ChessBase Magazine Extra 214

Opening videos

Leon Mendonca: Queen's Gambit Declined with 4...Nbd7

Leon Mendonca faced the modern continuation 4...Nbd7 in the Queen's Gambit Declined in his game with GM Rauf Mamdedov at the French Championship 2023. The young Indian decided for practical reasons not to get involved with the variations after 5.Bf4 dxc4 6.e3 b5 and introduced familiar structures with 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 c6. This is also the position from which Mendonca's analysis starts. The most natural and most frequently played continuation here is 8.e3. Mendonca examines the variations after 8...g5 9.Bg3 Nh5 in detail and concludes that Black needs not fear any disadvantage if played correctly. In the game he played 8.Qc2 instead. "This move is very, very smart!"

Romain Edouard: "Critical Lines in the Dragon" - Part III: 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Qe1

In the second part of his series, Romain Edouard had examined the main continuation 10.exd5 in Extra 213 after Black’s advance 9...d5 and had come to the conclusion that Black should be able to keep the game in balance. However, White can put pressure on the black queen on d8 with 10.Qe1. Does this attempt promise more to the attracting player? First Edouard examines the continuation 10...e5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.exd5 Nxd5 13.Bc4 Be6, and here 14.Kb1 should be stronger than the main move 14.Ne4. Black now retains the best chances with 14...Re8, a prophylactic move that prepares the advance of the e-pawn and thus the opening of the diagonal a1-h8.

Anish Giri, Thai Dai Van Nguyen, Lubomir Ftacnik, Spyridon Kapnisis, Michal Krasenkow, Romain Edouard and others comment

Anish Giri shows his game against World Champion Ding Liren from the 2023 Bucharest Superbet tournament in "The brilliancy". In the Italian Game, the Chinese player took too high a risk with 10...g5, allowing Giri to launch an irresistible attack with the knight sacrifice 11.Nxg5.

In the "Lucky bag" you can expect 40 other games with detailed commentary in addition to Giri’s brilliancy.

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