New: ChessBase Magazine 227

Highlights of this issue #227

From the Biel 2025 Chess Festival to Felix Blohberger's opening video on the "Dubov Dragon" and Oliver Reeh's tactics article "Exchange sacrifices, Harry and more" to Dr Karsten Mueller's video series "Fundamental Endgame Knowledge".

Over 7 hours of video playing time with Felix Blohberger, Luis Engel Jan Markos, Mihail Marin, Dr. Karsten Müller, Michael Prusikin, Oliver Reeh, Robert Ris, Dorian Rogozenco and Ivan Sokolov - Biel 2025: analyses by Aravindh, Dardha, Ma Qun, Hakobyan, Jumabayev, Navara, Theodorou and Wojtaszek - Perfect attacking play: Dorian Rogozenco shows the "modern classic" Kasparov vs. Kramnik (Novgorod 1994), in which the world champion used a new concept with 15.Qd2 and long castling in the Sveshnikov Variation - Aggressive Sicilian: Yago Santiago acts with 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Bc5!? on the black squares - Opening trends in the video: Sicilian Dragon Variation, Slav Defence and Sicilian Najdorf Variation - Endgame Basics Queen + Pawn vs Queen: A material constellation that requires the most precise technique, explained in detail by Karsten Müller and much more.

Special: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

CBM authors comment on their favourite games by the top French player – an exclusive collection of 25 annotated games from 2005 to 2025 awaits you!

Top games and master analyses

Biel Chess Festival 2025: In the final round of the "Masters", Vladimir Fedoseev defeated his opponent Saleh Salem and thus overtook the previous leader Aravindh thanks to the tiebreak (better result in the Chess960 tournament). In contrast, there was a clear winner in the "Challengers" tournament, with Theodorou securing victory with a draw already in the penultimate round. Aravindh, Dardha, Ma Qun, Hakobyan, Jumabayev, Navara, Theodorou and Wojtaszek contributed analyses of their best games from Biel for this issue of ChessBase Magazine.

Opening videos

Ivan Sokolov examines the new idea of 11.h4 in a variation of the Slav Defence, which was already discussed in the 1935 World Championship match between Alexander Alekhine and Max Euwe. Felix Blohberger explains the ideas of the "Dubov Variation" (7...h5) in the Sicilian Dragon, using, among other examples, the game Erigaisi-Nakamura from Norway Chess 2025. And Luis Engel completes his analysis of the Najdorf Variation with increasingly popular move 6.Bd3.

Ivan Sokolov: Slav Defence

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nxc4 Qc7 8.g3 e5 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.Bf4 Nfd7 11.h4

Felix Blohberger: Dragon Variation

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f3 h5!?

Luis Engel: Najdorf Variation 6.Bd3 (II)

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bd3 e5 7.Nde2

The fortress

Dorian Rogozenco is launching a new trilogy on fortresses with the material distribution rook + pawn against bishop + pawn. In addition, he explains the endgame rook against bishop (without pawns) in a video. He provides three interactive training videos on each topic.

Exchanging queens

The queen is the most powerful piece in chess. Exchanging it can radically change the situation on the board. Mihail Marin's article provides high quality illustrative material and two videos in an interactive training format.

New ideas for your repertoire

From the Larsen Opening to the Catalan – ChessBase Magazine #227 provides 10 opening articles with new ideas for every chess player’s repertoire!

Petra Papp: Larsen Opening with 3...d5 and 4...Nge7

Sergey Grigoriants: Old Benoni 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5

Tanmay Srinath: Queen's Indian vs. London System

Evgeny Postny: Nimzowitsch Defence 3.e5 Bf5

Martin Lorenzini: Sicilian Rossolimo 3...e5 4.0-0 Bd6

Yago Santiago: Sicilian with 2...e6 and 5...Bc5

Krisztian Szabo: Anti Najdorf 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4

Alexey Kuzmin: French Advance 5...Bd7 6.Be2 Nge7

Lars Schandorff: Jobava London System 3.Bf4 c5 4.e4

Robert Ris: Queen's Gambit Accepted 2...dxc4 3.Nf3 c5

Balasz Csonka: Catalan 8...cxd4 9.Nxd4 Rc8 10.Nc3

Opening traps

Michael Prusikin presents three deadly missteps by Black in the Sicilian Alapin Variation, some of which have even appeared on grandmaster level.

Move by move

Robert Ris has chosen a top Indian duel: 22-yearold Arjun Erigaisi faced former world champion Vishy Anand in London at the Rapid Chess Team World Championship. “A very spectacular game, and a very short one!”

Modern Classics

In a highly complex game in 1994, Gary Kasparov managed to defeat Vladimir Kramnik in his Sveshnikov Variation – thanks to the then new concept of 15.Qd2 and long castling, as well as his almost perfect attacking play.

Practical tips for tournament players: Invasion routes

Unlike in the Fortress, normal defensive positions are not hermetically sealed off from the attacker. Their task is to find a secret or sometimes a back door into the opponent's position. Jan Markos illustrates this art using two games between Ivanchuk and Vachier-Lagrave, among others.

Tune your tactics: "Exchange sacrifices, Harry and more"

When is it worth giving up a rook for a bishop? When does the h2-h4 advance fit into the position? Oliver Reeh presents lots of training tasks in 30 example games. Plus: the author's four favourites in interactive video format!

Fundamental Endgame Knowledge Part 17: Queen and pawn against queen

In the introductory video, Dr Karsten Mueller presents the most important techniques. Then it's your turn in two interactive training videos! Plus endgame highlights of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

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