CLEARANCE - FRITZ TRAINER - The Alekhine Revitalized - Christian Bauer

The Alekhine (1.e4 Nf6) is a rare guest in general and especially at a high-level. During the pandemic, however, this daring opening has been employed on several occasions, notably by the World Champion Magnus Carlsen. A faster time-control and perhaps the unusual atmosphere created by online games probably helped some players unleash, from time to time, a marginal opening to surprise their opponents.

Playing the Alekhine on a regular basis is quite demanding, not to say a bit foolish. Not that this provocative opening is bad, but some paths have been established where White can more easily claim a slight advantage out of the opening than against a more classical opening. This also means that the surprise-effect will be greater, particularly at speed-chess, an insufficiently-prepared opponent will find it hard to find the best replies.

In this video course we will discuss some fashionable lines, still unexplored 3 or 4 years ago, like the astonishing piece-sacrifice in the well-known Voronezh Variation : 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Be3 Bg7 8.Rc1 0-0 9.b3 d5 10.c5 e5!? In some correspondence games Alekhine devotees have used the now trendy fianchetto-approach vs 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3, achieving fairly decent results. The impression that White can’t easily extract an opening edge was validated afterwards by over-the-board practice.

• Video running time: 5 h 17 min

• With interactive training including video feedback

• Extra: Model games database & Training with ChessBase apps - Memorize the opening repertoire and play key positions against Fritz on various levels

Christian Bauer was born in 1977 and has been a chess professional since 1998. In the same year he won the zonal tournament in Andorra. 1999 he participated in the FIDE World Championship in Las Vegas where he was knocked out in round 2 by Peter Leko. He’s writing regularly for Europe-Echecs and also has written three books: Play 1...b6, The Philidor Files/Tout sur la Défense Philidor and Play the Scandinavian/Jouez la Scandinave. Bauer is regularly playing for the national team of France (2nd place at the European Team Championship 2001 in Leon and 3rd 2005 in Gothenborg). He won the gold medal 2011 at the European Team Championships as the best reserve player. He is a three-time French champion (1996, 2012 and 2015) and also became French rapid champion in 2015.