New Chess Videos for September 9 – 13
Monday, September 9
IM Bill Paschall – Great Matchups: Tal vs Botvinnik Rematch 1961, Part 2 | Strategy, Middlegame
Already behind by one game, Tal fails to adjust his opening choice with Black and again falls into a system favorable to Botvinnik’s style. White sticks to closed positions and looks for favorable endgames. Tal seems reckless with his choices of 13…g5 and 16…Qxa3 in particular, probably feeling distraught about the result of the opening. In the end, Tal’s King is very seriously vulnerable, and even after Black reluctantly allows an exchange of queens, he is caught in a mating net. Botvinnik leads the rematch by two games after seven rounds, but Tal should still have hope, particularly since Botvinnik has begun the match with the first White.
Tuesday, September 10
FM Dennis Monokroussos – The Pawnroller Flattens Again | Strategy
Mikhail Botvinnik was one of the great pioneers of opening preparation and middlegame theory, and one of his notable contributions was the pawn roller plan he devised in both the Nimzo-Indian and the Exchange Variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined. He won many games with that approach throughout his career, from Jose Capablanca in 1938 to this game against Bent Larsen in 1965. It’s one thing for you or me to win such games at the local chess club, another thing to do so against world-class players like Capablanca (a former world champion) or Larsen (then a top 10, maybe a top 5 player), but Botvinnik did it. Have a look at an attractive, instructive game with a plan you can still use today.
Wednesday, September 11
GM Eugene Perelshteyn- – Beautiful Checkmates: The Ultimate King Hunt! | Strategy, Tactics
Unkown chessplayers can forever be immortalized in the annals of chess history for imaginative attacks. This game stands out as one of the most striking examples of how Black’s king can travel from e8 to e1 and be checkmated in just 18 moves! Can you find all the the key moves for White, including the queen sacrifice? The rest is just fun!
Thursday, September 12
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Facing the Pirc/Ufimtsev/Modern Defenses, Part 1 | Tactics
In this lecture we start learning the Pirc Defense (also known as the Ufimtsev Defense in Russia) from the white point of view that arises after 1.e4 d6 followed by 2…Nf6 or 2…g6. Similarly to the Alekhine and Scandinavian defenses, black does not bring any pawn to the middle from the beginning but rather tries to put the pressure on white’s pawn center. One popular plan for black is to expand on the queen side by means of a6-b5 in order to bring both bishops to the long diagonals and target e4 and d4 squares. For white, it’s important to be vigorous and consider a pawn break through with e4-e5 right after the black’s light-squared bishop leaves the h3-c8 diagonal.
Friday, September 13