New Chess Videos for June 9 – June 13
Monday, June 9 IM Valeri Lilov Opening Advantage (strategy,opening) The most important rule of the opening is to always fight for initiative and advantage. Making it real is a matter of two things: The opponent’s mistakes and our ability to exploit them. In order to understand how to fight for opening advantage, one should first learn the differences between a good and bad development, after which comes theconcept of a superior pawn structure. Check out IM Valeri Lilov’s video to learn more about gaining an advantage in the opening!
Tuesday, June 10 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Instructive Endgame Technique: Good Bishop vs Bad Knight (endgame) An instructive game where the bishops dominate the knights in the middlegame, and then an even more instructive endgame of a good bishop vs a bad knight. Black plays passive defense to help create the masterpiece. Learn from Akobian’s patience, endgame strategy & planning. Lessons: Avoid playing automatic moves (retreats & captures) without thinking, always choose an active defense over a passive one.
Wednesday, June 11 FM Dennis Monokroussos Sophisticated Simplification (endgame) Last time we saw some straightforward examples where swapping converted a winning position into an actual win. In this video, we get the man-bites-dog version of simplification: the side that’s down material trades pieces to reach a drawn king and pawn ending – very unusual! Most of the time pawn-up king and pawn endings are the easiest to win; most of the time, but not always. In two of our examples we’ll see ex-world champ and current title contender Viswanathan Anand use this technique to draw two inferior positions from the recent Candidates’ tournament, and then we’ll see a third, surprising example from my junior years.
Thursday, June 12 IM David Vigorito Getting Too Creative Against Classical Play? (opening, tactics) Even 2700 players cannot get anyway with anything in the opening, especially against their peers. It is “difficult” to lose a miniature with White at this level, but the German number one take too many liberties and get duly punishing by Harikrishna’s forceful classical play.
Friday, June 13 LM Dana Mackenzie How to Tell When the Moment is Right (strategy, tactics) One of the toughest challenges in chess is to tell when it’s time to calculate and when it isn’t. Great players don’t waste time on unnecessary calculations when there is a simple way to improve their position. However, they can sense when it is time to hit the tactics. I suggest three questions: Is there a safe, risk-free way for me to build my position? If I give my opponent a tempo, what can he do to build his position? And who benefits more from a building move: my opponent or me?