Opening Videos

Chess prodigy Leon Mendonca recently stopped in Hamburg on his way to the Tata Steel Masters 2025 to record one of his best games from the past year in video format at the ChessBase Studio. The game in question was his White win against Harika Dronavalli at the Chennai GM Challengers 2024, where Mendonca showcased his skills in the Advance Variation of the French Defense. With moves like 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6, Mendonca gained a strategic advantage early on in the game.

Meanwhile, Nico Zwirs analyzed a game played by Magnus Carlsen for his new club, FC St. Pauli, in the German Bundesliga. The game featured the Fianchetto Variation of the King’s Indian Defense with moves like 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.Nc3 d6 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.0-0 e5, showcasing Carlsen’s enterprising style. Zwirs delved into the game, highlighting key moments such as Carlsen’s decision to play 8.Qc2 instead of the main continuation 8.e4, leading to an interesting and unfamiliar position.

Additionally, ChessBase’s “Lucky bag” offers analyses from top players like Romain Edouard, Surya Ganguly, Anish Giri, Abhijeet Gupta, and Spyridon Kapnisis. The “Update service” provides over 50,000 new games for databases, with the Mega Update Service 2024/2025 including these games for ChessBase 17/18 users.

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