Hamburg, October 2013

 

The month is nearly upon us – the much awaited World Chess Championship is coming in November. I am already counting down the days with a sort of self-made chessboard calendar, and am anxious to see what happens. Despite recent results between the two (take Magnus' victory over Anand in the Tal Memorial back in June for example), the result of the match itself is hardly a foregone conclusion. Magnus is young (and the world #1 rated player) – Anand is the reigning champion and has the home advantage. Calling the result is just too tall an order. Of course, whatever unfolds, ChessBase will be there to deliver a blow-by-blow account of every tantalizing moment on playchess.com, and the world will be waiting to see whether the young Norwegian is capable of seizing the chess crown.

Alejandro Ramirez was narrowly pipped to the post by Gata Kamsky earlier this year in the U.S. Championship, after succumbing in the Armageddon tiebreak. He was the first GM to hail from Central America, and is a formidable playing force by anyone's standards, weighing in with an ELO of 2597. He is not only a talented player – he is also a keen coach, and has released a number of DVDs with ChessBase. You certainly don't want to play against his Benko.

What is the link here? I thought we were talking about the World Championship – where does Alejandro come in here?

Well, as a matter of fact, Alejandro will be back in the limelight - in a way, alongside Anand and Carlsen, accompanying you through the action as part of the ChessBase commentary team for the World Championship! As the old adage goes: "what I teach, I master" – and, as already mentioned aside from being a grandmaster, Alejandro has become a master of explaining intricate concepts in an understandable way. His excellent commentary style will be accompanying us on the server through the ups and downs of the match. Not everyone can have world-class World Championship commentary!

The commentary itself is, as ever, free for Premium Members, and at under €4.50 a month for a year's subscription, if you haven't already done so, you should sign up now and make sure that you catch the World Championship and all of the great events for a whole year at great value!
Obviously, he won't be on his own either! Maurice Ashley, Daniel King and other top GM commentators will be on hand to back him up – it's set to be an excellent event – why not make sure you get the best commentary to go with it? A full schedule will appear very soon.

The action starts November 9. Be there!

 

To learn, you often have to question yourself and what you think you know. Indeed, the concept of "falsification" is one that no chess player can do without practicing in their own games. Does this variation actually work? Is this really the right move? Often, however, the most important questions is: How can you know if nobody is there to tell you? If you haven't heard about the new Fritztrainer format – it takes the concept of the extremely successful Fritztrainer one step further by adding another layer of feedback.

What does this mean? Well, ChessBase has made its videos even more interactive. At the end of the commentary videos in a game, it's your turn to make a move – and, depending on whether you find the right path forward (or backwards!), prompt video feedback follows, either to congratulate you on the right choice and provide you with a follow-up and the rest of the game, or to help point you in the right direction by explaining the position and giving you another go. It's essentially training questions 2.0.

The new interactive "question and answer" format actively helps you to think about your moves in a different way - on top of everything that the Fritztrainer format has to offer (in-game commentary with diagrams and video). You learn why the type of moves you suggested are not the optimal ones, or why they are not in keeping with the overall position. The result is a more tailored training experience – and one that works particularly well with opening repertoires:

Sergei Tiviakov has taken advantage of the new format to bring you several new repertoire DVDs. If you've ever been left stumped after White wheels out the wacky 1.b4 (not so bad, but according to Sergei, nothing to fear) – fear no longer – for Sergei has the answer to this and a whole host of other offbeat openings in his "How to combat rare lines as Black". His two other releases, "The French Defence. 3.Nd2: a complete repertoire for White." and "Attacking with the Italian Game and the Ruy Lopez" are two more excellent examples of what can be done with the new format. Click on the titles to take a look at the previews, or just follow this link to the ChessBase shop here.

Sergei is not the only one to have taken advantage of the updated interactive features – Lorin D'Costa has been focusing on chess prodigies, and has taken a look at Sergey Karjakin's meteoric rise to the chess elite in great detail. The new "question and answer" format will leave you asking all the right questions in your own games! How's that for meta-thought? Check out "Chess Prodigies Uncovered: Sergey Karjakin" for more details.

 

Lorin has also brought a unique concept to his latest training DVD "The Giuoco Piano":

With this novel "master & amateur" series, you get the advantage of an expert's chess knowledge combined with an amateur player asking the questions that YOU want to ask.

An excellent idea – and probably something that you have never seen in this format before! So what do you get for €27.90? 5 hours and 42 minutes of  the main ideas of the Giuoco Piano in an easy to follow, conversational style. Let Lorin D'Costa and Nick Murphy show you that this piano opening is by no means as quiet as a mouse!

Check out the 13 minute snippet here!

In your next games on the server, why not try (in keeping with the time of year) the fantastic Halloween Gambit? It's a scream!

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nxe5!!

Try setting up a themed tournament – and have a blast (Just another of the excellent playchess.com features). Or even just in the Main Playing Hall - perhaps you will catch your opponent (who was hoping for a Four Knights) unawares with the massive initiative White can get here.

Happy Halloween!