Daily Archives: January 6, 2014

New Chess Video Lectures for January 6 to January 10

 in Chess Lectures / New at ChessLecture.com by
This Week’s Lectures

Monday Jan 6 IM Valeri Lilov Outplaying the Opponent’s Attack (Intermediate, Middlegame)

Tuesday Jan 7 GM Eugene Perelshteyn How a London System Transposes to Benoni! (Intermediate, Opening)
A curious way to transpose to a Benoni from a London System allows White to build up a strong center and big space advantage.  With instructive play White breaks through in the center with a timely e5! push and blows Black off the board.

Wednesday Jan 8 FM Dennis Monokroussos Battle of the Generations (Intermediate, Middlegame)
It’s a pity Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen only played at the very beginning of the latter’s career, but even then their first rapid game proved quite exciting. Carlsen played the opening very well, obtained an advantage, and had Kasparov in huge trouble before the latter showed better technique and drew the game. (A double role-reversal! Carlsen played better than Kasparov in the opening, and Kasparov played better in the late middlegame and ending.) Carlsen’s ability and fearlessness proved a portent of things to come.

Thursday Jan 9 GM Leonid Kritz How to Avoid Najdorf (Intermediate, Openings, Strategy)
Najdorf Variation of Sicilian Defense is one of the most popular and at the same time one of the largest openings with regard to the volume of theory you need to learn in order to play against it. Most of the players simply do not have enough time to study just one opening. This is why pretty often it makes sense to avoid the main lines and play a variation that is rare and does not promise an opening advantage, but one you were able to prepare and understand at home. Knowing ideas is more important than knowing exact moves sometimes. This lecture covers one such possibility of how to avoid Najdorf main line.

Friday Jan 10 IM David Vigorito Opening Trends: Anti-Grunfeld, Part 1 (Intermediate, Openings, Strategy)

Magnus Carlsen in the United States

 in Chess Education / Chess Events / People in Chess by

As a chess player who has grown up and played almost exclusively in the United States since the 1970s, it has always been my impression that chess is thought to be more widely recognized in European cultures than in my home country, and perhaps in most other parts of the world, too.  I personally experienced the sudden surge in interest in chess nationally in 1972 as a teenager, when Bobby Fischer became world champion.  In recent years, such surges have swept India as Vishy Anand became world champ, and now sweep Norway as Magnus Carlsen inspires national pride.

I’m happy to report on some appearances by Magnus here in the US that indicate the extent that the new world champion is working to further popularize chess far beyond his native land.  This week, he is appearing for two days at what is probably the world’s largest hi-tech trade show in the world, the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, in association with a Nordic hi-tech firm:

www.facebook.com/events/552791494799402/

And next week, Magnus is presenting in California’s Silicon Valley, as described here in LM Dana Mackenzie’s blog:

http://www.danamackenzie.com/blog/?p=2694

Equally significant is who is presenting Magnus to the public – one of the world’s leading entrepreneurs, chess master and PayPal founder Peter Thiel – and the venue – the Computer History Museum, which features a permanent gallery on the history of chess and computing.

Magnus is, of course, becoming a major figure among sportsmen worldwide – something only achieved by perhaps three or four grandmasters at most in modern times.  But he is also doing a great deal to promote the role of chess as an educational tool, working with the leading US chess foundation to promote use of their First Move Chess curriculum in 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms.  I, too, have been working to assist with this in more modest ways, and am very excited to see his leadership in this area.  I will have more info to share on this in the next week.