All Things Chess

Monday, July 6
IM Bill Paschall – A Modern Look at the Original Marshall Gambit | Opening, Tactics
Frank Marshall was an extremely strong player with creative ideas and a very wide opening repertoire. Capablanca, however was a World Champion and capable of playing a virtually perfect game by today’s standards, one hundred years ago. Marshall’s first experiment with this gambit which bears his name was a terrible defeat. Was the opening to blame? Could it be improved to stand the test of time today? Some strong players have fallen victim to the old variation with 11…Nf6 and we are going to investigate the truth!

Tuesday, July 7
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Ulf’s Positional Exchange Sac in the English Opening | Strategy
In this game Ulf Andersson gives a lesson to a young Yasser Seirawan on positional chess. White slowly organizes his army to control the b5 and d5 outposts in the Symmetrical English. Black however keeps the position closed and finds a way to deter White from playing Nd5 by putting his own knight on b4. Yet, the unexpected shocker happens out of the blue. Can you spot White’s strategic idea? The rest is very instructive positional domination by Ulf!

Wednesday, July 8
Dennis Monokroussos – Avoid Suicidal Attacking Play! | Tactics
Two young elite GMs, Vladislav Artemiev and Santosh Vidit, entered a rare line of the Torre Attack and the game sharpened immediately. Vidit sacrificed a pawn for nebulous compensation, but the position was complicated, the time control was short, and Vidit’s pieces were active.

To enhance what he hoped would be his attacking potential he castled long, aiming to open the center and blast away at White’s uncastled king. We see things like this all the time, and it’s often a good idea. Often – but not here! White immediately went over to the attack, and completely overwhelmed Black. Vidit only got to make one active move the entire rest of the game, and it allowed Artemiev to mate him by force. Beware, friends: sometimes going all-out for the attack will result in a speedy and successful attack…for one’s opponent.

Thursday, July 9
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Play the Caro-Kann Defense – Part 2: Facing 2.c4 | Strategy
In this lecture we will go over 2.c4 move with the idea to aim at the d5 square and be prepared to take two times on d5 when black pushes the d-pawn forward. The positions that arise in this variation are characterized by a structure with a white’s isolated pawn in the middle of the board which, on one hand, gives him some control over the center but, on the other hand, is weaker than other pawns and can be easier attacked by the black pieces.

Friday, July 10
GM Robert Hungaski – Two Knights Defense: More Fried Liver | Strategy
Fate brings us once again back to the Fried Liver. In the comments section one of our members has correctly pointed out that we are yet to cover one of Black’s most important sidelines, which arises after 8.Bd3 Ng4!? This is a trendy move and one of Black’s most practical choices. It’s not necessarily a bad or even a dubious move for Black, but with accurate play it should lead to a somewhat unpleasant endgame. The upside is that Black takes the game down a forced path, where a slight inaccuracy by White could spell disaster. So we must be well prepared!

Monday, June 29
IM Bill Paschall – Selected Games from the Carlsen Invitational 2020 – Part 5 | Middlegame, Tactics
The final installment of this series features Caruana in a must win situation as Black against Nakamura. White plays the ever solid 1.Nf3 and Black goes for the Wade Defense. Caruana essentially transposes the game into a Classical King’s Indian where normally Nakamura would prefer playing with Black. In a fast paced game, being comfortable with the type of position, and maintaining king safety, can be more important than other considerations and this game is no exception!

Tuesday, June 30
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – The Bogo-Indian as a Superior Version of King’s Indian! | Opening, Strategy
It’s not often that you see one opening morph into another, yet this is exactly what happens when you play the Bogo! Notice how the Bogo is similar to the KID. You have the same dark square strategy but without the passive g7 bishop. In this game, GM Perelshteyn shows you all the key ideas you need to play this structure and never look bad.

Wednesday, July 1
FM Dennis Monokroussos – On the Horns of a Dilemma: Ding Channels Alekhine | Strategy
The pawn structure arising in this game after 11.exf4 is reminiscent of a famous 1923 game between Alekhine and Rubinstein, where the former showed the attacking merits of the structure with the “horns”: an isolated d-pawn on d4 and the newly doubled pawn on f4. Ding Liren’s win over Aronian may not have been quite the brilliancy Alekhine’s was, but he also faced more resistance. Regardless, it was a fine game with remarkably creative and energetic play, both instructive and aesthetically pleasing.

Thursday, July 2
GM Leonid Kritz – Zigzags in the Hedgehog | Tactics
This game is primarely interesting because of many non-standard decisions both players made in a quite well-known pawn structure. At some point in the middlegame it looked like White should get the point very soon, but eventually Black managed to equalize. However, the last couple of moves before the time control twisted the game in White’s favor again.

Friday, July 3
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Play the Caro-Kann Defense – Part 1: Facing 2.c4 | Openings, Strategy
In this lecture, I will begin a series of recordings about the Caro-Kann Defense from the black point of view. The Caro-Kann used to be one of the most solid openings for Black in response to White’s first move e2-e4 and can be considered as an attempt to improve the Scandinavian Defense and the French defense. In all these openings Black wants to strike at the center with d5. But doing so on the first move (1..d5 in the Scandinavian Defense) will lead to moving the black queen out too early after 2.exd5 Qxd5, while playing the French defense (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5) can make the black light-squared bishop bad. As such, by playing the Caro-Kann Defense, Black can avoid these problems and get a solid position, avoiding weaknesses.

We will begin with the move 2.c4 for White, with the idea to aim at the d5 square and be prepared to take two times on d5 when Black pushes the d-pawn forward. The positions that arise in this variation are characterized by a structure with a white isolated pawn in the middle of the board which, on one hand, gives him some control over the center but, on the other hand, is weaker than other pawns and can be easier attacked by the black pieces.

Monday, June 26
IM Bill Paschall – Selected Games from the Carlsen Invitational 2020 – Part 4 | Endgame, Strategy
The final match of the tournament brought Hikaru Nakamura head to head with host Magnus Carlsen. Naka, somewhat predictably continues to play “solidly” with Black using the Queen’s Gambit Declined. Magnus is able to play his ideal type of technical position, without undue complications. Nakamura was unable to conjure up any sort of tactics and Magnus plays with almost perfect accuracy. An interesting endgame is presented in this video featuring opposite color bishops (a Magnus specialty) and competing pawn majorities.

Tuesday, June 26
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – How to Exploit Superior Pawn Structure in the Paulsen Sicilian | Opening, Strategy
Bobby Fischer popularized the g3 system for White and GM Eugene Perelshteyn shows you how to get the superior pawn structure vs one of the popular setups for Black. Notice how easily White obtains an edge and proceeds to methodically outplay an experienced GM. Remember, it’s all about good vs bad trades while keeping your extra passed pawn!

Wednesday, June 26
FM Dennis Monokroussos – A Short Lesson in Statics and Dynamics | Tactics
Nigel Short is a great specialist in the Tartakower Queen’s Gambit with the black pieces, and if you’re under the impression that it’s a dull opening this game will quickly reveal the opposite. Miguel Illescas – himself a very strong GM – thinks he can stay in positional mode, hoping to grind away at Black’s queenside. Black had some static weaknesses on the side of the board, and if Short played slowly he would have suffered. So, he didn’t! Instead, he went into active mode, offering a couple of pawn sacs, and then White’s pieces, which were placed sensibly for a long, slow, static game, were suddenly revealed to be badly misplaced in the context of the new, dynamic situation that resulted. Short headed straight for the attack, and Illescas was crushed in attractive style.

Thursday, June 26
GM Leonid Kritz – Candidates 2020: Yet Another Crazy Najdorf | Tactics
Just another insanely wild game in the Najdorf that has little to do with “normal” chess. It looked like White spent too much time to prepare g4 (Rg1-Be2 etc.), but eventually he started crashing into Black’s position thanks to extra-ordinary tactics. Black, for his part, reacted quite calmly, and the game ended in an unexpected draw. My main question is, did both players prepare all this at home?!

Friday, June 26
GM Robert Hungaski – Catch White Off Guard in the Advance French | Strategy
The Advance Variation against the French has always been underrated in my opinion. Just like in the Tarrasch, White avoids being inflicted with any structural damage and seizes the opportunity to gain space in the center, while securing the potential for a kingside attack, as the pawn on e5 leaves Black unable to develop the knight to its natural defensive post on f6). I will be advocating a sideline that will surely catch White off-guard since many of the arising structures used to be considered very good for White, but a lot of these evaluations have not withstood the scrutiny of modern engines. Let’s take a look…

Monday, June 15
IM Bill Paschall – Selected Games from the Carlsen Invitational 2020 – Part 3 | Strategy, Middlegame
In part three of my coverage of the exciting online Carlsen Invitational, we see Magnus himself take on his newest rival, the young star Firouzja from Iran. Magnus defeated the upstart in their individual match, but the following game illustrates how dangerous Alireza is. Magnus described his opponent as “slippery” in a post game interview. Indeed here White slips away from a seemingly worse position and finally lands a deadly mating attack against the World Champ!

Tuesday, June 16
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Kramnik’s Positional Mastery Shines Even in Retirement | Strategy
It’s always nice to see a former World Champ come out of retirement, even for a fund-raising blitz event. In this game, Big Vlad demonstrates to his young opponent (top 10 player!) that he can still teach the youngster a thing or two about chess. In this game, Kramnik demonstrates a well-known positional idea in the Benoni structure on how to breakthrough with e5! and f5! pawn sacrifices, opening up files and creating a powerful e4 outpost for the knight. The game is over after that!

Wednesday, June 17
FM Dennis Monokroussos | Middlegame
Solving Positional Problems – Flashy tactical games catch our eyes, and it must be admitted that this game has some interesting tactical moments at the end. But what makes this a special game, worth our time, is a very subtle positional problem Buhmann solved just out of the opening. What would have been an unpleasant middlegame was quickly transformed into one that was slightly better for Black, and White never managed to adjust himself to the changed situation. Games like this often fly under the radar, but they are more valuable than many a tactical melee.

Thursday, June 18
GM Leonid Kritz – Candidates 2020: Good and Bad Pieces | Strategy
This game is an example of great strategic understanding of an important topic in chess – good and bad pieces. On the first sight it may look like White was significantly better because Black had a “bad” darksquared bishop, but in reality Black had no problems at all and White eventually overstretched his position and lost.

Friday, June 19
GM Robert Hungaski – New Spin in the French Tarrasch | Strategy
We trace our steps and return to the Tarrasch Variation to discuss what is quickly becoming White’s new spin on the line, in large part as a reaction to Black’s success in the 3…c5 & 4…Qxd5 line. Here, White maintains the tension between the e- and d-pawns in order to take on d5 at a more opportune moment. In the main line Black is left with a poorly placed knight on a6. Whether White will be able to dominate it or whether Black will be able to reincorporate it to the game is THE question that will determine who comes out on top.

Monday, June 8
IM Bill Paschall – Selected Games from the Carlsen Invitational 2020 – Part 2 | Openings, Strategy
Prior to the epidemic of 2020, GM Hikaru Nakamura had been less active than in recent years in elite events. In this strong fast paced event, Hikaru is among the favorites and very exciting to watch!

In his match with Anish Giri, “Naka” uses a system which has been used many times by Mamadyarov and famously by Morozevich to beat Kramnik back in 2007. Hikaru has certainly contributed to it’s theory as well. The following game is very instructive positionally and results essentially in forcing Black to play the Benoni against his will. Mamadyarov was successful against Gelfand in doing this twice some years before!

Tuesday, June 8
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Destroy Alekhine’s Defense With Positional Rook Sacrifice! | Openings
It’s not often that you see a pure positional rook sacrifice in chess! Yet, this is exactly what GM Bologan does in this game. There’s no forced checkmate, no immediate material gain. Instead, you force your opponent king to get stuck in the center with terrible pieces. As GM Eugene Perelshteyn points out, pay attention to the pieces that are on the board, not the ones that left the board. Compare the relative value of material for both sides, and you too will learn how to sacrifice material for initiative!

Wednesday, June 8
FM Dennis Monokroussos – A Thrilling Draw | Tactics
There are two main reasons people don’t like draws. One is that there’s something unsatisfying about seeing a contest finish without a winner, and the other is that a lot of draws are boring, effortless, or both. This game was anything but: it is a thriller, with both sides making sacrifices and taking turns trying to mate each other. It seems as if half of the game is one long combination, and it’s not clear who is the “combinator” and who is the “combinatee”! It’s a near-perfectly played game, and not because the level of difficulty is low. The level is high, and both players rose to the occasion. While we wouldn’t want all games to finish in a draw, we would be happy if all draws were as spectacular and hard-fought as this one. See for yourself!

Thursday, June 11
GM Nadya Kosintseva – A Memorable Pawn Sacrifice by Garry Kasparov | Strategy
In this lecture I will introduce to you a game between Garry Kasparov and Ulf Andersson played in 1981. I like to show this game to demonstrate the importance of timely development, the danger of bringing pieces to the corners, as well as a great example of a positional sacrifice. Looking at the position before Kasparov played his brilliant move 14.d5!! it was hard to expect fast attacks on the black king. However, in one move Kasparov activated many of his own pieces, pointed out the poor position of the enemy king and one more time emphasized that if one piece is not well placed the entire game is not well played.

Friday, June 12
GM Robert Hungaski – The French Tarrasch: A Reliable Way to Punish White | Strategy
All of the big French experts I have spoken to over the years have unanimously stated that the Tarrasch Variation is the line they dislike playing against the most. Black is unable to inflict the structural damage that French players love so much, and instead must meet White in an open field. Here I will cover 3…c5 followed by 4…Qxd5. This is one of Black’s most reliable lines against the Tarrasch, and the one I believe seeks to immediately punish the passive development of the knight to d2.

Monday, June 1
IM Bill Paschall – Selected Games from the Carlsen Invitational 2020 – Part 1
In the midst of a global pandemic the best hope for chess is online! Magnus Carlson organized a super tournament featuring Rapid and Blitz formats. This series will highlight some of the most interesting games from the event. In the first video we see the Blitz sensation Firouzja taking on one of the top ranked players in the world in a super sharp Najdorf ! This tournament is surely not going to disappoint in terms of exciting chess.

Tuesday, June 2
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Winning with the Philidor Ring in the Queen’s Indian! | Opening, Strategy
In this game White chooses a passive setup and allows Black to execute a powerful positional idea: the Philidor ring. The knight gets a central stronghold, supported by the two pawns. One strategic idea is replaced by another, then morphed into a nice space advantage with a bishop pair for Black. Eventually, White has to sac an exchange to get some breathing room, but can you find the simple winning plan for Black?

Wednesday, June 3
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Before b4, Not Too Bad; After b4, Worse (Schlechter) | Tactics, Endgame
The great Carl Schlechter, who missed becoming world champion in 1910 by the slimmest of margins, was most known as a safety-first player, but these characterizations must always be taken with a grain – or a lump – of salt. No one without the ability and willingness to take risks and play dynamically could reach the levels Schlechter did, and in this miniature we see the kinds of wild flights of fancy he was capable of (even if he relatively rarely indulged them). Fleissig’s choice of 1.b4 antedated Tartakower’s debut of the opening in 1924, but then the way he handled this opening against Schlechter probably helped bury it for the next 31 years. Still, the way Black finished the game is beautiful, and offers a nice chance for the viewer to test his or her tactical prowess and imagination. Have a look, and enjoy.

Thursday, June 4
GM Leonid Kritz – Candidates 2020: How to Win with Four Isolated Pawns | Tactics
At some point during the game white had two pairs of double pawns, all of them were isolated. Impressive enough, when it happened, after 19.cxb5, white’s position was almost won. It has been a while since we saw a win against Marshall at the highest level, so who knows – maybe this game will start a new trend?!

Friday, June 5
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Facing an Early …Qb6 in the Sicilian | Tactics
In this lecture we will go over a rare Sicilian line that arises after the moves: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Qb6. Black moves the queen out early in order to either drive the white knight out of the middle or force a trade on c6. The queen itself is not well placed on b6 but Black is ready to lose a tempo just to reduce the potential of White’s attacks. At the same time Black creates a pressure on the b2 pawn and sometimes it can delay the development of White’s queen side pieces. However, White can ignore Black’s intention and play 6.Be3 sacrificing the b2-pawn in order to begin forcing play as soon as possible. As a result, we will observe a tactical fight that requires White to be vigorous and creative to prove an old rule: “Don’t move the queen out too early.”

Monday, May 25
IM Bill Paschall – Candidates 2020: Bad Timing for Caruana | Opening, Tactics
The round three battle between the two biggest favorites at the World Championship Candidates tournament was highly anticipated! Prior to this game, Caruana started solidly with one and a half points from two rounds while Ding stunned everyone by losing his first two. Logically, one should be cautious against the strongest player in such a tournament and especially when that player is desperate. Fabiano Caruana did not play logically when he uncorked an unbelievable new pawn sacrifice early on as Black in the Slav Defense. Perhaps trying to basically knock Ding out of the tournament, Caruana took a huge risk by sacrificing a key central pawn for chances of attack. The battle was exciting, very tense and worth a deep look!

Tuesday, May 25
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – The Sacrifice That Didn’t Happen in the Sicilian Rossolimo! | Opening, Tactics
In this game GM Perelshteyn shows you a typical plan in the Rossolimo for White, where he gets a powerful attack. However, the sacrifice that happened in the game only led to a perpetual. Eugene felt that White could have gotten more from such a promising position and indeed after some home analysis he uncorks a remarkable quiet move that leads to a spectacular sacrifice. Can you find it?

Wednesday, May 25
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Stockfish vs LeelaChessZero: The Game of the Year? | Opening, Tactics
Leela Chess Zero might have won the match, but the nicest win, by far, belonged to Stockfish. This was a rip-roaring brilliancy in an Open Sicilian, replete with sacrifices and attacking ideas one would expect from human chess but wouldn’t expect to succeed against an opponent rated 3840 (gulp!). On this occasion it did, and it was magnificent. Best of all, unlike many battles between chess engines, it’s comprehensible to us carbon-based life forms. Watch and be amazed.

Thursday, May 25
GM Leonid Kritz – Candidates 2020: The Power of a Passed Pawn | Opening, Tactics
An interesting game where Caruana attempted to refute his opponent’s opening system choice (5…Be7) in the most direct way – by pushing his passed pawn forward as early as possible. He eventually was able to outplay his opponent in the tactical complications that followed.

Friday, May 25
GM Robert Hungaski – A French Winawer Sideline: 4.exd5 | Strategy
In this video I will examine one of White’s most common sidelines: 4.exd5 in the Winawer Variation. This is played a lot at the club level by those that wish to avoid long theoretical discussions. However, the imbalance in the pawn structure provides Black with plenty of opportunities to outplay his opponent. The driving force behind Black’s strategy is the exchange of light-squared bishops, so we should keep this in mind as we navigate through the position.

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.

Monday, May 11
IM Bill Paschall – Botvinnik: Exploiting Space Advantages, Part 5 | Middlegame, Strategy
In one of their many battles, this one from the Soviet Championship 1936, Salo Flohr chooses to play the somewhat risky and hyper-modern Alekhine’s Defense against Botvinnik. The decision to play this opening against a master of spatial advantages was a truly poor decision from a practical point of view. Botvinnik is easily able to gain a lasting spatial advantage and finally establishes a powerful outpost for his knight on the 6th rank. In order to survive, Black must capture and allow White a very strong protected passed pawn. In many cases spatial advantage will lead to direct attack, but here we see the power of passed pawns as the decisive factor in the game.

Tuesday, May 12
Eugene Perelshteyn – Taking Over the Dark Squares in the Two Knights Defense | Opening, Strategy
When you play an opening, it’s very important to know the key strategic ideas. In this line of the Two Knights Defense, White gives up the bishop pair but doubles Black’s c-pawns. How does White neutralize the bishop pair? The answer is simple, blockade on the dark squares! Both knight, bishop and queen join the party and setup blockage on c5 & d5 outposts. Now what? The rest is very instructive: White, knowing that his opponent is in complete paralysis, slowly but surely keeps improving his position. Such art of maneuvering was first seen in many Kaprov games. Under pressure, Black eventually creates more weaknesses and loses a key pawn and the rest is easy.

Wednesday, May 13
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Attacking in the King’s Gambit Declined | Strategy
We don’t generally associate the great Akiba Rubinstein with attacking chess (his brilliancy vs. Rotlewi notwithstanding) or the King’s Gambit, but in this game we get a glimpse into what the Polish legend was capable of; he didn’t just win rook endings! Starting with the King’s Gambit, he soon offers a rook, and later, even more. It’s a beautiful attacking win by Rubinstein, and it features ideas that are very unusual – it’s unlikely that this game will remind you of any other one. Have a look!

Thursday, May 14
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Combining Tactical and Strategic Thinking | Strategy
In this lecture, I will introduce to you a brilliant game by the Polish grandmaster Michal Krasenkov who excelled in combining two important parts of chess: tactics and strategy. The moves that he played in the middle game were very consistent with his general positional line and provoked his opponent to play strategically risky continuations in an attempt to compensate a lack of space tactically. The grandmaster outplayed his opponent due to his more creative and detailed calculation in addition to a better understanding of the strategic patterns.

Friday, May 15
GM Robert Hungaski – Rough and Ready New Approaches in the French Winawer | Strategy
After covering an important French Defense sideline in my preceding video (3.Bd3), I decided it was only fair to cover a mainline. Here we will examine the Winawer Variation, although with a slight spin on it. This time it will be Black that aims for the surprise effect by employing a sideline (6…Nc6). As we’ll see, White’s road to an advantage is anything but clear!

Monday, May 4
IM Bill Paschall – Botvinnik: Exploiting Space Advantages, Part 4 | Strategy
Botvinnik remains one of the few great players willing to play the Dutch Stonewall regularly with Black. In recent years, Magnus Carlsen has followed in his footsteps. Although the e5 square is usually a weakness, Black assures himself of a fair amount of space. In this game from the early stage of Botvinnik’s career, he uses his spatial advantage to create attacking chances. Black’s spatial wedge at e4 was vital to his victory in this effort. We should also note the active role played by even the “bad” but “active” bishop. Botvinnik’s powerful use of the bishop pair in this effort was pivotal indeed.

Tuesday, May 5
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Deadly Attack in the Kan Sicilian | Opening, Middlegame
In this game GM Perelshteyn shows you a simple attacking plan in the Kan Sicilian. It seems as though Black did everything right but he finds himself in a French-like structure where White’s f5 break is unstoppable. Notice the important knight transfer: Nc3-d1-f2-g4 with a beautiful sacrificial attack. Can you guess all of the White moves?

Wednesday, May 6
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Beware! White Trapped in the Tarrasch French | Tactics
The Tarrasch French with 3…c5 can be solid, but if White sharpens the play it’s not only Black who may fall prey in the complications. Here’s an important line that hasn’t really percolated to the club level, and one that sets a trap for White that even elite GMs have fallen into on a regular basis. If you play either side of the Tarrasch French with 3…c5, you’ll want to know about this trick!

Thursday, May 7
GM Leonid Kritz – Refuting a Worthless Idea In Spanish | Tactics
In this game White tried an idea against the Spanish that’s not very popular – he played d3 and then Nc3 instead of c3. Black easily refuted it and eventually equalized without problems. Interesting is how Black temporarily gave up a pawn, but eventually got it back because White did not have a good way to protect d4 pawn after Qf6.

Friday, May 8
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Courting Disaster Due to Opening Unpreparation |
In this lecture, I will analyze my own game played in early 2020 at the annual US Team Amateur Championship to demonstrate the increased importance of the opening preparation in contemporary chess. One interesting thing about this game: my young opponent could predict a variation I was going to play and so was much better prepared in the beginning of the game than I was. As a result, I was forced into some unpredictable complications that I had no idea about, whereas my opponent analyzed this position with a chess engine right before the game. To be honest, during the game I could not understand what’s going on?! How he could prepare for the game if the playing assignment usually appears just 30 minutes before rounds start?! My opponent played fast and confidently in a rare side line that I have not used for many years. I was totally shocked by the quality of his moves taking into account his young age and lower elo rating. Luckily for me, I could avoid mistakes but still the best I could do is to end up in a draw. After the game, my opponent confirmed that it all was his preparation, he was excited to play against a grandmaster and took it very seriously. As a result, he wisely spent time before the game, predicting that I might play this specific line and preparing the moves beforehand. A lesson learned: chess has changed a lot in recent years, and playing sharp lines without accurate analysis can be not a good idea even against lower rated opponents.