Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the 67th instalment of his ChessBase show “Understanding before Moving”, Herman reveals why it is important to play against strong opponents to improve and shows how important it is to keep a flexible mindset.
By winning – very surprisingly – the Tata Steel Tournament 2021 in Wijk aan Zee (ahead of players such as Carlsen, Caruana or Giri) Jorden answered this question with a resounding “yes”. But how did Jorden get this far? By competing against top players!
After the opening Jorden had a reasonably good position, but he then was outplayed in the middlegame. It is instructive to see how “Nepo” turns his advantage into a win. In the diagrammed position the contours of the white actions on the a-file are still visible. However, it is not easy to see how White can make progress. But the maneuver that “Nepo” had in mind is downright beautiful. What did he play and what was his idea?