Monday, July 16
IM Valeri Lilov – Benefits of the Space Advantage | Strategy, Opening
What do we know about space? Most players fight for the center to restrict the opponent’s pieces and get more space. What should we do after this? IM Lilov’s suggestions can help you reveal the full potential of winning with a space advantage!
Tuesday, July 17
IM Bill Paschall – Shankland’s Seismic Domination | Opening, Tactics
Grandmaster Sam Shankland continues to dominate the American chess scene. Fresh from his upset victory in the US Championship, Shankland puts his rating on the line in the American Continental Championship in Uruguay, a Swiss system event featuring some of the best players from all the Americas. Again the rising star, who is now solidly over 2700, puts on a great performance, winning the tournament outright with an undefeated nine points from a possible eleven. In the feature game we see incisive yet solid opening play paired with precise and decisive calculation.
Wednesday, July 18
FM Dennis Monokroussos – A Tricky Modern Line, Part 2 | Strategy, Tactics
Last time we looked at the Modern Line 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.Bc4 Black tried the tricky 4…d5. In the battle of wild tacticians we see 4…d6 instead, aiming to bother the Bc4 with …b5 and …a5. This strategy didn’t work either, as Judit Polgar sac’ed and attacked until Black broke – and it didn’t take very long, either. It would go too far to conclude from these two games that the Modern with 3…c6 is unplayable, but we can see that it’s very dangerous when White knows what to do.
Thursday, July 19
GM Leonid Kritz – Don’t Play h5 in the Opening! | Tactics
Today’s chess in general can be described as a battle of extraordinary ideas. Some of them are good, but most are just bad. And this is one example of such. Black plays too early on the kingside with 7….h5, and out of nowhere gets into a slightly passive position without any counterplay. From there, it takes Aronian much effort to convert his small advantage into the point.
Friday, July 20
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Botvinnik Pawn Center in Modern Practice | Opening, Strategy
Know your classics! In this modern gem we see a classic Botvinnik pawn center obtained from e3 Nimzo. Where did Black go wrong to allow such a dominating position? You would have to go way back in the opening to figure that out. Black tries to find the center but to no avail… Enjoy this modern miniature!