ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. Here our columnist, Nagesh Havanur takes a look at a recent issue, CBM 223. 170 games from the FIDE World Chess Championship and Tata Steel Kolkata, 34 annotated, 11 opening surveys, 3 opening videos, 6 demo. lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Anish Giri, Sam Shankland and Wesley So among others. The icing on the cake is a special feature on Vincent Keymer who recently won the Free Style Grand Slam Tournament ahead of Carsen, Caruana and Firouzja.
CBM 223 Review by Nagesh Havanur
Agony and Ecstasy in Singapore
Even as I write these lines, Magnus Carlsen reigns supreme in the chess world. The same cannot be said of Dommaraju Gukesh. The young FIDE World Champion had the baptism of fire in the recent Free Style Grand Slam Tournament. Success eluded him here with too many draws and losses to Carlsen and Firouzja. Gukesh did better in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament with a score of 8.5/13 (+5, -1, =7) tying with Praggnanandhaa on the same score. He lost to Pragg only in the Blitz Game after both had drawn level 1-1 in the Tie-break Match.
The Indian talent had set a record by beating Ding Liren and winning the world championship title at the age of 18. This was his first test in tournament play as the World Champion.
The ascent of the young player on the chess Olympus began with his triumph at the Candidates’ Tournament early last year. Thereafter he also led the way for the Indian Team winning Gold in the Chess Olympiad. In the main, this issue is devoted to the World Championship Match and offers all the games fully annotated.
How good was the Match?
Opinion on the standard of the Match is still divided. The Indian fans are all praise for Gukesh and would not hear of one word against his feat at 18. However, members of the GM elite, Carlsen, Kramnik and Aronian have been critical of the quality of games. So is Yannick Pelletier in this issue.
Connoisseurs of modern chess are of the view that the standard of play in world championship matches has suffered since the Carlsen-Caruana duel 2018. They have a point.
In this issue Yannick Pelletier is particularly scathing on what he calls, Ding Liren’s “negative and defeatist mindset”. His annotations to Games 5 and 6 show a couple of chances that the Chinese GM missed. However, they seem insufficient for anything like an immediate win. Other annotators to the games in this issue are more generous and understanding of the World Champion’s plight. Here are both games with my commentary. I have also taken into account what the players themselves have had to say on the games.
D. Gukesh-Ding Liren, Game 5, FIDE World Chess Championship, 2024
This game raises several issues. Ding Liren was well-prepared in the main lines of the French Defence. So Gukesh chose the “drawish” Exchange Variation. However, Ding Liren closed position with 6…c4 followed by exchange of queens. He could have tried 6… Nc6 for an open battle. After Gukesh overreached himself, Ding Liren did play for a win. He was seized by self-doubt only on the 29th move. He could have won a pawn with 29…Bh5 and tried to make something out of the small material plus. Worried by the dominant White rook, he settled for a draw.
Now let us take a look at Game 6 that was exasperating for both Ding Liren fans and the viewers all over the world.
Ding Liren-D. Gukesh, Game 6, FIDE World Chess Championship, 2024
Like Game 5, this game also raises a number of issues. For startees, both players were well-prepared in the opening and followed a known line right till the early middlegame. Perhaps Ding Liren was wrong in playing the line in vogue as it left him behind in development. Both on the 10th and the 11th move he had the option of playing Nbd2 bringing the last minor piece into play. He lost tempi with 10. Qa3 and 11.Nfd2. Carlsen was more prudent, playing 10.0-0, sending the king to safety and completing development against the same Ding Liren in Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024. That game did end in a draw.
In the game here Ding Liren missed his chance to strengthen his position and played for exchange of queens and a safe ending. Critics pounced on his last error, 34.Kc2?! and claimed 34.Qg5 would have given him winning chances. These chances were slim and Ding Liren had some reason to be concerned about the combined action of the Black queen and rook against his king.
In retrospect it turned out to be an insufficient cause for moving the king to safety. Gukesh should be commended for fighting till the last move and unbalancing the position till the end. The final position remains tense and unclear with rival majorities on both sides and the Black pawn on e3 threatening to steal a march on everyone else.
Ding Liren did put up a big fight in Games, 7, 8 and 13 to draw. He won only Games 1 and 12.
As for Gukesh, it was nerves in the first game and complacency in the 11th game after he had led the match by one point. With Ding Liren it was often the policy of playing safe that led to debacle.
Notwithstanding criticism the quality of play in this Match need not be underestimated if the annotations to the games in this issue are anything to go by. In sporting terms Ding Liren did not do badly and had leveled the score before the last game of the Match.
Photo:
Ding Liren playing white against Gukesh Dommaraju, the new world chess champion | Photo: FIDE / Eng Chin An
The extraordinary tension of the finale is captured by Jan Markos in his annotations to the game.
Carlsen reigns supreme in Kolkata
This issue includes all the games from the Tata Steel Raid and Chess Tournament, Kolkata
Magnus Carlsen scored a double victory here winning both the Rapid and Blitz Events.
He was undefeated in the Rapid Event and won with a round to spare, finishing with 7/9 points. Praggnanandhaa and Wesley So finished second and third with 5.5/9 points.
Carlsen was not without his share of luck as in the game here with Abdusattorov.
Subsequently it came to be known that Abdusattorov should have played 38. Qd4! Instead of 38. Qxe8? that allowed Carlsen to escape with a draw.
Anyway Carlsen went on to play in the Blitz Event, with an unbeatable score, 13/18 points. Here again he won with a round to spare.
Wesley So was second with a score of 11.5/18. Arjun Erigaisi finished third with 10.5/18.
Incidentally, Erigaisi was the only player to beat Carlsen in this event. The following miniature is rather inexplicable:
Goryachkina and Lagno score in Kolkata
Like Carlsen, Aleksandra Goryachkina was also undefeated in the Women’s Rapid and won with a round to spare on 7/9 points. She finished 1½ points ahead of her closest rival, Nana Dzagnidze.
Kateryna Lagno scored 11.5/18 to win the Women’s Blitz event. Valentina Gunina and Aleksandra Goryachkina scored 11/18 and 9.5/18 to finish second and third.
A Vincent Keymer Special
This issue has a special feature on Vincent Keymer. As is known, he recently won the Free Style Grand Slam Tournament ahead of Carsen, Caruana and Firouzja. There are 21 annotated games of this young talent. His opponents include Gelfand, Navara, Mamedyarov and Fedoseev among others.
Opening videos
There are 3 opening videos in this issue.
In the first video Rustam Kasimdzhanov analyses an unusual variation against the Sicilian,
1.e4 c5 2.a4!? (B31).
If Black has any idea of playing …a6 and…b5, it goes up in smoke. If he plays 2…Nc6 it is met by 3.Bb5 followed by f2-f4 and 0-0.
The flipside of a2-a4 is that it does not develop a piece and allows Black to take countermeasures in the centre.
In the second video Daniel King analyses an offbeat line in Petroff Defence. It was supposed to have been “refuted” long since. However, it lives on.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4!? 4. Qe2 Qe7 5. d4 d6 6.Qxe4 dxe5 7.dxe5 Nc6
In the third video Robert Ris deals with a line in Spanish Delayed Exchange Variation
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7.Re1 (C85)
Take your pick.
Opening Surveys
There are as many as 11 opening surveys ranging from the Sicilian to the English Opening in this issue. Among them I would single out the analysis of the Wing Gambit by Spyridon Kapnisis and a tricky line in the Trompowsky by Evgeny Postny.
The Wing Gambit works against both the French and the Sicilian Defence.
The Trompowsky Line looks good for White and Black players have to be wary.
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.dxc5!? (D00)
Besides opening surveys, this issue has standard features on tactics, strategy and the endgame.
Endgame Play
In the regular column “Fundamental Endgame Knowledge” Karsten Müller offers a demo. lecture on same-coloured bishop endgames.
This section also offers a column, “Readers write” in which we find contributions by well-known experts like Charles Sullivan, Wolfram Schoen and Stefan Gottuk.
Summing up
The main database of the issue has 170 games of which 34 are deeply annotated. There is much else in this DVD that deserves to be explored. Apart from the players I have already mentioned, the commentators include Michal Krasenkow, Luke McShane and Petra Papp among others. It may be noted that there are more annotated games in the opening and training sections of this issue. Well, practice makes perfect.
Notes
1) FIDE World Championship Match 2024, Game 5 Press Conference:
2) 1) FIDE World Championship Match 202,4 Game 6 Press Conference:
3)Sagar Shah Interview on the Match with Ding Liren: