ChessBase Magazine (CBM) 228

Highlights

From the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 to Rustam Kasimdzhanov's opening video on the Petroff and Oliver Reeh's tactical contribution ‘Capturing is fun!’ to ‘The Fortress’ by Dorian Rogozenco.

Over 7 hours of video playing time with Felix Blohberger, Martin Breutigam, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Jan Markos, Mihail Marin, Dr Karsten Müller, Michael Prusikin, Oliver Reeh, Robert Ris, Dorian Rogozenco and Ivan Sokolov – FIDE Grand Swiss 2025: analyses by Giri, Bluebaum, Vaishali, Abdusattorov, Mishra, Vidit and many more – "The double blockade": Mihail Marin highlights scenarios in which it is advantageous to block passed pawns with a knight and bishop – Action in the Nimzo-Indian: Balázs Csonka examines 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.e5!? – "The key defender": In his ‘Practical Tips for Tournament Players’, Jan Markos shows how to identify and eliminate your opponent's most important piece – All in One: Romain Edouard himself was amazed at how well 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 e5!? works, and much more.

Top games and master analyses

FIDE Grand Swiss 2025: The top-class tournament in Samarkand offered spectacular chess and excitement right up to the end. In the final round, Anish Giri secured the outright tournament
victory with a win against Hans Moke Niemann. Matthias Bluebaum drew with Alireza Firouzja, thereby also securing his ticket to the 2026 Candidates Tournament. In the women's competition, Vaishali Rameshbabu prevailed over Kateryna Lagno. In this edition, Giri, Bluebaum, Abdusattorov, Gurel, Mishra, Saric, Sevian, Vaishali, Vidit, and many others comment on their best games from the Grand Swiss. 

Opening videos

Rustam Kasimdzhanov takes a close look at the topical Petroff variation with 6.Bd3 Bd6 and 9.Qc2, which he himself often faced with the black pieces in his younger years. He covers both the old main line 9...Na6 and the modern 9...h6. In Duda-Firouzja (Bucharest 2025), Ivan Sokolov came across a line in the Nimzo-Indian that may have been
unjustly forgotten; he examines two very different options for White after 8...Bxf1. Felix Blohberger shows how to make life difficult for Black with the sideline 6.Bf4 in the Symmetrical English.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov: Petroff
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 c6 9.Qc2 
Ivan Sokolov: Nimzo-Indian
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Nge2 Ba6 6.a3 Be7 7.Nf4 d5 8.cxd5 Bxf1
Felix Blohberger: English
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e6 6.Bf4

‘The Fortress’

Part II of the trilogy on fortresses with the material distribution rook + pawn against bishop + pawn with Dorian Rogozenco. Introductory video plus six (!) interactive training videos!

‘The Double Blockade’

The knight is highly regarded as a blocking piece for an opponent's pawn. If there is a bishop behind the knight, the ‘double blockade’ is perfect. Mihail Marin examines the strategic features of this constellation.

New ideas for your repertoire

From English to King's Indian – ChessBase Magazine #228 offers 10 opening articles with new ideas for every ambitious player!

Petra Papp: English 1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2 Bc5 / 7...h5!
Sergey Grigoriants: King's Indian without c2-c4
Evgeny Postny: Sicilian Rossolimo Variation 3...d5!?
Krisztien Szabo: Sicilian Dragon Variation 6...Nc6 7.f3 h5!?
Yago Santiago: French Advance Variation 5.Nf3 f6!?
Martin Lorenzini: Scotch 4...Bc5 5.Nb3 Bb6 6.Nc3 Qf6
Alexey Kuzmin: Spanish Delayed Exchange 7.Re1!?
Robert Ris: Accepted Queen's Gambit 3.e4 c5!?
Balazs Csonka: Nimzo-Indian 4.Qc2 0-0 5.e4 d6
Spyridon Kapnisis: King's Indian 5.Be2 0-0 6.Be3 Nc6!?

Opening traps

Hotspot d5! In three videos, Michael Prusikin presents traps from the Sicilian Rossolimo Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5) and the Moscow Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+).

‘All in One’

Romain Edouard stumbled upon a surprise in the French Tarrasch Defence at the 2025 French Championship: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 and now 3...e5!?

‘Move by Move’

Robert Ris has chosen one of Praggnanandha's positional masterpieces for his interactive training column. In his encounter with World Champion Gukesh at the 2025 Sinquefield Cup, the queens were exchanged early in the Rubinstein Variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defence. Pragg then managed to gradually build on his initially minimal advantage.

‘Modern Classics’

Vassily Ivanchuk outplayed Alexander Morozevich at the 1996 Donner Memorial in Amsterdam right from the opening (French Steinitz Variation). After 18.Qh3, White was already strategically winning. Don't miss how Ivanchuk led the game to victory – ‘he finds beautiful ideas with every move!’

Practical tips for tournament players: ‘The key defender’

Pieces can be strong because of their activity, but also because of their special defensive performance. Jan Markos approaches the topic from the attacker's perspective. Learn to identify and eliminate the most important piece in your opponent's defence!

‘Capturing is fun!’

Without capturing, there is no tactics, and without tactics, there is no checkmate! 34 games, peppered with a total of over 100 training questions of varying degrees of difficulty. Includes three interactive training videos!

‘Fundamental Endgame Knowledge’ – Part 18: Rook versus bishop

Continuation of the interactive training series with video feedback. In the introductory video, Karsten Müller presents the most important rules in the endgame with rook versus bishop, both with and without pawns. Then it's your turn in two interactive videos! Plus ‘Endgame highlights from the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025’ with video and analysis.

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