ChessBase Magazine #141

Main points in this DVD are the triumphs awarded to an experienced and to a fresh face. The younger of the two is looking at you from the title picture: Hikaru Nakamura won the Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee with a wonderful result of 9 points from 13 games. Vassily Ivanchuk�s result in the Gibraltar Masters was numerically even more impressive: his 10 out of 11 saw him playing at a level of almost 3000 Elo points. You will find on the DVD the games from these two top tournaments with detailed reports as well as games analysed by World Champion Anand, Kramnik, Nepomniachtchi, Vachier-Lagrave, McShane, Le Quang Liem and many more. The DVD also once more provides you with a rich source of ideas for your repertoire in 14 openings articles as well as tailor-made training lessons in strategy, tactics and the endgame.

Introductory videos
Karsten M�ller starts his video introduction to this issue with two games in the Gr�nfeld Defence from Wijk aan Zee (Kramnik against L'Ami and Shirov versus Vachier-Lagrave). The grandmaster from Hamburg has also picked out two of the 14 openings articles and introduces you to the essential of what is said in Martin Breutigam�s repertoire suggestion (Scandinavian with 3...Qd6 and 5...c6) and Leonid Kritz' analyses of sub-variations in the Two Knights Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nd4 or 5...b5), which should be particularly attractive to club players.

GM Dorian Rogozenco heads his retrospective over the latest tournament highlights with the most important theoretical innovations from Wijk aan Zee. Ponomariov�s innovation with 15.a5 in the King�s Indian (S�misch) should find a good foothold in opening theory, as should Giri�s 12...c5 in the Semi-Slav (Moscow Variation). He then pays tribute to Nakamura�s performance in Wijk aan Zee and demonstrates the latter�s ability through his endgame victory over Shirov. Other high points from the Tata Steel Tournament which Rogozenco presents to you in his first video are Anand�s victory over Wang Hao and three very different games played by Carlsen.

In the second video Rogozenco introduces you to some pearls from the very strong open tournaments in Gibraltar and Moscow (Moscow Open and Aeroflot Open). As an example of Ivanchuk�s fantastic performance in Gibraltar, he explains the latter�s brilliant endgame mating attack against GM Lafuente. A lesson for all those who would like to learn how to convert a slight positional advantage! Le Quang Liem managed the tour de force of winning the Aeroflot Open for the second time in succession. On the DVD the Vietnamese GM himself annotates two of his games. On his video Rogozenco reviews the decisive moments.

Wijk aan Zee (A-Tournament)
Up till now Hikaru Nakamura�s image was that of a gambler. If you take a look at the development of his Elo curve, then that is not very easy to recognise because it heads steadily upwards and has recently been steering towards 2800. His victory at what is perhaps the strongest tournament of the year in Wijk aan Zee came however as something of a sensation. In Carlsen, Anand, Kramnik and Aronian there were perhaps too many top players in the starting blocks to expect the US-American to top the bill.

Wijk aan Zee (B-Tournament)
A category 17 B-Tournament is only possible in Wijk. With Wojtaszek, Navara, Fressinet and Efimenko there were in the field four players with an Elo rating above 2700. Victory went to one of the "newcomers" in the widest possible sense of the term: Luke McShane only just properly returned to professional chess a few months ago. As in London he also came up with some courageous chess and was rewarded with a shared first place. He and David Navara will be both able to measure themselves against the world�s best in next year�s A-Tournament.

Gibraltar Chess Festival
There are not many of the top players who are bold enough to enter a very strong open tournament. When you get down to it, the opposition consists mainly of experienced grandmasters and the pressure to win is also enormous, especially when you take into account the effect it could have on your Elo rating. Vassily Ivanchuk was not put off by this and went into this year�s Gibraltar Masters as the top favourite. However, it was another older star who set the pace at the beginning: Nigel Short won his first five games, against, among others, the two Kosintseva sisters and Pia Cramling. But then in round 6 he came up against Ivanchuk, and his series of victories came to an abrupt end.

Aeroflot Open Moscow
The previous year�s winner Le Quang Liem was defending his title and once again won the Aeroflot Open. The Vietnamese player got off to an explosive start with four wins (including one against Gata Kamsky) and two rounds before the end he was already looking like the victor. But then he had to admit defeat against Cheparinov�s attack in the King�s Indian. Despite that a draw in the final round sufficed for victory in the tournament because the Bulgarian who was on equal points lost his game as White to Nikita Vitiugov. Vitiugov and Tomashevsky did then draw level on points with Le Quang Liem (6.5 out of 9) but had an inferior tie-break score.

From the opening trap to the endgame study
Training in ChessBase Magazine begins with the very first moves and takes in all the phases of a game of chess. The 14 up-to-date Openings articles with numerous ideas and suggestions for your repertoire can be foundhere or above amongst the links. This time Rainer Knaak�s opening trap (including its Fritztrainer video) contains a a trap from the Queen�s Gambit Accepted, see the diagram. The openings articles of Leonid Kritz (French Winawer Variation), Dejan Bojkov (Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation), Valeri Lilov (King�s Indian Attack) and Adrian Mikhalchishin (Sicilian Paulsen) have also been produced in video format. You will find these videos and another clip by Nigel Davies in Chess Media format in the column Fritztrainer. Peter Wells� subject in his Strategy-column is called: "Doubled f-pawns in front of the castled king: Part 1 � The central significance of the safety of the king". In Daniel King�s long-running favourite Move by Move he deals with a game in the Gr�nfeld Defence. And in the columns for Tactics and Endgames Oliver Reeh and Karsten M�ller have once more selected for you all that is best in the latest tournament practice.

Opening articles

Marin: Keres Defence A40