Publisher: Chess Informant, 2014, Pages 336, Paperback
New authors and columnists who will be contributing to forthcoming 120th(!) number:
GM Alexander Morozevich, winner of Poikovsky 2014 super-tournament, one of the most original and daring players on the planet, launches his Midnight in Moscow column in which he takes chess to its outer limits with examples of extreme opening play. Surrealism in chess – that’s what Alex is painting on the 64 squares of the chessboard. But this is not just pure fantasy. You will discover that you really can unleash a novelty as early as the 3rd move – even in today’s gladiatorial world of competitive chess!
GM Heine Peter Nielsen was not only Magnus Carlsen’s second in last year’s world championship contest but also had formerly served as trainer to Vishy Anand! So who better to present an overview of the recent Candidates tournament in which the Tiger from Madras, against expectations, earned the right to a return title match against Carlsen later this year. His wife GM Viktoria Cmilyte serves as co-writer and adds further colour to the report. In addition, Macedonian GM Aleksandar Colovic, drawing parallels from chess history, identifies some interesting psychological factors confronting the competing players.
GM Ivan Sokolov also starts his own column, beginning with an elaboration of the theme of chasing the king in the early phase of the game. Here you will see some magnificent examples of romantic-style play, taken from the latest practice.
Experienced GM Eduardas Rozentalis provides a master class on how to assess the right moment to exchange off into a pawn endgame. In such critical positions, the correct decision can lead to victory, the wrong choice to heartbreak... So do study this article and safeguard yourself!
Endgame strategy is the speciality of German GM Karsten Müller, who here concentrates on the necessary technique to win with two bishops against bishop and knight – which can even be equivalent to a significant material advantage.
European Individual Championship (Yerevan) - exclusive annotations by the 2014 European champion GM Alexander Motylev , runner-up GM David Anton Guijarro and 4th placed GM Dragan Solak.
Georgian GM Ketevan Arakhamia, who emigrated to the UK after her marriage and subsequently repeatedly won not only the British Women’s Championship but also the full Scottish title too! Here she focuses on today’s female chess scene, so often unjustly neglected yet replete with exciting games where tactics rule and sparks will fly! Such was the case in the rollercoaster Women’s World Championship in Rapid and Blitz, where, as Ketevan explains, the process of intuitive decision-making assumed great importance.
Then we have our regular grandmaster columnists: GM Mihail Marin, who teaches the art of analysis by comparing the play of past masters to those of the present, with particular emphasis on nuances of central pawn attacks; GM Sarunas Sulskis, who reports on Magnus Carlsen’s dramatic victory in the Gashimov Memorial; GM Alex Yermolinsky, who makes a chess pilgrimage to the Sin City of Las Vegas; GM Alex Ipatov, who highlights young players in his North German team who are making such an impact on the Bundesliga; GM Rafael Leitão, who pays tribute to a very special visitor to his native Brazil – none less than the world champion Magnus Carlsen himself.
Technical material is also not neglected with GM Vassilios Kotronias presenting the second part of his comprehensive study of the c3 Sicilian – making it truly a book within a book!
Chess Informant Labs also feature:
The Scotch by young lion GM Robert Aghysarian and his mentor GM Tigran Nalbandian.
The Slav by GM Ivan Ivanisevic
The King’s Indian by GM Robert Markus
And not to forget our traditional selection of 200 annotated games, played in the past months, and test yourself positions for combinations, endings, and studies.
