In this Episode, Svitlana presents to us the fundamentals of openings, with an example played by Paul Keres. With a cunning sacrifice, White gains some advantage. Or not? How to actually evaluate a position best? The Canadian WIM tells us about the six rules of evaluation!
Now, all of us chess players know that the World Championship is battled out by Gukesh and Ding Liren. Both players faced each other in classical chess only twice before, in Wijk aan Zee 2023, and 2024. One of their games was fairly interesting, and Svitlana is analysing it.
Tan Zhongyi obtained the draw she needed to claim outright victory at the Women’s Candidates Tournament in Toronto. The Chinese GM grabbed the sole lead from the get-go, as she obtained back-to-back wins in the first two rounds. At some point, Lei Tingjie managed to catch her atop the standings, but Tan turned out to be more consistent than her compatriot in the long run. With her triumph, Tan became Ju Wenjun’s challenger in the next match for the Women’s World Chess Championship. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
Arne recently played in a chess tournament, and one of his opponents played the unusual 1.f4, which was quite a surprise. Sadly, he didn't film this Smart Moves episode before the tournament, to get to know the surprising answer Nh6!? The so called - Horsefly Defence in the Bird Opening. Even the engines think that this counter is absolutely legit, and the Mega Database shows excellent results as well. Svitlana shows, why it is a powerful move!
Together with Arne Kähler, Canadian WIM Svitlana Demchenko (photo) regularly entertains and trains readers of our website on the <a href="https://en.chessbase.com/search?pattern=Svitlana%20Demchenko">Svitlana’s Smart Moves</a> show. The 20-year-old from Ukraine also made smart moves at the Canadian Women’s Zonal tournament in Toronto, which ended at the beginning of April. She started as number 5 in the seeding list and ended up in a tie for first place with 7½/9 points. She finished second on tiebreaks behind rating favourite Maili-Jade Ouellet. | Photo: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ChessCanada">ChessCanada Facebook page</a>