had come to put this to the test in practice against Aronian. The real blow however was unleashed when, after 16.Bd3-e2 in the diagram position, Anand unleashed 16...Nde5. "A brilliant move", which Anand was "really proud of". Play through the game and let the world champion demonstrate the Black attack to you. Also in the analysis is his new opening idea - "Black wants to push c5 without worrying about covering the b5 pawn" - definitely not to be missed!

Anish Giri annotates Giri,A - Carlsen,M ½-½ In the final round it almost looked like Carlsen could still falter and lose against Anish Giri. In an unorthodox King's Indian position the young Dutchman emerged from the opening with an advantage. Carlsen's position looked increasingly critical.In the analysis on the DVD, Giri explains exactly what he overlooked on move 23 and why, after a further careless move, he began to feel increasingly uncomfortable with his position. In the end both sides were not unhappy with a draw. Giris conclusion: "It's always fun with Magnus". 07.02.-17.02.2013

Grenke Classic Baden-Baden

For a long time the only question was: would Caruana or Naiditsch make the running? However, the top German player spoiled too many winning positions while the Italian pushed his luck. In the penultimate round it deserted him when he lost against Adams. It was thus Anand's big moment. The world champion had first won a game after eight rounds but with two good wins at the end he was still able to come out as the sole winner - this was his first tournament victory at the classical time control since Linares 2008.

Anand,V - Fridman,D 1-0 Position after 22.Bg4! During the WC match Anand-Gelfand, as everybody knows, the Russian game did not appear on the board. In his game against Fridman now we could see what the world champion had prepared against this tough opening - nothing spectacular but a long variation with a novelty on move 20. However the subtle move 22.Bg4! immediately put Black under so much pressure that he went wrong; Commentator Dmitry Andreikin explains that instead of the "human" 22...Rf8 it would have been better to play 22...Be6. According to his analysis, Black maintains a balanced game in all lines. By the way 22...Bxg4 loses immediately: 23.Nf6+! gxf6 24.Rxe8+ Rxe8 25.Qxg4+ Qxg4 26.Rxe8+ etc. 22.01.-31.01.2013

Gibraltar Masters

In the 11th edition of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival the two protagonists were in front, who were to contest an exciting play-off: For years Nigel Short has enjoyed playing in, and always very successfully, in this popular, first class open. And Nikita Vitiugov not only started with 5 out of 5 but also spoiled the Englishman's chances of repeating his tournament victory from the previous year with a 102 move victory over him in the play-off.

Vitiugov,N - Swiercz,D 1-0 Position after 19...Na4-b6 With his fifth victory in a row Niktiva Vitiugov demonstrated great strategic understanding and masterly prudence. In the diagram position he was a pawn down but had the bishop pair and a clear initiative for it. And not to mention the pawn on b7 is already hanging! Vitiugov played 20.Rfc1. "There's no hurry" to quote the young Russian in his analysis on the DVD. Load the game Vitiugov-Swiercz and play it through with annotation by the tournament winner!

Strategy with Dorian Rogozenko

The strategy column has a new author. The Romanian grandmaster Dorian Rogozenco takes up this particular challenge and has immediately come up with two new ideas for his first article. Firstly, he will start each column with a video introducing the topic in question and explaining the theory behind it. Secondly, his games are accompanied by training questions so you can get on with some practical training. In this edition Rogozenco has recorded an additional video where he talks in general about strategy and discusses his ideas for the strategy column.

Caruana-Nakamura, Wijk Position after 54.Kc2 How did Nakamura manage to break White’s position? Solution in Endgame From opening trap to studying the endgame

Training in ChessBase Magazine starts with the very latest moves and includes all phases of the game of chess. The 12 current opening articles with lots of ideas and suggestions for your repertoire can be found at the top next to the links. This time Rainer Knaak’s Opening Trap (including Fritztrainer video) contains a trap from the Nimzo-Indian (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 cxd4 9.exd4 - E54). In video format there are also opening contributions by Leonid Kritz (Slav Chebanenko Variation) and Robert Ris (Caro-Kann 2.Ne2). These videos can be found under the heading Opening Videos. In Daniel King’s long-running success Move by Move a game in the Tarrasch Defence is on the training schedule. The subject of the Strategy column by Dorian Rogozenco is "Centralization". And under the heading Tactics (Subject: hanging pieces, picture-book attacks) and Endgame (Topic: Pearls from Wijk aan Zee) Oliver Reeh and Karsten Müller have again put together the best from current tournament practice.

Opening Surveys

Breutigam: Trompowsky Attack A45

1.d4 Sf6 2.Lg5

In the concluding part of his series Martin Breutigam puts a side-line under the microscope of which 2...c5 and 2...g6 are significant. In both cases White takes on f6 and this would also be the right strategy for example after 2...d6.

Sumets: Caro-Kann Panov Attack B14

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.cxd5 exd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3 Bb4 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bd2 Nc6 9.Bd3 0-0 10.0-0 Be7 11.Qe2

In this important position of the Panov Attack Andrey Sumets examines the continuations 11...Nf6 and 11...Qb6. According to his analysis Black can equalize in both lines though the queen moves is better, which is not so well-known.

Kritz: Sicilian B32

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 a6 6.Nd6+ Bxd6 7.Qxd6 Qf6

The Lowenthal variation under discussion here does not have a good reputation since White can supposedly achieve an advantage in various ways. Analysis by Leonid Kritz however shows that Black can claim to be okay.

Rotstein: Sicilian B48

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 Nf6

Instead of 6...a6, which allows 7.Qd2 Nf6 8.0-0-0 Black makes an active move after which White‘s setup including castling long loses its effectiveness. Arkadij Rotstein checks whether White can exploit Black‘s decision to develop the knight with 7.Ndb5 oder 7.f4.

Stohl: Sicilian B51

1.e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7

Igor Stohl points out that 3...Nd7 is really not so risky as previously thought. A new development is thus 4.0-0 a6 5.Bd3 with motives common to the Spanish and a quiet positional game.

Moskalenko: French C11

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Nf3 c5

Viktor Moskalenko examines several noteworthy sidelines in his article. One of them begins with 6.Bg5 and another with 6.dxc5 Nc6 7.Bf4 Bxc5 8.Bd3 f6 9.exf6 Nxf6 of the mainline only to deviate unexpectedly to 10.Qe2 0-0 11.0-0-0.

Kuzmin: Slav Defence D10

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bf4 Nc6 5.e3

The Exchange Variation with a deferred Nf3 does not make it easy for Black. Alexey Kuzmin shows that on 6...Bf5 7.Qb3 may follow. Today 6...a6 is preferred after which the author analyses two variations: 7.Bd3 and the more subtle 7.Rc1.

Skembris: Slav Defence D16

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 c5

Black loses a tempo with 5...c5 but White’s a4 was not a particularly sensible move. In the mainline 6.d5 Bf5 and then there are several continuations, all of which are thoroughly analysed by Spyridon Skembris.

Krasenkow: Queen's Gambit D38 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 0-0 7.Bd2

With 5.Qa4+ against the Ragozin Defence White immediately deviates from the mainline. In his article Michal Krasenkow brings in lots of experience from his own games. He believes that it is not easy for Black to equalise.

Schandorff: Semi-Slav D44

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Nxg5 hxg5 10.Bxg5 Nbd7 11.exf6 Bb7 12.g3 c5 13.d5 Qb6 14.Bg2 0-0-0 15.0-0 b6 16.Na4

In part two of his analysis of the Botvinnik Variation Lars Schandorff looks at the lines after 16.Na4. After 16...Qa6 17.a3 Bxd5 18.Bxd5 Ne5 a critical position is reached whereafter 19.axb4 and 19.Nxc5 are two continuations which come in question.

Postny: Semi-Slav D46

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.a3 Bd6 10.0-0 0-0 11.Qc2 Rc8

Thanks to the spectacular game Aronian-Anand, Wijk 2013 this whole variation has become well known. Evgeny Postny also analyses the sidelines and talks about the positions where he expects more games to be played.

Marin: Bogo-Indian E11

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 c5 5.Bxb4 cxb4 6.g3 0-0 7.Bg2 d6 8.0-0 Nc6

It looks like Black allows his pawn structure to be damaged but in the position in the diagram 9.a3 is mainly played. The variation is very playable – for both sides – but according to Mihail Marin you should take a good look at it first.