Daily Archives: December 23, 2013

Dec 23 IM Valeri Lilov, How to Decide on a Breakthrough (intermediate, strategy)

Dec 24 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Instructive Play Against the IQP: Blockade (intermediate, strategy)
Black follows Nimzowitsch’s advice by blockading the isolated pawn, first with the knight rather than with the bishop. This creates a second weakness to cause White’s position to fall apart.

Dec 25 IM Bill Paschall, New Idea in the Panov Botvinnik Caro-Kann (intermediate, openings)
IM Paschall encounters a rare idea by White in the 5…Nc6 variation of the Panov. Paschall discusses new ideas for Black and proceeds to demonstrate how he went tragically astray in this new position which arose in the game. A very unusual and dangerous queen trap is on the menu! Don’t let it happen to you!

Dec 26 FM Dennis Monokroussos, Weirdness Works? Yes! (intermediate, tactics)
This game repeats Grandelius-Bok, seen in my previous lecture, up to White’s 11th move. Bok won a beautiful game, seemingly refuting Grandelius’s eccentric play in its totality. It turns out, however, that White’s concept was a good one, and with the right idea – the amazing 12.fxg5 Qxg5 13.g4!! – White’s strategy turns out to be the right one. Sometimes we’re inclined to dismiss unfamiliar ideas as bad ones, and while they can be – rules of thumb are “rules” for a reason – sometimes we need to revise our thinking instead. Case in point here: Safarli, who is a very strong young grandmaster, either didn’t do his research or trusted Bok, and learned a painful lesson.

Dec 27 IM David Vigorito Carlsen Makes it Look Simple – Again! (intermediate, tactics)

It’s always gratifying for us to receive positive feedback from our viewers. This week, we were reminded of this by a new subscriber, who wrote:

“I am a complete novice to serious chess. Like many, I learned the moves 50 plus years ago and then over the years played a few games with friends who knew as little as I. Retirement and caring for my homebound wife (where I am home all the time) lead me to renewed interest in chess, but this time on a serious basis.

Being at home also lead me to Netflix, which resulted in watching Brooklyn Castle, which lead to a “fan” email to who I consider its star’ Elizabeth Vicary. Elizabeth highly recommended your site, and am happy she did. I just started watching a video and learned more in fifteen minutes than hours going through chess books and looking at other web sites. There was a tad confusion trying to get the video to play, but your FAQ section got me on track on my IPad. Your welcoming email got here right after I found the answer on FAQ.”

If any of you have testimonials to offer – or suggestions, or even constructive criticisms – we’d like to hear from you….in the comments here, on our Facebook page or via email.