New Chess Videos for February 4 – 8
Monday, February 4
IM Bill Paschall – The Best of Bronstein, Part 10 | Opening, Strategy
In our final segment of the Best of Bronstein we see further evidence that the great creative genius was extremely versatile. The following win against strong Hungarian GM Pal Benko displays Bronstein again willing to play with or without Queens on the board from the early going. A new path in the opening leads to a classic queen-less middlegame where both sides “castle by hand”. The most instructive features of this masterpiece are Bronstein’s enduring space advantage and his hallmark appreciation for the coordination of the pieces.
Tuesday, February 5
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Wild and Wooly Super-GM Chess | Tactics
12 games, 12 draws. That was the story during the classical phase of the 2018 World Championship, and the London Chess Classic wasn’t any better with eight draws in eight classical games. But it need not be this way, and in the Aronian-Mamedyarov game from the 2018 Olympiad it wasn’t. Mamedyarov took risks throughout, and while he was objectively lost for a while the position was never clear. Laboring against Mamedyarov’s seemingly eternal initiative, and especially Mamedyarov’s fantastic 22nd move, Aronian cracked and lost. When players are willing to take risks, and both Aronian and Mamedyarov are such players, there will always be plenty of decisive games.
Wednesday, February 6
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – A Fighting Draw with the 3-Time US Chess Champion | Tactics
GM Perelshteyn faces 3-time US Chess Champ, Joel Benjamin, and the game quickly leaves theory and enters uncharted territory. We have opposite-side castling but who’s better? How do you attack? How do you find the best plans? Watch and enjoy a high-level game loaded with lots of instructive moments including a rook sacrifice, queen sacrifice, and finally a fighting draw!
Thursday, February 7
GM Robert Hungaski – A Strategic Repertoire Against the Sicilian: Facing the Kan (…e6, …a6) | Strategy, Openings
If you look up the published materials, as scarce at they may be, on the 5.f3 system against the Sicilian, you will only find a discussion relating to the 2…d6 move-order. What I propose to do now is extend that discussion and offer you a comprehensive repertoire that will enable you to achieve the desired pawn structures (Maroczy and Hedgehog) against almost every possible Sicilian variation.
We now leave behind the 2…d6 move-order and begin our discussion of 2…e6, most commonly played by black when aiming to play the Kan Sicilian. Here we will analyze the move 5.c4, which exploded in popularity after Magnus Carlsen beat Anand in game 6 of their 2014 World Championship Match.
Arguably, the situation is more complex than in the 2…d6 move-order, since the f8-bishop is not hindered by its own pawn and can seek a more active post outside the pawn chain. Therefore, we will focus primarily on this. Should the bishop recede into the comforts of the pawn chain there is a high probability that the game will transpose into the variations we discussed in the second video of this series on the Hedgehog structure.
Friday, February 8
IM Valeri Lilov – Breaking Through the Position | Middlegame
A lot of times, players wonder about the most efficient way to approach better positions. Truth is there are lots of ways to handle such situations, but the most effective always remains: looking for the breakthrough!