Daily Archives: November 16, 2015

Monday, November 16 GM Nadya Kosintseva Queen’s Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defense, Part 1 (opening)

Tuesday, November 17 IM Bill Paschall Boris Spassky’s Spastacular Attacking Miniatures, Part 6 (strategy, tactics)
Spassky again displays a scintillating combination of both tactical and strategic ability. In this game we see again his preference for the knight tandem in a middlegame with a somewhat closed position in the center. His tactical prowess and creativity are embodied by a wild rook sacrifice. A top level opponent might have held on against Spassky’s creative attacking play, but few could find the draw in such mind boggling complications.

Wednesday, November 18 FM Dennis Monokroussos Carlsen Gets Away With Telling a Tal Tale (tactics)
We’re all used to seeing Magnus Carlsen grind out wins the endgame, and we’re all used to seeing him avoid the sharpest variations in order to “just play chess”. But when forced to, he can head into the swamp and try to prove that 2 + 2 sometimes = 5, as the all-time king of complications, Mikhail Tal, used to put it. After getting outplayed in the early middlegame by Veselin Topalov, a great calculator and lover of complications himself, Carlsen goes all out with a sacrificial attack that is at least two parts bluff, but he finally wears Topalov down, induces some errors, and pulls out the win in a crazy game.

Thursday, November 19 IM Valeri Lilov How to Attack Gradually (strategy, middlegame)
Attacking gradually has always been a problem to many players. We all know that at a certain point, out attack needs a slower and more preparatory approach to get going. Knowing how to do it without losing our grip and initiative could be challenging. In his new video, IM Lilov presents a classical game that illustrates which patterns are most significant to improve our attack gradually.

Friday, November 20 GM Leonid Kritz An Unforgettable World Cup Finals – Part 2 (opening, tactics)
Both players made lots of mistakes in this game, and at the end they cancelled each other out to end up in a completely drawish position. However, Karjakin had two more fatal blunders in his pocket for this evening….

This week, we are proud to announce the debut of our newest lecturer, Grandmaster Nadezhda “Nadya” Kosintseva. Nadya, who has been ranked as high as #4 on FIDE’s rating list for women, has been winning gold medals since before she was ten years old, and became a GM in 2011. She is currently a graduate student in finance at the University of Texas at Dallas, and together with Leonid Kritz, forms one of the strongest married chess couples in the world.

Nadya’s first lecture, released today, is short but full of fireworks, bringing us the first in a series that should interest anyone looking to play sharply against the Queen’s Gambit: the QGD Ragozin Variation. In subsequent lectures, Nadya will demonstrate a complete attacking repertoire against all White options in this sharp opening.