New Chess Videos for July 20-24
Monday, July 20
IM Bill Paschall – World Chess Championship 1894: Lasker Takes the Crown – Part 2 | Middlegame
Emanuel Lasker became one of the most dominant World Champions and he did so by beating the great Wilhelm Steinitz. This series will examine the most interesting battles from the event in 1894. The match started with the opponents trading blows and this is Steinitz’s first victory from round two. White plays a creative and romantic style, not castling and sacrificing a piece for a strong attack. Strangely this is the only game of the match where Steinitz played the Ruy Lopez with White!
Tuesday, July 21
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Beating the Caro-Kann Endgame Style! | Opening, Endgame Strategy
It’s not often that you see White willingly trade queens, lose the right to castle, and play backwards moves to win! Yet, this is exactly what GM Anish Giri does in this game. Inspired by Leela chess, White takes the game into an endgame. At first it looks drawish, but then suddenly Black finds himself in a difficult position. Is this how modern chess should be played?
Wednesday, July 22
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Traps in the Isolated d-Pawn Middlegame | Tactics
Isolated d-pawns arise in a lot of different openings, so it’s important to know the tricks available to the attacking side – the side with the isolani. These are critical and easily missed – even world champions have missed them – and as these can arise in your own games, if you play either side of the Nimzo-Indian, the Semi-Tarrasch, or the Caro-Kann (for starters), it’s worth knowing them. I’ve included a fair number of critical tactics in this game, including two I’ve discovered, one of which may be brand new. Even if you don’t reach any of the positions in your own games, you’re likely to enjoy the video for the tactics – have a look!
Thursday, July 23
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Play the Caro-Kann Defense – Part 3: Facing the Unusual 3.f3 | Strategy
Friday, July 24
GM Robert Hungaski – A New Wrinkle in the Catalan Slav | Strategy
I recently came across a top-level game that reminded me of a game I played many years ago. It’s a sideline for Black in the Catalan Slav (although I usually arrive at it through the QGA move order) that when I played it I thought it to be the end of White’s aspirations for an advantage. However, despite my nice win on that occasion I made some further investigations and realized that with some minor improvements it was Black’s position that was in fact delicate and insufficient for equality. So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this line resurface and revived thanks to Black’s powerful new interpretation of the middle game that begins on move 12.