Youth and experience is a theme which plays some sort of role in all four top tournaments covered in this issue. In the Shanghai Masters which has just finished the youngest player in the field, the Chinese player Wang Hao, had little joy and even lost both his games against the outstanding victor in the tournament, Alexei Shirov. On the other hand youth showed its teeth in the match of the generations in Amsterdam and notched up a start to finish victory which was never in any danger against the "Experience" team. The tournament of the "Young GMs" in Biel saw them competing against each other and it was Caruana who secured the title in a play-off. And at the Chess Meeting in Dortmund, 19 year old Vietnamese player Le Quang Liem was just as much a surprise as the brilliant tournament victory by Ponomariov.

Introductory videos
Let Hamburg grandmaster Karsten Müller set the mood for this issue of ChessBase Magazine. In his video introduction he homes in on two of the highlights of the DVD at once by showing you the decisive moments in the games Ponomariov-Kramnik (Dortmund) and Nakamura-Gelfand (Amsterdam). And Adams’ win in the British Championship with 3.Bb5 in the Sicilian also makes you wish for more. Or perhaps you may be interested in what ideas underlie Ponomariov’s unconventional reply to the Catalan? 

In his video retrospective on the latest top tournaments GM Dorian Rogozenco first pays tribute to the performance of Vietnamese player Le Quang Liem at the Chess Meeting in Dortmund and explains the important moments in the latter’s victory over Ponomariov. From the "Young stars" tournament in Biel he presents the game Caruana-Van Wely and recommends the detailed analysis by the Italian on the DVD. Rogozenco finishes with his analysis of the game Shirov-Wang Hao, with which the Spaniard started his series of victories in the Shanghai Masters.

Shanghai Masters
The high quality of the participants in the Shanghai Masters (Kramnik, Aronian, Shirov and the at present strongest Chinese player, Wang Hao) was made clear by the high proportion of extremely diverse games which it produced. This was helped by the unusually short thinking time. For example, the first 40 moves had to be completed in only 90 minutes. This led to a correspondingly high number of errors, which in no way spoiled the high entertainment value of the games. It was far and away Alexei Shirov who coped with it best. Immediately on his return from Shanghai, he recorded four videos for us giving a detailed personal account of the tournament.

NH Amsterdam
The “old boys” have only been able to win once in the last 5 years in this match between the generations in Amsterdam. That was last year, and in this year’s version of the tournament too, team "Experience" had ambitions of victory at the start. But despite positive scores by the top two players, Boris Gelfand and Peter Svidler, the settled generation had to accept defeat once more. The "Rising Stars" won 26:24 above all thanks to the performances of Hikaru Nakamura and Anish Giri. And the two young stars, who each completed their tournament with 6 out of 10, were involved in a play-off to earn a ticket to the next Amber Tournament. The duel of two blitz games went in favour of the US-American by 2:0.

Young Grandmasters Biel
In last year’s version of the traditional Biel Tournament, it was "Oldie" Alexander Morozevich who was responsible for the turbulent moments. This year, only young players were admitted and in fact the course of the tournament developed, at least in some phases, into a sedate one. None of the four players at the top of the table actually lost a game. Of course that could hardly affect the tension, because the decision had to be taken in a blitz play-off between the Vietnamese Nguyen, Caruana and last year’s winner Vachier Lagrave. Despite being in several losing positions, the Italian kept his cool and first defeated the French player 2:1 and in the final against the surprisingly strong Nguyen he had luck on his side.

Chess Meeting Dortmund
Seldom has the Dortmund Tournament seen so much struggle, tension and high-class games as it did this year. Thanks go to Sofia, because on account of the rule named after that city early agreed draws between the players were for the first time forbidden. And the greatest upheaval and surprise was brought to the Dortmund super-tournament by two newcomers. The Vietnamese player Le Quang Liem with his solid and imaginative play ended up occupying the second place on +1. Well ahead was Ruslan Ponomariov, who with his victories with White over Leko and Kramnik set out the markers right at the start.

From the opening trap to the endgame study
Training in ChessBase Magazine starts with the very first moves and includes all the phases of a game of chess. The twelve up-to-date openings articles with their numerous ideas and suggestions for your repertoire can be found above among the links. The subtle opening trap kicks in on move nine; click here, to reach the column by Rainer Knaak (including its Fritztrainer video). You will also find in video format the openings articles by Igor Stohl (Catalan following the game Ponomariov-Kramnik), Valeri Lilov (Alekhine Defence) and Leonid Kritz (French Steinitz Variation). You will find these videos and other recordings in Chess Media format in the column Fritztrainer. Peter Wells’ subject in his Strategy column is called: "Pawn races in the Open Sicilian - Part 2". In Daniel King’s long-running Move by Move it is a game in the Benoni which is up for discussion (see diagram). And in the Tactics and Endgames columns Oliver Reeh and Karsten Müller have once again selected for you the best from current tournament praxis.

Opening Surveys

Anic: Old Indian Defence A55
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Nbd7 4.e4 e5 5.Nf3 Be7 6.Be2 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.Qc2 a6 9.Rd1 Qc7 10.Bg5 Re8 11.Rac1 Qb8

The author gives an insight into an opening which has perhaps unjustly had a not very flattering reputation, but which is well-suited for a counter-attack based on a solid position. Until now 11...Qb8 has rarely been played, but GM Anic’s analysis is encouraging.

Knaak: Nimzowitsch Defence B00
1.e4 Nc6 3.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.d5 Nb8

Till now 3.Nc3 has been considered as the main move to give White an advantage. But according to Rainer Knaak’s investigations Black can expect to achieve safe equality with 3...dxe4 4.d5 Nb8. Therefore, both 3.e5 and 3.exd5 should be preferred to 3.Nc3.

Kritz: Caro-Kann B12
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3

In the opinion of Leonid Kritz, nowadays only 3.e5 gives White any prospects of achieving a slight advantage against the Caro-Kann. In that variation, the line examined here is of particular importance. The author shows that neither 6...Qb6 nor 6...cxd4 equalises fully.

Grivas: Sicilian B33
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 5.Nb3 Nf6 6.Nc3 e6 7.Be3 Qc7

In the fourth part of his examination of the Grivas-Sicilian 4...Qb6 our Greek author turns above all to the Dionysos Variation, which starts from the diagram with 8.f4. After 8...Bb4 9.Bd3 Bxc3+ 10.bxc3 d6 11.0-0 e5 Black has a satisfactory game.

Karolyi: Sicilian B92
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Kh1 Nc6

White’s king move is in itself a subtle one, since the standard move 9...b5 is not so good on account of 10.a4. But 9...Nc6 has proved its worth and Black need fear neither 10.f3 nor 10.f4, and certainly not any moves with anything other than the f-pawn.

Ftacnik: Sicilian B96
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Nc6

The article comes to two conclusions: 8.e5 h6 9.Bh4 is no longer attractive for White, because 9...dxe5 goes into an ending which has seen good results for Black. But after 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.e5 h6 10.Bh4 g5 11.fxg5 Nd5 it can also come down to an ending, but this time one which is favourable to White.

Bojkov: Ruy Lopez C92
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Rb8 10.d4 exd4 11.cxd4 d5

There is no doubt that the surprising 9...Rb8 and 11...d5 set White some problems. But if the latter knows what he is doing, then Black’s setup should be somewhat dubious. In any case, that is what has been proved by recent correspondence games.

Stohl: Ruy Lopez C92
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.a4

The Zaitsev Variation which Igor Stohl has examined is clearly different from many versions of the Closed Ruy Lopez, because in it the position is often opened rapidly. In the critical long main variation Black seems to be able to do quite well.

Postny: Slav Defence D18
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Nh4 e6 7.Nxf5 exf5 8.e3 Bb4 9.Bxc4 0-0 10.0-0 Nbd7

This article is first of all about the variation 6.Nh4 e6, which hardly leaves White with any choices on the route to the position in the diagram. But it can also be reached via 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nh4 Nbd7 10.Nxf5 exf5. Postny has a lot of interesting conclusions for you to study.

Kuzmin: Catalan E01
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Bd6 6.Bg2

In the Catalan the black bishop usually moves to e7 – no matter whether it first delivers a check on b4 or whether it goes there directly. But why not to d6? Alexey Kuzmin presents the latest state of affairs in this still quite new setup.

Krasenkow: Queen's Indian Defence E12
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Bb7 5.Nc3 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Qc2 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Be7 9.e4 0-0 10.Bd3 c5 11.0-0

In the last part of his article on the Petrosian System Michal Krasenkow analyses the position in the diagram which is the one the top players most often reach. Even if an advantage for White cannot be proved on all fronts, the positions which are reached are interesting and well suited to playing for the full point.

Schipkov: King's Indian Defence E81
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Be3 c5 7.Nge2 Nc6 8.d5 Ne5 9.Ng3

There is no doubt that 6...c5 has turned into the greatest test of the Sämisch System. Nowadays it is thought that declining the pawn sacrifice gives better chances of achieving an opening advantage and Boris Schipkov shows you how to go about that.