New Chess Videos for January 18-22
Monday, January 18, IM Valeri Lilov Piece Activity Control (strategy, middlegame)
Piece activity has always been a challenging concept to most intermediate chess players. In this lecture, IM Lilov presents an instructive game of the Chinese GM Ni Hua who beautifully combined a flexible pawn structure with strong piece activity.
Tuesday, January 19 IM Bill Paschall Hungarian Bronze at European Teams Part 4 (strategy, openings)
GM Almasi faces a tough future GM who was undefeated throughout the rest of this event. Black plays the opening fine until compromising his position with the extremely optimistic and weakening move 12…b5 ?? Almasi plays in Sicilian style and sacrifices an exchange to gain winning chances with his powerful “dragon bishop”. Black misfires a second time with 20…e4 in a state of panic and Almasi gains a winning position. Although white could have won more easily by keeping queens on the board, Zoltan’s technique is good and Hungary wins 2.5 to 1.5 over Norway, despite Leko losing to Carlsen on board 1.
Wednesday, January 20 FM Dennis Monokroussos Remembering Reti, Part 1: The Young Tactician (tactics)
Many of us know of Richard Reti (1889-1929) for his opening (1.Nf3), his super-famous king and pawn endgame study and for being one of the so-called hypmoderns. But he was one of the greatest players of the early 20th century, and his legacy is much richer than a one-move opening, a famous study, and an historical footnote. We’ll look at some of his great games over the weeks to come, and we’ll start this time with a look at a couple of entertaining tactical games from his early years. The first game is very well known, but the second is less familiar, prettier, and builds on material we’ve examined in recent shows.
Thursday, January 21 GM Leonid Kritz Typical Peter Leko (openings, strategy)
A typical game for Peter Leko – go for the minimum and try to get maximum out of it. As so often, it does not work against a strong opponent and a draw is more than a typical result. However, from the opening standpoint the game is quite interesting.
Friday, January 22 GM Bryan Smith The Fierce MacCutcheon, Part 1 (openings)