He's not quite the Rodney Dangerfield of top-level chess, but GM Ian Nepomniachtchi was not getting a whole lot of respect ahead of the FIDE Candidates Tournament in Madrid, despite having won the same event just over a year ago.
ChessBase Magazine #206 once again offers a wealth of ideas and recommendations for your repertoire. Besides the three opening videos by Jan Werle, Daniel King and Mihail Marin as well as Rainer Knaak's collection of "Topical opening traps", the new issue contains eleven opening articles covering a broad spectrum: Reti, Caro-Kann, Sicilian Nimzowitsch and Taimanov Variation, Petroff, Ruy Lopez, London System, Slav, Gruenfeld and King's Indian - everywhere there are exciting ideas to get to know. In his article Evgeny Postny examines the queen sortie 5.Qb6 in the London System. In the highly topical variation, White sacrifices a pawn after 6.dxc5 Qxb2 7.Rb1 Qc3 8.Bb5. So it's straight to the point! The variation is "absolutely okay" from Black's point of view, according to Postny, but you shouldn't get involved without prior knowledge! Otherwise the danger is too great that you will lose the queen already in the opening. Take a look!
In the current ChessBase Magazine the Sicilian Taimanov Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6) is taken to task from two sides at once. The super-modern 7.g4 came onto the board at the Tata Steel 2022 in the game Grandelius-Carlsen, we have already presented the Swede's analysis to you recently. There is also a complete opening article by IM Christian Braun on precisely this variation in CBM #206. A "dangerous weapon for White", because Black has development problems, whereas White can quickly castle long. The concept, which Jan Werle looks at in his opening video on the basis of a game by Alireza Firouzja, is completely different: after 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.Qd3 Nf6 9.Qg3 Qxg3 10.hxg3 White achieves a small but lasting positional advantage, which can be played comfortably. Take a look!
The new ChessBase Magazine #206 once again offers a wealth of ideas and recommendations for your repertoire. Besides the three opening videos by Jan Werle, Daniel King and Mihail Marin as well as Rainer Knaak's trap collection, the new issue contains eleven opening articles covering a broad spectrum: from a sharp gambit in the Caro-Kann Advance Variation via "Ruy Lopez for structuralists" (Delayed Exchange Variation) to the new Gruenfeld trend 5.Bd2 c5!?. Imre Hera, meanwhile, takes up a radical idea against the Reti Opening with which David Navara shocked his opponent, GM Markowski, in 2011: after 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4 3.b4 the creative artist continued with the novelty 3.g5!? and then also let his h-pawn rush towards the opponent's castling. "One of the most interesting innovations in modern theory", our author thinks. You should take a look at it!
Tata Steel 2022: analysis from Duda, Giri, Grandelius, Mamedyarov, Praggnanandhaa, Shankland, Erigaisi and Vogel. Peter Heine Nielsen and Dorian Rogozenco (video) take a close look at two Catalan wins by the World Champion and tournament winner. With CBM experts you see more: videos by King, Knaak, Marin, Müller, Reeh, Ris, Rogozenco and Werle - total playing time over 5 hours! Plus eleven opening articles with recommendations for your repertoire, e.g. "Steamrolling the Reti" (1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4 3.b4 g5!?), "A versatile Ruy Lopez" (1. e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 Part I) or "London queen sortie" (1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 Qb6 6.dxc5 Qxb2). Last but not least: The "Special" on Levon Aronian with 19 annotated games as well as Marin's article "Aronian's strategic universe".