New Chess Videos for August 3 – 7
Monday, August 3 GM Leonid Kritz Dare to Take the Pawns! (tactics)
A very strong game by the unofficial Woman World Champion that she could have won if she dared to take the white pawns that were hanging all the time. Hou outplayed her opponent after the opening, got a terrific position with her knight on e4, and was absolutely able to hope for more than just a draw. Unfortunately, she was too careful and did not want to take what she could, so Nisipeanu got his chances on the king side and quickly used them to force a draw.
Tuesday, August 4 IM Bill Paschall Classic Karpov, Part 3 (strategy, middlegame)
Karpov plays from another situation where he is comfortable with both black and white in the Queen’s Gambit Declined. As white , Karpov chooses a quiet variation with 6. Bxf6 and things get interesting when a position with an isolated queen’s pawn arises. White wins using classic and simple principles. We see the value of the open file, the 7th rank and the exploitation of undefended points and pieces in the enemy position. Black is forced into a desperate queen sacrifice, but his attempt at counterplay with an advanced passed pawn is too slow against Karpov’s accurate technique.
Wednesday, August 5, FM Dennis Monokroussos Who Needs Bishops? (openings)
There are various opening lines that involve a player giving up one or both bishops for the opponent’s knights, but Michael Adams’ concept in his game with Veselin Topalov from Dortmund 1996 was unusual and especially deep. First, he did it in a position where he apparently left a weakened fianchetto position and in a position where White’s bishops really didn’t look bad at all. But Adams’ idea was very deep and not just a general instance of handling knights vs. bishops. To say more would ruin the surprise, so please watch the video!
Thursday, August 6, GM Eugene Perelshteyn Calculate Like a GM! Part 1 (tactics, middlegame)
Learn how to calculate like a GM! The key concepts to remember: identify a few candidate moves, start with the most forcing one, pause and look for opponent’s candidate moves. Disciplined thinking is very important!
Friday, August 7, GM Bryan Smith A Repertoire for White in the Ruy Lopez: Part 2 (openings, tactics)
In the second part of his series on the Spanish, GM Bryan Smith shows a good response to the Steinitz Variation in the context of his game against Darmen Sadvakasov.