Back to No. 1. Magnus Carlsen won the "Kings Tournament" ahead of Sergey Karjakin thanks to the superior tiebreak score and in doing so moved back into pole position in the world ranking list. The tournament from Mediasch in Romania with its two young victors constitutes one of the main focal points of this issue. In the candidates matches in Kazan it was anything but a breakthrough for youth. The winner was the oldest participant Boris Gelfand and he is the one who has the right to challenge World Champion Anand next year. On the DVD Gelfand annotates two of the key games on the way to the greatest triumph of his career so far. Other highlights: the tournaments in Lublin (Shirov was victorious and demonstrates his wins in video format), Havana (Le Quang Liem annotates) and the Ukrainian individual championship (won by Ponomariov, annotations by Eljanov). At the same time the DVD offers with its 13 openings articles all sorts of suggestions for your opening repertoire as well as training databases for the sharpening up of your strategic an tactical instincts.

 

In his introductory video of over a quarter of an hour grandmaster Karsten Müller gives you a survey of the various contents of the DVD and gives you a quick introduction to some of its highlights. For example, the decisive moments from Gelfand’s winning game against Grischuk in the candidates final or Carlsen’s excellent endgame technique in his game against Ivanchuk. In his intro Müller goes into some depth on two openings articles which are on the DVD: on one hand, Breutigam’s investigation of 10.e5 in the Botvinnik Variation and on the other Kuzmin’s theoretically less extensive article on the Queen’s Gambit Declined with 6.Bxf6.

 

Romanian GM Dorian Rogozenco casts an eye in his 20 minutes videoback over the four tournament highlights of recent months. For example, he introduces in depth Gelfand’s impressive win with Black over Mamedyarov in the first round of their candidates match, at the end of which game Black had on the board six pawns in return for a rook. From the top tournament in Medias Rogozenco presents a fragment from the game of local hero Nisipeanu against Ivanchuk, in which the Romanian managed to break through his opponent’s Berlin Defence.

 

"Kings Tournament" in Medias
Romanian chess organisers are well on their way to establishing this as one of the strongest chess tournaments in the world. The fifth "Kings Tournament" was held for the second time in the small town of Mediasch in the Siebenbürgen area, and the presence of Carlsen, Karjakin, Ivanchuk, Nakamura, Radjabov and Nisipeanu meant there was nothing more one could wish for. Another highlight consisted of the video analyses in which the players participated at the end of their games with head commentator Dorian Rogozenco and which are for the most part accessible on playchess.com. Magnus Carlsen secured victory in the tournament with three wins and seven draws. In the final round a draw with White with Sergey Karjakin, who would also finish on 6.5 points but with an inferior tiebreak score, was sufficient for the Norwegian.

 

WCh Candidates Matches Kazan
It was not white smoke which rose into the sky above Kazan, but somehow everything seemed to have been resolved when the decision was taken. In a war of draws and tiebreaks Boris Gelfand brought all his experience to bear and won the right to appear next year in the WCh title match against Anand. Those who had been considered top favourites, Aronian and Kramnik, looked pretty pale in Kazan and in view of the high number of draws most matches were not decided till the rapid or blitz chess phases. Even the WCh challenger only managed two victories in games with normal tournament thinking time – but that was enough. And these are the two games Gelfand annotates for you on this DVD.

 

In his endgame column Karsten Müller presents to you on video a series of tricky endgames from Kazan, including the two Kramnik-Grischuk games in which Black in both cases managed to salvage the draw in an unbelievable way. In addition there is Aronian-Grischuk, in which the co-favourite for the tournament missed victory in the knight ending, and the endgame with rook+bishop against rook+bishop from the game Kramnik-Radjabov, in which there was the now legendary clock defect and interruption to the game.

 

Interview with Kramnik
This is an interview with Vladimir Kramnik, conducted by Rainer Knaak and Karsten Müller with the ex world champion only a few days after his elimination. You will find extracts from this interview in audio format on the DVD. In the first part of the interview Kramnik talks, for example, of his endings against Grischuk (games 2 and 4) and of that ending in the blitz game against Radjabov. Kramnik’s explanations on the course of his match with Grischuk and the causes of his failure are especially gripping and enlightening. In the second part Kramnik goes into the general trend in opening theory. Because of the ever-improving programs the drawing nature of the game of chess is becoming more and more prominent, and it is becoming simpler and simpler to draw with Black. With this in the foreground, Kramnik explains the number of draws in the tournament in Kazan and describes the problems which this had caused him in his preparation for the tournament.

 

Ukrainian Championship
Even without Karjakin who had emigrated and the unavailability of Ivanchuk (who was playing at the same time in Mediasch) it was the strongest national championship so far which took place in Kiev in June. Its average Elo rating of 2650 (so category 16) can make many another chess-playing nation jealous. In Ruslan Ponomariov it was the Elo favourite who got to the head of the field right from the start and finished by winning the championship very clearly with 8.5 out of 11. However, his victory as Black against pursuer Moiseenko in the final round was neither without danger nor unnecessary. Because in the endgame he was at some points under extreme pressure and it was not until his opponent under-estimated the potential of Black's passed pawn that Ponomariov was able to turn the tables. At the same time Pavel Eljanov had once more accelerated at the end of the tournament and was on the new champion's heels. So, silver was all there was for Eljanov, and the bronze medal went to Efimenko.

 

Lublin
With 5 out of 7 Alexei Shirov won the third GM tournament in Lublin. The Spaniard from Latvia won three games and drew the remainder. The opening weapons with which Shirov confronted his opponents are remarkable (King’s Gambit with White, French with Black. On the DVD he presents and explains them in five videos with a total playing time of more than two hours! The places behind Shirov were occupied by Boris Grachev and Sergej Zhigalko. On the DVD you will also find game analysis by Krishnan Sasikiran and Michael Roiz.

 

Capablanca Memorial Havana
It was thanks to a brilliant final spurt and at the very last second that Vassily Ivanchuk once again defended his title in the Capablanca Memorial on Cuba. Le Quang Liem had taken the lead in the second flight of games and it was not till their duel in the final round that the experienced player managed to catch up the Vietnamese GM and win the tournament thanks to a better tiebreak score. You will find all the games from Havana on the DVD, Le Quang has annotated for you not only his win over Bruzon, but also the decisive game against Ivanchuk.

 

Fabiano Caruana annotates
At India's strongest chess tournament of all time, the "Airports Authority of India International Grandmasters Chess Tournament 2011" in New Delhi it was Fabiano Caruana who won with one point of a lead. An impressive victory in a category 17 tournament, to which only young and ambitious players were invited. Things were hard for Yifan Hou. The women's world champion had to submit to five defeats and ended up in last place. On the DVD Caruana annotates his impressive victory with Black over Parimarjan Negi. In the opening he deliberately steered towards a positional exchange sacrifice (see diagram before 16...Rxd5 17.exd5 Bxd5 18.Ne3 Be6), from which he was hoping to get sufficient initiative. In fact in the middlegame he kept on developing more active piece play and finally demolished the white position in remarkable style.

 

From the opening trap to the endgame study
Training in ChessBase Magazine begins with the very first moves and deals with every phase of a game of chess. You will find the very latest Openings articles with their many ideas and suggestions for your repertoire also above among the links. Rainer Knaak’s opening trap (including a Fritztrainer video) deals this time with a trap from the Dutch (A83). Also to be found in video format are opening contributions from Leonid Kritz (French Winawer Variation), Martin Breutigam (Slav Exchange Variation), Valeri Lilov (Sicilian Grand Prix Attack) and Adrian Mikhalchishin (King’s Indian). You will find these videos in the Fritztrainer column. Peter Wells’ subject in his Strategy Column is: “The essential art of exchanging queens”. In Daniel King’s long running Move by Move it is a game in the French which is being used this time. And in the Tactics (subject: mate, mate, mate!) and Endgame columns (subject: bishops of opposite colours) Oliver Reeh and Karsten Müller have once more brought together for you the best from recent tournament practice.

 

Opening Surveys
Schipkov: Dutch Defence A89 1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 d6 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.d5 Na5
This line from the Leningrad System still remains playable for Black. The most frequent replies 9.Nd2 and 9.Qd3 are hardly a challenge to it; the most interesting is the exchange sacrifice 9.b3, but there is no need to accept it.
Kritz: Sicilian Defence B30 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 g6
After 3.Nc3 the option of d2-d4 remains open and if Black wants a Sveshnikov, he must reply 3...Nf6; after 4.Bb5 White then plays a sort of Rossolimo plus Nc3/Nf6. According to Leonid Kritz he achieves a paper-thin advantage in the variation with 4...g6.
Grivas: Sicilian Defence B33 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 5.Nb3 Nf6 6.Nc3 e6 7.Bd3 d6 8.0-0 a6 9.Kh1 Be7 10.f4 Qc7 11.Bd2 b5
In the Apollo Variation which is dealt with, the similarity to the Scheveningen System cannot be overlooked. But the slight differences tend to favour Black and so what we have here is not a critical variation.
Karoly: Sicilian Defence B90 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nde2
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu has had a few nice successes with 7.Nde2. In his article the author presents a detailed analysis of all the lines. Usually the structures which occur are less typical than those in other lines of the Najdorf.
Stohl: Queen's Gambit Accepted D27 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.0-0 a6 7.Bb3
In the second and final part of his repertoire for White based on 7.Bb3 Igor Stohl investigates above all the moves 7...Nc6 and 7...Be7 as well as 7...cxd4, with their many transpositions.
Breutigam: Semi-Slav D43/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.Bg3
The same position is also reached after 5...h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.e5. So if one can make the variation playable, it will form a weapon against two different systems at the same time. Martin Breutigam shows that promising positions can be reached.
Schandorff: Queen's Gambit D52 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 Qa5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Qd2
In his second contribution on the Cambridge Springs Variation Lars Schandorff points out that Black does not have an easy life in the side lines 8...N7b6 and 8...Bb4 9.Rc1 e5 or 9...0-0.
Kuzmin: Queen's Gambit D53 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.Qb3
This side variation has above all been played successfully by top Chinese player Bu Xiangzhi. There may be no way to prove conclusively an opening advantage for White, but most players are content enough with a little pressure.
Avrukh: Grünfeld Defence D90 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qa4+
In the main variation 5...Bd7 6.Qb3 dxc4 7.Qxc4 0-0 8.Bf4 White tries to prove that compared with the 5.Qb3 variation the Bd7 is not so well placed. Perhaps it is then possible to get a mini-advantage.
Postny: Slav/Grünfeld Defence D94 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 g6 5.e3 Bg7 6.Be2 0-0 7.0-0 e6
In the side variation 7...e6 too, you get what is mostly there for Black in the Schlechter Variation: a playable position which is almost level.
Marin: Bogo-Indian Defence E11 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 d5 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.a3
In the position in the diagram our author examines the moves 6...Bxd2+ and 6...Be7. Although something can be said in favour of the exchange, Mihail Marin does prefer the retreat. It is not easy for White to obtain an advantage.
Anic: King's Indian E67 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 Nbd7 7.Nc3 e5 8.h3 exd4 9.Nxd4 Nb6 10.b3 d5
White plays 8.h3, because it is always a useful move and then unlike with 8.e4 the line 8...a6 would be favourable (9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Be3!). But the sequence of moves which leads to the diagram seems to give Black sufficient play.
Kuzmin: King's Indian E73 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Be3 e5 7.d5
With this setup, which is related to the Averbakh System, White is planning an immediate kingside advance by means of g2-g4; the development of the Ng1 is temporarily delayed.