It seems to be the right time for comebacks. This year Boris Gelfand surprised us by winning the WCh candidates tournament, Judit Polgar and Alexander Morozevich made their return to top chess in impressive fashion. And now it is the turn of Peter Svidler who all of a sudden is proceeding from one success to the next. The previous youth world champion won the FIDE World Cup without conceding a single defeat. Then he and his team from St. Petersburg were successful in the European club championship, the second tournament highlight of this issue. Thanks to a successful tie-break against Ivanchuk, Magnus Carlsen was able to celebrate victory in this year’s Grand-Slam final. This strongest tournament of the year is of course a further theme of this issue. Amongst the star authors on the DVD we have Carlsen, Karjakin, Polgar, Eljanov, Caruana, Gashimov, Volokitin, Vitiugov, Sutovsky etc. In addition to that you will find 12 up-to-the-minute openings articles with extensive analysis and ideas for your repertoire.

 

Grand Slam Final Sao Paulo/Bilbao
In the Grand-Slam Final only two of the six top players managed to stand out: Vassily Ivanchuk was the man of the moment in the first leg in Sao Paulo, Magnus Carlsen dominated the return leg in Bilbao. Going by the traditional way of scoring in chess, the Norwegian would have won the tournament with 6 out of 10 (ahead of Ivanchuk with 5.5). In view of the course of the tournament it was somehow fitting that both of them tied at the end on 15 points because of the three points for a win rule used in the "Masters". A playoff with blitz thinking time was to decide the outcome of the tournament. In the first tie-break game Carlsen was better with White, but Ivanchuk escaped with a draw. The second game, on the other hand, was a very one-sided affair going in favour of the Norwegian, who was thus able to celebrate a further success in a top tournament.

 

European Cup in Rogaska Slatina
If such a thing as a lucky streak exists in chess, then at the moment Peter Svidler is in the middle of one. After his magnificent victory in the Russian individual championship (CBM 144) and winning the FIDE World Cup (see below) he was also successful with his St. Petersburg team in the European Cup. This time, however, it was not his performance which was crucial for the success of the team. Below the top board, it was rather Nikita Vitiugov, Sergei Movsesian and Vadim Zvjaginsev who notched up the decisive points. You will find on the DVD not only over 1200 games from the European Cup, but many of the participants have annotated their own games for this issue of ChessBase Magazine, including Vitiugov, Volokitin, Eljanov, Sutovsky and Bartel.

 

FIDE World Cup
Peter Svidler finished the FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk 2011 with a clean slate and qualified, as did his final opponent Alexander Grischuk and third placed Vassily Ivanchuk, for the next WCh candidates tournament. On the way to one of his greatest successes of recent years, Svidler, unlike many of his rivals, only had to go into a tiebreak twice (against Nguyen and Caruana) and won convincingly in both cases. On the DVD you will find games analysed by various participants in the tournament, e.g. by Caruana, Polgar, Gashimov and Potkin.

 

Sergei Karjakin annotates
Together with Etienne Bacrot, Sergei Karjakin won the 12th Karpov Tournament in Poikovsky in Russia in October. This tournament was once more a very strong one (category 19) and the number of draws was noticeably high (around the 80%), and therefore at the end the two victors only needed a score of +2. Karjakin annotates on the DVD his victory over Viktor Laznicka. The Czech GM chose a sharp line of the Caro-Kann Advance Variation and was unlucky enough to come up against a well-prepared opponent.

 

From the opening trap to the endgame study
Training in ChessBase Magazine starts with the very first moves and takes in all the phases of a game of chess. The 12 up-to-date Opening articles with their numerous ideas and suggestions for your repertoire can be found above among the links. This time Rainer Knaak’s Opening Trap (including its Fritztrainer video) contains a trap in the Pirc Defence (B06). You will also find in video format the openings articles by Leonid Kritz (French Winawer Variation), Valeri Lilov (Colle System) and Dejan Bojkov (Queen’s Gambit Accepted). These videos can be found under the heading Fritztrainer. Peter Wells’ subject in his Strategy column is called: "Capturing towards the centre?" In Daniel King’s long running favourite Move by Moveit is a game with the Philidor Defence which is up for discussion. And in the Tactics (subject: queens in danger) and Endgame(subject: tricks in rook endings) columns, Oliver Reeh and Karsten Müller have once more collected for you the best from recent tournament practice.

 

Opening Surveys
Schipkov: Dutch A99 1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 e6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 d6 7.Nc3 Qe8 8.b3
White’s 8.b3 prepares the development of the bishop to b2 or a3, but he has not given up his plan of e2-e4, though this time there will be the preparatory move Qc2. There are various good moves which allow Black to meet this: 8...Qh5, but also 8...a5 and even 8...c6.
Prié: Scandinavian B01 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bf5 6.Bc4 c6 7.Bd2 Bb4
Developing the bishop to b4 is quite a new trend in the Scandinavian Main Variation, but Black can get over the loss of the bishop pair which is bound up with it. He frequently develops his knight to c6 and works up pressure against the d4-pawn.
Stohl: Pirc Defence B09 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.e5
After the attacking 6.e5 Black has a decision to take: 6...dxe5 with the possible ending after 7.dxe5 Qxd1+ 8.Kxd1 or 6...Nfd7, after which Black’s kingside remains rather exposed and he would have to know what is going to happen after 7.h4.
Postny: Caro-Kann B13 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 dxc4 7.Bxc4
Doubtless 6.Bg5 is a good move if Black does not take on c4. But if he does, the question is how to proceed from the position in the diagram with the pawn hanging on d4. In his article Evgeny Postny shows that both 7...Qxd4 and 7...h6 are very playable.
Krasenkow: Caro-Kann / Pirc Defence B15 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 Qb6
Michal Krasenkow has good knowledge and practical experience of this setup for Black, which allows the latter to play aggressively for a win. There is no clear way to an opening advantage for White in sight.
Grivas: Sicilian B33 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 5.Nb3 Nf6 6.Nc3 e6 7.a3
With the move of his rook pawn, White not only prevents ...Bb4 and ...Nb4, but prepares for an immediate 8.Bf4 (7.Bf4?! Bb4!). The recommendation of Efstratios Grivas is therefore 7...Qc7!, after which Black achieves satisfactory play in all lines.
Moskalenko: French C02 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3
Alexander Grischuk’s great successes in the Advance Variation are, according to Viktor Moskalenko, above all based on the fact that his opponents (Ivanchuk and Morozevich!) developed the c8 bishop far too soon with 4...Bd7 and 4...Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7. In his article the author suggests 5...Nge7.
Kritz: French C10 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 (or 3.Nd2) 3...dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7
Black brings his bishop to c6 and then frequently exchanges it for a knight on f3. The setup is safe, because Black has no weaknesses and can develop easily. Leonid Kritz shows that White can get an advantage, but that Black nevertheless has good chances of a draw.
Marin: Three Knights Game C46 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6
With this setup, Black is intending above all to avoid the arid positions of the Four Knights Game. If White continues unenterprisingly from the position in the diagram, Black can count on a good game; therefore aggressive play is called for.
Ftacnik: Semi-Slav D31 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Qxd4 7.Bxb4 Qxe4+ 8.Be2 Na6 9.Ba5
This dangerous gambit can be described briefly: White has no opening advantage but scores very well in practice. For Black, only one conclusion is possible: he needs to know these variations well if he chooses to go into them.
Breutigam: Tarrasch Defence D34 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.g3 Nf6 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7
In his second contribution on the Tarrasch Defence, Martin Breutigam shows that in the Rubinstein System there is no need for Black to fear the side variations (8.Nc3 0-0 9.b3 and 9.dxc5 or 9.Be3, or even 8.Be3).