ChessBase Magazine #133 - December '09
Now in a New Format!
Four highlights and a new number one. That is the summary of the autumn of 2009 in chess. It ran from the Pearl Spring Tournament in Nanjing with the triumphal success of Magnus Carlsen via the European Club and National Championships to the major high point of the year, the Tal Memorial in Moscow, which Vladimir Kramnik was able to take with half a point of a lead. The new (unofficial) number one in the FIDE world ranking list is now Magnus Carlsen, whose second place in Moscow was sufficient for him to push Topalov from the top spot.
Introductory videos
In his 16 minute introductory video, GM Karsten Müller outlines the main points of this DVD and presents Carlsen’s first round victory over Leko from Nanjing and Bacrot’s innovation in the popular Anti-Meran against Aronian - the two star games from this issue. At the same time he summarises the 3. f3 Caro-Kann and presents a compact repertoire for Black against the French Tarrasch Variation, two of the total of 12 openings articles in this issue.
GM Dorian Rogozenco reviews in chronological order and on two videos the four tournament highlights of the past autumn. From the super-tournament in Nanjing he explains Carlsen’s victories over Topalov and Jakovenko.The European Cup in Ohrid also offered a plethora of theoretically significant games that are also worth seeing; Rogozenco introduces one game each from Motylev and Sargissian. To finish, Rogozenco describes the decisive moment in the European Championship in Novi Sad.
In Rogozenco’s evaluation the Tal memorial in Moscow represents the strongest tournament of the year and not just because it included in Anand and Kramnik a World Champion and an ex-World Champion. As an example of the high level of the theoretical work prepared for the opening, he introduces the game Anand - Leko with a surprising innovation in a popular variation of the Anti-Meran. A further example is Kramnik’s innovation against Svidler’s Grünfeld Defence. Rogozenco’s analysis of the game Ivanchuk – Kramnik, which comes at the end of this second video, makes clear just how open the result of the Tal Memorial was until the very last minute. The Ukrainian had built up a brilliant attacking position and with the correct continuation could have wrested the tournament victory away from Kramnik.
Tal Memorial in Moskau
This high point of the season saw the world elite including Carlsen, Anand, Kramnik, Aronian, and Ivanchuk. Added to that were Gelfand, Leko, Svidler, Morozevich and Ponomariov. After Carlsen’s triumph in China there was great excitement, would the Norwegian be able to continue his triumphal procession in Moscow? But in the very first round Kramnik’s game against the Norwegian revealed that he was full of ideas and ambition. After his third round victory over Morozevich he reined in Svidler in round 4 in the latter’s special opening, the Grünfeld Defence. Two rounds later Kramnik managed another convincing win with White over Ponomariov and this almost decided the tournament victory. You will find all the games from the Tal Memorial as well as a full tournament report in this issue.
Pearl Spring Turnier in Nanjing
Sometimes numbers simply say more than words. With 8 out of 10, an Elo performance of 3002, 5 out of 5 with the white pieces, not a single defeat and a lead of 2.5 points, Magnus Carlsen celebrated his first tournament victory of the year. A triumphal procession in the former Chinese imperial city of Nanjing for the young Norwegian dressed in red brocade. On the DVD Carlsen annotates his first round victory against Peter Leko, against whom he employed one of the weapons of his new trainer, Garry Kasparov: the Scotch. Full report and all the games, many annotated, in this issue.
European Team Championship in Novi Sad
Geographically Azerbaijan is on the western shores of the Caspian Sea and thus on the extreme edge of Europe. From the point of view of chess, the country has come right into the middle of Europe with its victory in the European Team Championships in Novi Sad. Whereas on board 1 Radjabov was going through a slight crisis in his form, Gashimov, Mamedyarov and Mamedov were according to ELO performance amongst the six best players in the European Team Championships. Vugar Gashimov has annotated two of his games for this CBM, including the decisive victory over Stellwagen in the final round. Full report and all the games in this issue.
European Club Cup in Ohrid
Seven rounds, seven victories – this majestic result won for the team of Economist Saratov the European Club Cup in Ohrid. The Russian team with Alekseev, Eljanov, Ni Hua, Bu Xiangzhi, Moiseenko etc. displayed good nerves right up until the end and secured the gold medal in the last round with a 3.5:2.5 victory over Ashdod Illit from Israel. Top scorers for the victorious team were Alexander Moiseenko and - once more - Pavel Eljanov. Full report and the games in this issue.
Training: 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. There are 12 up-to-date openings articles with their numerous ideas and suggestions for your repertoire. In this issue, Rainer Knaak has selected his opening traps - exclusively from the European Cup. For Dragon fans, the main interest will be the two contributions in video format: Leonid Kritz has investigated a sub-variation of the main line with 9.Bc4 and Dorian Rogozenco concentrates on the move order 9.0-0-0 d5. You will find these and other videos in the column Fritztrainer. In his Strategy column Peter Wells casts some light on the theme of “The safety of the king in simplified positions”. In Daniel King’s long running Move by Move there is an instructive game from the Europa Cup there for training. And in the Tactics and Endgame columns Oliver Reeh and Karsten Müller have once more assembled for you all that is best in recent tournament praxis.
Marin: Alekhine Defence B04 - 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 g6 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 Bg7
Erenburg: Caro-Kann B12 - 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bf4
Kuzmin: Sicilian B80 - 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.f3 h5
Berg: Sicilian B97 - 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd3
Moskalenko: French C05 - 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7
Kritz: French C18 - 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Ba5 6.b4 cxd4 7.Qg4
Skembris: Petroff Defence C42 - 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nd6!? 7.0-0 Be7
Stohl: Scotch C45 - 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.Bc4 Ne5 8.Be2 Qg6 9.0-0 d6 10.f4
Marin: Ruy Lopez C66 - 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7 5.0-0 Nf6 6.Nc3
Karolyi: Queen's Gambit Accepted D20 - 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 c5 4.Nf3 cxd4
Langrock: Queen's Indian Defence E12 - 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Bb7 5.Nc3 g6
Krasenkow: King's Indian E90 - 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.h3 e5 7.d5
