New Chess Videos for May 18 – 22
Monday, May 18
IM Bill Paschall – Candidates 2020: The Danger of Trying Too Hard | Middlegame, Strategy
Ding Liren was considered by many as a favorite in the recent World Championship Candidates tournament, but his results were quite poor. In his round six pairing against Nepomniatchi, it seems White is playing for a draw and not taking any risks. Ding Liren falls into the common trap of over pressing against a weaker opponent. Chess is a difficult game and playing for a win against a rival grand master is always difficult. In this video we will see how Ding Liren goes too far. Every credit should be given to Nepomniatchi for great play after a relatively unambitious opening.
Tuesday, May 19
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – The Power of the Bishop Pair vs the Petroff Defense | Opening, Strategy
The Petroff Defense is a tough nut to crack, as GM Fabiano Caruana proved on his ascent to face World Champ, Magnus Carlsen. However, GM Eugene Perelshteyn shows that you only need a small edge, such as the bishop pair, to do the trick. In a symmetrical position with no obvious pawn breaks, two bishops can cause problems on both wings. As you will see in this game, GM Perelshteyn outplays his opponent by creating two weaknesses in Black’s camp. Little by little, Black weakens his position and the bishops are ready to strike! It’s unclear what Black did wrong in this game….
Wednesday, May 20
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Marshalling the Anti-Marshall | Tactics
When White meets Black’s threat to play the Marshall Gambit with 8.a4, that’s supposed to put the …d5 business to an end for the foreseeable future. Dubov demonstrates that this is not the case: 8…d5 is still possible! While it’s not completely clear that it’s fully sound, it’s very dangerous for White, who must cross a minefield if he hopes to prove an advantage. In this game Bjerre allowed Dubov to equalize, and after a careless moment, to run him over with a winning attack. If you play either side of the 8.a4 Anti-Marshall, you’ll want to see this game.
Thursday, May 21
GM Leonid Kritz – Candidates 2020: The Final Countdown | Opening, Strategy
This was the last game before the interruption of the Candidates Tournament due to the global pandemic. And you can feel it: a weird opening choice from Black (the French), weird response from White (7.h4), and a weird position until the very end. This is a good example, though, of how to play against permanent strategic weaknesses – don’t worry too much about minor material losses (a pawn) and concentrate on developing an initiative as quickly as possible.
Friday, May 22
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Calculate Deeply, Like Keres and Tal! | Strategy, Tactics
In this lecture, I will speak to you about a game between a former world chess champion Mikhail Tal and another outstanding player Paul Keres back in 1973. I like to show this game to my students to illustrate what typical mistakes we can make in the process of calculation, and what can help us to reduce their number. We will speak about forcing moves, counter attack in the process of defending, as well as about the importance of alternative candidate moves for both sides during the calculation.