Daily Archives: January 20, 2014


New Chess Videos for January 20 to January 24

Monday Jan 20 IM Valeri Lilov Elements of Improvement (Intermediate, Strategy, Middlegame)
The most important elements of improvement have always been a difficult part for many chess players. This lecture introduces some very simple and yet, very valuable concepts about the successful improvement behind any plan we take on.

Tuesday Jan 21 IM Bill Paschall, Petrosian Turns the Tables on Spassky (Intermediate, Middlegame)
In a battle between two world champions, Petrosian masterfully transfers his queen knight to the kingside brilliantly in this game and practically instigates the aggressive Spassky into an incorrect sacrificial plan! A great example of Petrosians’ positional strength and defensive play. The black king ends up fatally exposed after advancing his kingside pawns in classic King’s Indian Defense fashion.

Wednesday Jan 22 FM Dennis Monokroussos, Black’s Blasting Bishops in the Symmetrical Tarrasch, Part 1 (Intermediate, Middlegame)
In this classic game we see that just a bit of carelessness by White can lead to a terrifying attack by Black, and from an opening position that might seem innocuous at first glance. If you ever wondered about the attacking power of the bishop pair in an open board, this game will be a revelation to you. And if you think games like this were only possible 100 years ago, stay tuned for part two…

Thursday Jan 23 GM Eugene Perelshteyn, Instructive Setup for Black against the Maroczy Bind (Intermediate, Openings, Strategy, Tactics)
Black uses a clever move order to force White into an unfavorable Maroczy Bind. Once White’s knight is misplayed on b3, Black plays a5-a4 plan to gain space on the queenside. White’s pieces are lacking good squares, and Black executes the following plan: Qa5,Nd7-c5,Be6. Seeking counterplay, White plays an untimely f4 and gets duly punished.

Friday Jan 24 GM Leonid Kritz: Suffer the Right Way Through the Stonewall. Part 1 (Intermediate, Openings, Strategy)
The Stonewall is an old opening that has reputation of being pretty solid, but very passive. This game deviates from the standard ways we understand the Stonewall and from the very beginning the game takes on a very unusual shape. It looks all the time that White should be winning, but it turns out that things are not as easy as they seem to be, a typical feature of the Stonewall.