I have to admit that I have become somewhat of a [ChessBase](http://www.chessbase.com) fanboy over the past few months. The first time I can remember using a ChessBase product was a copy of Fritz 8 that I purchased at Hastings Entertainment in Clovis, New Mexico. I was just starting to grow my interest in chess and decided to head out to the store and pick up a program to help me learn. Fritz 8, although long superseded by Fritz 9 to Deep Fritz 14, was a powerful engine that readily defeated me in every game I played. Suffice to say that I was not impressed with it because I was unfamiliar with chess engines, chess interfaces, UCI, PGN, and the full lexicon of digital chess language that I utilize today. I took note that Fritz was created by ChessBase and decided to steer clear for awhile.
#### My Growing Love for ChessBase
As time has moved on, I have come to recognize the wonderful contributions to preparation and exhibition that ChessBase has brought to the world of digital chess. One night, I intended to purchase a copy of Deep Fritz 14 to assist with analyzing my games, but accidentally added a copy of ChessBase 12 to my order as well. When I sought a refund for the other, the friendly folks at ChessBase contacted me to discuss my concerns with the program and ask if there was anything they could do help. I explained that it was a mistaken purchase, but they encouraged me to try it out first before I decided if I wanted to return it. Since then, ChessBase has been critical to my growth as a player and as a blogger. As I became more reliant on ChessBase for game storage and analysis, I decided to give ChessBase Magazine and try. What I found was a digital utopia of analysis and reporting that caused me to cancel my subscription to *New in Chess*.
It is no secret that I was ecstatic when I arrived home on Friday evening and found [ChessBase Magazine #163]() waiting in my mailbox. Each magazine comes in a distinctive color, with #163 (December 2014 to January 2015) being green and featuring Fabiano Caruana, who dominated in several Grand Prix tournaments and at the Sinquefield Cup earlier this year. The booklet that accompanies each edition of ChessBase Magazine is nice and has summaries and cross tables for each tournament, but the real meat of the publication is on the enclosed DVD. On a side note, there is a *download only subscription* option that includes all of the DVD content and a PDF file of the booklet.
#### ChessBase Magazine #163
As I said, the meat of ChessBase Magazine is on the DVD that comes with each issue. In CBM 163, there are 1,463 games included in ChessBase databases with many of them being presented with video commentary by grandmasters such as Karsten Müller, Daniel King, and others. In this day and age, it is easy to find commentary on top games by grandmasters on YouTube or other chess websites, but rarely will you find these games annotated and analyzed by grandmasters and provided with commentary and analysis for further study. In this edition, several tournaments from the FIDE Grand Prix are covered including Grand Prix Tashkent and Grand Prix Baku. Daniel King gives four video commentaries on games from Grand Prix Baku and many other games are annotated and included in the database. Here is an example of what comes in CBM 163:
[pgn]
[Event “EU-Cup 30th”]
[Site “Bilbao”]
[Date “2014.09.14”]
[Round “1.5”]
[White “Korobov, Anton”]
[Black “Pettersson, Anders”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “A89”]
[WhiteElo “2673”]
[BlackElo “2271”]
[Annotator “Meulders,R”]
[PlyCount “73”]
[EventDate “2014.09.14”]
[EventType “team-swiss”]
[EventRounds “7”]
[EventCountry “ESP”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2014.11.11”]
[WhiteTeam “SOCAR”]
[BlackTeam “Stockholm Viking”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “AZE”]
[BlackTeamCountry “SWE”]
1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 d6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. d5
Na5 (8… Ne5 {is the real proof of the pudding in this variation. It’s a much
sharper line and therefore ideal for blitz and rapid games. The text move is
reputed to give White a small but lasting advantage.}) 9. Nd2 {The old,
well-tested move.} (9. Qd3 {is Moskalenko’s recommendation in ‘The Diamond
Dutch’.}) 9… c5 10. a3 (10. Rb1 e5 11. dxe6 Bxe6 12. b3 d5 13. cxd5 Nxd5 14.
Nxd5 Bxd5 15. Ba3 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Nc6 17. Nf3 {1/2-1/2 (17) Aronian,L (2805)
-Nakamura,H (2751) Wijk aan Zee 2011}) 10… Bd7 11. Qc2 Qc7 12. Nb5 (12. b3 a6
13. Bb2 b5 14. e3 Rab8 15. Rab1 Rb7 16. Ne2 bxc4 17. bxc4 Rfb8 $11 {1-0 (49)
Korobov,A (2671)-Serov,M (2388) St Petersburg 2011}) 12… Bxb5 13. cxb5 b6 14.
b4 Nb7 15. Bb2 a6 $2 {Not best as the rook gets misplaced on a6. Black should
have protected his queen.} (15… Rfc8 16. Rac1 Qd7 $11) 16. bxa6 Rxa6 17. e4
f4 {A standard move in several Leningrad lines: Black aims for a blockade on
the black squares, the white pawn on e4 being in the way of his own knight and
bishop. The exchange on e4 also leaves White with the better position.} (17…
fxe4 18. Rfe1 Nd8 19. Nxe4 Nf7 20. Nc3 Qd7 21. Qe2 Ra7 22. Nb5 Rb7 23. Rab1 {
and White is in control.}) 18. Nf3 Nd7 (18… fxg3 19. fxg3 Qd7 20. e5 dxe5 21.
Nxe5 Qd6 $18) 19. e5 ({The normal} 19. Bxg7 {is also fine.} Kxg7 20. Qc3+ Kg8
21. e5 Nd8 22. Rfe1 Ra7 23. exd6 Qxd6 24. Rac1 fxg3 25. hxg3 $16) 19… dxe5
20. Ng5 Nd6 (20… Nd8 $4 21. d6 exd6 22. Qc4+ $18) 21. gxf4 (21. Ne6 Qa7 22.
Nxf8 Kxf8 23. Rfe1 fxg3 24. hxg3 Nf7 25. Bf1 $18 {Always this unfortunate rook
on a6…}) 21… Rxf4 22. Ne6 Qa7 23. bxc5 $2 {White has managed to win the
exchange but for two moves in a row he spurns the chance to take it; I wonder
why?} (23. Nxf4 exf4 24. Bxg7 Kxg7 25. Rfe1 Nf6 26. bxc5 bxc5 27. Re6 c4 28.
Qc3 Nf5 29. Rxa6 Qxa6 30. a4 $18) 23… bxc5 24. Rae1 $2 ({After} 24. Nxf4 {
White would still hold the advantage.} exf4 25. Bxg7 Kxg7 26. Rfe1 Kf8 27. Qb2
$16) {Now the advantage passes to Black} 24… Rc4 $1 $15 25. Qd2 Bf6 26. Re3
Rh4 27. Qc2 c4 28. Kh1 Ra5 $17 (28… e4 $1 $19 {was even stronger.} 29. Bxf6
Nxf6 $19) 29. Nd8 Rb5 30. Nc6 Qb6 31. Bc1 (31. Bc3) 31… e4 $6 {Now that the
white bishop has moved from b2 this simply drops a pawn.} (31… Rb3 $19 32.
Rg3 e4 33. Bg5 Bxg5 34. Rxg5 Nf6 35. Nxe7+ Kg7 36. Kg1 Rf4 37. a4 Rb2 38. a5
Rxc2 39. axb6 Rb2 40. Rg3 Rxb6 $19) 32. Bxe4 Nxe4 33. Rxe4 Rxd5 $6 (33… Qc5
34. Rxh4 Bxh4 35. Rd1 Qxf2 $15) 34. Qxc4 {and White has equalised again.} e6
35. Rxh4 Bxh4 36. Be3 Rc5 $4 {Oh dear, what a blunder…} (36… Qb7 37. Rc1
Bf6 $11) 37. Qxe6+ ({Of course and not} 37. Bxc5 $4 {which Black had counted
on.} Qxc6+ 38. Kg1 Be7 $1 $17 {White had a very narrow escape here!}) 1-0
[/pgn]
Of course, the video lectures are my favorite part of ChessBase Magazine, but each edition includes a number of tactics and strategy puzzles for the reader to solve. These puzzles come straight from the grandmaster games reviewed in the magazine articles and the reader engages in responsive feedback with the video system within ChessBase. For example, in CBM 163, author Oliver Reeh focuses on exchanges in a series of tactical puzzles designed to fine-tune the reader’s interpretation of appropriate piece exchanges to gain advantage over their opponent.
Finally, there is an excellent collection of “tele-chess” correspondence games presented by Juan Morgado and Roberto Alvarez. The correspondence database contains over 10,000 games with 32 of them annotated for greater emphasis and study. ChessBase Magazine #163 continues a tradition of chess journalism excellence and I highly recommend it for chess players of all levels.