In football, the area around the center line is usually a hazard-free space. But in chess, when a knight crosses the centre line – i.e. if it jumps from his own half of the playing field to that of the opponent – then it "usually sends a clear attack signal", writes Oliver Reeh in his tactics section in ChessBase Magazin #211. His collection of tasks in the new edition includes 38 games, which are peppered with many training questions. Attacking knights play an important role in almost all cases. We would like to present the first three tasks from the collection as well as an excerpt from his first interactive video here. Have fun!
After Dorian Rogozenco had concluded his "Classics" series in ChessBase Magazine in summer last year, he started his new column "Modern Classics" in CBM #210 with a game Fischer-Petrosian from the 1971 Candidates Match. In CBM #211 he takes up the "Special" of the new issue and presents a brilliant game by Mikhail Tal. On the programme is the sixth game of the World Championship match from 1960 against Mikhail Botvinnik. You can watch an excerpt from Rogozenco's video analysis here!
Mikhail Tal's meteoric rise shook the chess world in the late 1950s, taking him straight to the very top. His victory over Botvinnik in the 1960 match won him the world title. In the process, the 'Wizard from Riga' thrilled fans with his unprecedented combination style – “There are two kinds of sacrifices - correct ones and mine!” For CBM 211 we invited our authors to comment on their favourite Mikhail Tal games. The total of 21 encounters, the last played in 1991, show the eighth World Champion above all, in his element - as a brilliant tactician. A little-known game from the National Open in Chicago 1988 is presented by Yannick Pelletier in CBM 211 - you can watch his analysis in abridged form here. Enjoy!
With ChessBase Magazine #211 Karsten Mueller starts a new training series, which is not about endgame finesse on grandmaster level, but about basic techniques, which are worth learning for every ambitious chess player. And without them you won't get far at a higher level. The topic of the first article is the endgame rook vs. pawn. As clear as the balance of power is in this endgame, you have to know a few rules of thumb and techniques in order to always be able to treat the position correctly. You can watch Karsten Mueller's video introduction to his new series here!
October saw the start of the new Bundesliga season. In ChessBase Magazine #211 participants from various teams comment on their games from the first rounds, including the stars from the cover - Pavel Eljanov, Loek van Wely and Luke McShane - as well as Nils Grandelius, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Ivan Saric, Ivan Cheparinov, Gawain Jones, Nikita Vitiugov, Erwin L'Ami, Dennis Wagner, Daniil Yuffa, Georg Meier, Jan-Christian Schröder, Thai Dai Van Nguyen and Michael Prusikin. In addition, David Navara presents his game against Luke McShane in a detailed video analysis and Rustam Kasimdhzanov reviews his Black victory against Julian Kramer, also in the video. "The Analysis" of the issue comes from Erwin l'Ami – A Queen’s Gambit Accepted in which the Dutch GM actually had his opponent perfectly pegged out. Enjoy!