New Chess Videos for November 17 – 21
Monday, November 17 IM Valeri Lilov Mastering Closed Positions
Understanding how to play closed positions has always been difficult for beginner and intermediate players. Playing these positions requires a few key principles, so that you can apply them as a part of your plan. Learn them from IM Lilov’s new video!
Tuesday, November 18 IM Bill Paschall Mamadyarov, Gelfand, and the Problem with the Benoni, Part 1
GM Mamadyarov illustrates the effectiveness of taking a player who is heavily reliant on theory out of their comfort zone. With white, by basicly losing a tempo, the tricky GM lures the well prepared Gelfand into a Benoni type of position. Gelfand seems completely out of his element. White slowly takes more and more space, while black flounders planlessly. This game goes to show that it is very important to play types of positions and structures that you feel comfortable with!
Wednesday, November 19 FM Dennis Monokroussos Attack like a Grandmaster
Alexander Kotov is best remembered nowadays for his book _Think Like a Grandmaster_ and a couple of the key concepts discussed therein: candidate moves and the tree of analysis. That’s not a bad legacy, but he was a great player in his own right, qualifying for the Candidates tournaments of 1950 and 1953 and winning the 1952 Interzonal (the qualifying event for the next year’s Candidates) by a huge margin. In this game he blows Paul Keres off the board in amazing style, and as his brilliant idea is not too far out of the opening (and has been repeated) this game has additional value as a kind of opening trap. Certainly Nimzo-Indian players who meet the Saemisch with 5…Nc6 will want to be very careful not to follow too far in Keres’ footsteps.
Thursday, November 20 GM Bryan Smith Short Strikes in the Benoni
Former world championship challenger Nigel Short recently won the Isle of Man Open. Here we look at one of his crucial games, an eighth-round win as black in the Benoni, where Short takes on one of White’s most insidious systems.
Friday, November 21 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Beating the Dutch with 1.Nf3! Part 1
This rare system against the Dutch 1.Nf3 and 2.d3! is a great surprise weapon. Watch how the World Champion Magnus Carlsen completely outplays his GM opponent using the simple strategic concept: timely d4! followed by the trade of light-square bishops to guarantee White a stable positional edge.