A couple of weeks ago Leon Mendonca turned 18. After many spectacular successes like a 9.0/9 score in a very strong GM Open a year ago and winning the Challegers group in Wijk aan Zee Leon just won the Spring Chess Classic 2024 at the Saint Louis Chess Club – outright. The round robin event had ten grandmasters with an average rating of 2625. This remarkable young player has recorded a very interesting FritzTrainer for us. | Photos by Austin Fuller
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„Easy to learn and easy to play.“ These are the twin pillars on which the Modern Scandinavian has been built and which club players have trusted and profited from over the past few decades. Which line should Black adopt after 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Qxd5 3 Nc3? Here we focus on the sharp 3.Qd6 as opposed to 3.Qa5 or 3. Qd8. All the main responses aside from 3 Nc3 are shown in exemplary games and the result is an insightful overview for club players which will stand the test of time and not require too much burning of the midnight oil.
Grandmaster Leon Mendonca is a rising star in the chess world and one of India's most promising young talents. This year, at seventeen, he crossed the 2600 Elo barrier (current Elo is 2622) for the first time and is probably one of the most active chess players in 2023 (almost 100 rated games). Leon has recorded a very interesting Fritztrainer on the venomous variation 1.Nf3 d5 2.e3, which most club-level players do not know how to effectively counter.
Jon Edwards is a passionate chess player, a passionate chess teacher and one of the world's best correspondence players. He knows how important it is to study openings and to study them with the right tools. In the current issue of the "American Chess Magazine" Jon Edwards had a look at the ChessBase Opening Encyclopedia, a tool he uses "every day".