Daily Archives: March 23, 2015

Monday, March 23  IM David Vigorito   Needle in a Haystack (openings) 

Tuesday, March 24  IM  Bill Paschall  Mohr Flohr! Part 4  (middlegame, tactics) 
We see a classic battle with the great Emanuel Lasker. Black captures dubiously white’s outposted knight on e5 in a typical hanging pawn middlegame. Flohr gains the initative with 2 raking bishops and breaks through with an ingenius exchange sacrifice, which in turn gives him a monstrous passed pawn. Lasker is unable to generate any serious counterplay. A masterful win against one of the greatest chess players of all time.

Wednesday, March 25  FM Dennis Monokroussos   One Diagonal Per Bishop (tactics)
When one plays both …e6 and …g6, there’s a serious danger that very weak dark squares will result. If the bishop develops along the path cleared by the e-pawn, then h6 and g7 are likely to be weak; if it is fianchettoed instead then d6 could be a problem, and in both cases Black can have trouble with the f6 square. Those difficulties were convincingly demonstrated in the game Bitensky-Ciobanu from the 2015 European championship, as you will see. Black wound up with dark squared problems all over the place, and eventually fell prey to a beautiful kingside attack that highlighted all the weak dark squares in her camp. White’s attacking play was instructive, but one shouldn’t forget about the preconditions that made it possible – that’s very instructive too, even if only as a model of what we should avoid.

Thursday, March 26  GM Eugene Perelshteyn   A Surprise Weapon in the Accelerated Dragon: Invite White to Castle Long! (openings) 
Learn a cool weapon to steer the game in the regular Dragon on your own terms with 8…Nd7!  An original idea by the creative genius Bent Larsen.  The knight transfer allows a fight for the critical c4 square.  This old idea is completely overlooked in modern theory and you can easily surprise your opponents!  Also, get a master class on a positional exchange sacrifice in the best traditions of Petrosian.

Friday, March 27  GM Bryan Smith  Rubinstein’s Great Endgames, Part 7 (endgame) 
In this game, Akiba Rubinstein shows unusual and deep strategic maneuvering in exploiting the two bishops in an endgame resulting from the Exchange Variation of the Spanish Game.”

Monday, March 9 IM Valeri Lilov Exploiting Lead in Space (middlegame)
What do we know about space? Most players fight for the center to restrict the opponent’s pieces and get more space. What should we do after this? IM Lilov’s suggestions can help you reveal the full potential of winning with a space advantage!

Tuesday, March 10 IM David Vigorito Inside Coverage of the USCL 2014 – part 13 (strategy, tactics)
US Chess League continues with a win over former US Champion Joel Benjamin. Both sides try to drag the each other into unfamiliar territory with an unusual opening move order. I was able to use my experience from both sides of an unusual opening to bring down my even more experienced opponent!

Wednesday, March 11 FM Dennis Monokroussos Tartakower the Grandmaster (openings, middlegame, endgame)
Last time we saw Tartakower overwhelm a weaker opponent with some sharp, crazy opening play. In this game, we see that he could be just as devastating against another top player using a more well-rounded approach. Richard Reti was one of the very best players in the world and around his peak at this point, but Tartakower very smoothly outplayed him with the black pieces, besting his great opponent in all three phases of the game (opening, middlegame and ending). It’s so smooth that it’s practically a model game, and it’s very rare that one top player can win in such a style against one of his peers. His ability to win games of all sorts, from openings of all sorts, makes Tartakower a good model for both students and for those looking for entertainment as well, and I hope you’ll find this game (and the last one) enjoyable and instructive.

Thursday, March 12 IM Bill Paschall My Best Hits, Part 3
IM Paschall shares his most spectacular win with features an ultra-sharp variation against the Benko Gambit. Black varies from the main line and Paschall employs a creative double pawn sacrifice in the opening to disrupt his opponents pawn structure. Black sleepwalks through the early middlegame and his king is shredded in the center.

Friday, March 13 GM Bryan Smith Rubinstein’s Great Endgames, Part 6 (endgame)
In this classic endgame, Akiba Rubinstein demonstrates the advantage of a superior king position in a complex king and pawn ending.