Dear Chess Friend,

each day things happen on the chess boards all over the world and here at ChessBase that every chess enthusiast is interested in. And I would like to tell you what's going on, for example...

Super-Open

After the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk there have been no real supertournaments, at least no round robins. However, with its strong field the Gibraltar Open is by now a kind of supertournament and is at least on a par with the great Russian open tournaments such as the Moscow Open or the Aeroflot Open, not least because of the way the tournament in Gibraltar is presented. The organisers in the "very deep south" of England see the tournament with the eyes of a tourist, as do chess friends in Iceland, where the Reykjavik Open is also becoming more and more attractive. For chess fans, this is good news.

The new issue of the ChessBase magazine presents an overview of the start of the chess season, the main focus being the Tata Steel tournament and the Reykjavik Open.
 

Magazine, April 2012

The three main tournaments of the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee led to 273 games and a whole number of new ideas. Mihail Marin reviewed the games for the ChessBase magazine and analyses the most interesting opening novelties and opening tendencies. Among the many players annotating their games are Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana. A good chance to learn chess from the world's best players.

ChessBase Magazine:

Single issue: 19.95 Euro

Subscription (6 issues) 99.90 Euro.

Order here ...

Women World Champion Yifan Hou is becoming more and more of an open specialist. First, she was a strong contender for winning the extremely strong Gibraltar Open, and soon after she was fighting for tournament victory in the Reykjavik Open. In Gibraltar the Chinese player defeated a number of strong opponents. Particularly interesting was her duel against Judit Polgar, since time immemorial - or almost as long - the world's best woman chess player. However, Yifan Hou kept the upper hand - does this indicate a changing of the guard? The 17-year old Chinese star has annotated this special game for the ChessBase magazine.
The opening section contains a lot of ideas and repertoire tips, e.g. a way to play with White against the Volga-Benko gambit, how to treat the Maroczy System with White, but also a guide book for various systems of the Queen's Gambit and surveys of variations in the Caro- Kann, the French, and of course the Sicilian.

All opening surveys can also be bought individually...

This time (and for some time to come) Peter Wells' well received column about chess strategy talks about harmony. Harmony?

"... as a coach, the idea that you either 'get it or you don't', and if you don't then there is no real way to guide someone towards an appreciation of harmony, is hard to accept. It is therefore no coincidence that such an experienced coach as Herman Grooten has been among those to make an attempt to break the concept down. Interestingly, his analysis concentrates mainly upon symptoms of disharmony and it is plausible that (just as many philosophers have long contested is the case for the concept of 'liberty') , harmony is most fruitfully analysed in its absence." (Peter Wells)

This article can also be bought individually (5.90 Euro) per download...

Meanwhile, the European Championships are also history. The women played in Gaziantep, the men - technically the "open group" - in Plovdiv. Both tournaments featured a strong field. In the women's group Valentina Gunina won through a last-round victory against Anna Muzychuk, who had been leading until then

In the men's group Dmitry Jakovenko managed the same feat. He passed Laurent Fressinet in the final metres of the race.

Before the start of the tournament the ECU established a couple of new rules which the players still have to get used to. That is, the "Sofia rules" were applied, meaning that it was forbidden to agree draws. Of course, it's always possible to conjure up a repetition of moves on the board but one still needs the arbiter to confirm the repetition. Ignoring the arbiter results in a forfeit for both sides. Therefore, the for chess somewhat unusual result of "0:0" occurred rather often in this championship.

Coming late was not tolerated either and led to an immediate loss. Despite a large number of announcements informing about these rules not all players managed to conform to them.

Moreover, there now is also a dress code in effect, which demanded a certain level of attire and behaviour from the players, while also containing some advice about emission protection. At least here no forfeits were seen.
 

New on the shelves

Not at all cheesy: the Dutch Defence

Former world champion Tigran Petrosian once quipped: "If your opponent wants to play the Dutch Defence, one should by no means deter him." This sounds really disparaging. Petrosian can no longer show why the Dutch Defence is good for White - but neither can contemporary masters...

After Hikaru Nakamura regularly employed the Dutch Defence, other top players now also dare to use it and voilà: all three main systems are quite playable for Black. On his new DVD Andrew Martin presents the classical system: 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.0-0 d6.




In English, Euro 27,90

Order here...


Well suited to that:
Dutch Powerbook (only available as download in the ChessBase shop)

If you want to try the Dutch Defence and if you are looking for a really strong sparring partner to test your skills, you can load the Dutch Powerbook into your Fritz-program to learn and practise the lines. The powerbook is based on 30 000 games selected from the Mega database and 7,600 computer games played on the playchess.com server.

Dutch Powerbook
Euro 9.90

Order here...

The Berlin endgame

The Berlin Defence arising after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 can be a real cold shower, particularly so for players who are keen on attacking. Right after the opening the queens are off the board and sharp mating attacks are not possible either. What can they do?

Alexei Shirov was one who had to face this problem and he decided to study the Berlin endgame intensively. Apart from a profound understanding of the basics of the "Berlin Defence" the creative tactician offers en route deep insights into this endgame and the endgame in general.
 

Alexei Shirov: Beating the Berlin Defence
English, 29.90 Euro

Order here...

"Nf3 - can be also be played on the first move..."

If you play Nf3 in an opening starting with 1.d4 or 1.c4 there's a good chance you will hear the following witty remark: "Nf3... - can also be played on the first move - ask Kramnik." Indeed, Vladimir Kramnik, World Champion from 2000 to 2007, used to play this move regularly to later force transpositions into "normal" openings which suited him.

1.Nf3 offers more advantages than just that. For instance, White can play reliable Black systems such as the King's Indian with reversed colours and with an extra tempo to rid himself of all troubles and force his systems on Black.

Alexei Shirov points to another psychological finesse: "In the move order 1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 you don't show that you are afraid of Albin's Countergambit - in contrast to the move order 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3."



Lubomir Ftacnik: 1.Nf3
In English, Euro 27.90

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Talking about Albin's Countergambit...

After 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 Black employs Albin Countergambit to sacrifice a pawn (temporarily) and to develop quickly. Often Black also has an attack against White's king. But is the gambit reliable? And does White have to play in the way mentioned above? Leonid Kritz thinks this gambit is underrated and is at least a good surprise weapon.

Leonid Kritz

At any rate, White has to know what he's doing. If he does not want to run into trouble.

Leonid Kritz: Albin's Countergambit (in 60 Minutes)
In English, Euro 9.90

 (only available as download in the ChessBase shop)

Order here...
 

Coming soon in your playchess.com server

Great events are going to happen soon.

In April, from 21. to 28.4., Vladimir Kramnik and Levon Aronian, number three and number two in the world ranking list, will play a match in Zürich. You can follow the games live on the playchess.com server, where they will be commentated live.
In May, from 10.5. to 30.5., Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand play for the World Championship. This match will also have live commentary on the playchess.com server.

Don't forget to prolong your premium membership in time to have access to all video and audio broadcasts on the playchess.com server.


Premium membership: Order here...

Chess, charme and energy

In the week before Easter Sabrina Chevannes was visiting the ChessBase studio in Hamburg to record two DVDs.

She learned chess from her father. As a child she emulated her older brother who was a good club player. In Birmingham, at the age of nine, Sabrina Chevannes came into contact with the legendary junior group "Checkmate" guided by Mike Fox, who  enjoyed a legendary reputation as chess teacher and author, e.g. of "The complete Chess Addict". Sabrina played twice for the English team in European Team Championships.

Meanwhile Sabrina now lives in London and is a chess teacher herself. Not only young chess fans like her lively, fresh way of teaching chess. Therefore she founded a chess academy in London, the  Chevannes Chess Academy, and teaches chess in schools and in one-on-one lessons. During the London Chess Classic she organises the popular chess tournaments for children and takes care that things remain lively.

Her DVDs are for chess students - not only young ones - who have made the first steps, know the rules and some basics, and who now want to know how to win in chess. The DVDs will appear in summer.

See you soon,

André Schulz

ChessBase Schachprogramme Schachdatenbank Verlagsgesellschaft mbH
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