At the end of the super-tournament in Wijk an Zee two young heroes were in the spotlight: with a little bit of luck Magnus Carlsen won the top tournament, and at the age of only 15, Anish Giri was victorious in the B-tournament and thus qualified for the tournament for the top players for next year. On this DVD there are comments on their best games from, e.g., tournament victor Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Vishy Anand, Alexei Shirov and Nigel Short. Whereas world champion Anand usually mostly went in controlled fashion with the flow in Wijk, his challenger for the WCh, Veselin Topalov, went about things in his usual combative way in Linares and majestically won the second great tournament highlight of this issue despite a lapse in the last round but one. On the DVD you will find all the games from these world class tournaments, more than 4 hours of video analysis (e.g. by Shirov and Short about Wijk), 13 up-to-date openings articles with suggestions for your repertoire as well as training contributions in tactics, the middlegame and the endgame.

Wijk an Zee
The Corus Tournament in Wijk an Zee in the Netherlands at the start of this year once more set the standard by which subsequent super-tournaments will be measured. Three of the really big beasts, Carlsen, Anand and Kramnik, were there and all of them played an important role in the struggle for victory in the tournament. And in addition Alexei Shirov showed just how good he was and with a start of  5 out of 5 looked like a winner. Finally, though it was once Magnus Carlsen who headed the table. ChessBase Magazine presents this tournament in a worthy fashion: six of the main protagonists (Carlsen, Anand, Kramnik, Shirov, van Wely and Short) have commented on their best games from Wijk, some even in video or audio format. You will find all the games and a tournament report via the link "Wijk an Zee" in on the left.

Linares
Compared to Wijk there were more draws and less excitement in Linares on account of the different style of tournament (6 participants and a double round event). Yet there was a series of spectacular games, above all thanks to the efforts of the tournament victor Veselin Topalov. Setting the tone for the success of the WCh challenger was his haul with the white pieces: Topalov won four out of five of his games with White and the only reason for the draw at the end of his game against Aronian was a tactical slip on the part of the Bulgarian. You will find all the games from Linares and a tournament report here. The most interesting games are annotated on the DVD by Mihail Marin, Igor Stohl, Lubomir Ftacnik, Michael Krasenkow and Leonid Kritz.

From the opening trap to the endgame study
Training in ChessBase Magazine begins with the very first moves and covers all the phases of a game of chess. You can find an overview on the 13 up-to-date openings articles with their many ideas and suggestions for your repertoire below. The subtle opening trap (including its Fritztrainer video) of Rainer Knaak starts on move 5. You will also find in video format contributions on the opening by Adrian Mikhalchishin (Queen’s Gambit with 5.Bf4) and Valeri Lilov (Dutch Stonewall). These videos and other recordings in Chess Media Format can be accessed under the heading Fritztrainer. In Daniel King’s ever-popular Move by Move there is a game in the Dragon. And in the columns Tactics and Endgame Oliver Reeh and Karsten Müller have once more brought together for you the best from recent tournament praxis.

Stohl: English A29
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Nd4

Marin: Alekhine Defence B03
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6 exd6

Grivas: Sicilian B33
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 5.Nb3 Nf6 6.Nc3 e6 7.Bg5

Kritz: Sicilian B42
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Bc5 6.Nb3 Be7 7.Qg4 Bf6

Kuzmin: Sicilian B94
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 Nbd7

Moskalenko: French Defence C00
1.e4 e6 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2

Langrock: French Defence C11
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.Qd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 a6

Hazai/Lukacs: Scotch C45
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.Qd2

Skembris: Two Knights Defence C58
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ Bd7

Erenburg: Ruy Lopez C65
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d4

Postny: Ruy Lopez C65
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Bc5 5.c3 0-0 6.d4 Bb6

Karolyi: Queen's Gambit Accepted D24
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 e6 5.Nc3

Krasenkow: Queen's Indian Defence E12
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3