Dawn Novarina

Monday, March 21 IM Valeri Lilov Early Attack Punishment (strategy, openings)
A common mistake made by chess beginners is that they will often see an opportunity to attack, and act hastily. The premature attack leads to disaster for the beginner because it can create opportunities for the opponent to win or get an advantage. Proper execution of punishing must take into account all of the attacker’s weaknesses and exploit them while defending! Check out this new lecture to learn more!

Tuesday, March 22 IM Bill Paschall The Genius of Michael Adams Part 4 (openings, tactics)
In this video we see Michael Adams playing black in a classical Nimzo-Indian. White, an expert in the Samisch variation, avoids it and goes into a main line, perhaps fearing Adams’ knowledge of opening theory. A typical hanging pawns position is reached where white has the bishop pair, but he seems unfamiliar with his surroundings. Black demonstrates the potential of the black knights using the weak squares in the position to create tactical threats. Adams combines a sound strategic opening with great tactical vision, embarking on a long and forced variation beginning with a surprising piece sacrifice. Black was victorious, having calculated quite deeply that one of his key pieces would not in fact become trapped in white’s position. This game illustrates both Adams’ fundamental strategic style, as well as his ability to calculate well and deeply in key tactical lines.

Wednesday, March 23 FM Dennis Monokroussos Remembering Paul Keres, Part 5: The 1970s (strategy, tactics)
We conclude our series with a game played by Keres two years before his death, when he was still a top 10-15 player despite being in his mid-50s. Even this late in his career, he shows his ability to play creative, sacrificial chess, outdoing his creative young opponent both strategically and tactically. It’s an impressive win, and the opening is of interest to those who play or face the Modern.

Thursday, March 24 GM Leonid Kritz How To Play With Your King In The Center (opening, tactics)
A very interesting game between two creative players. Topalov plays very aggressively from the beginning, loses much time, but forces the white king to stay in the center. Aronian shows how to play this type of position and proves that initiative is more important than general considerations.

Friday, March 25 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Facing the Youngest IM in the US: A 12 Year-Old Wonder! (strategy, tactics)
How do you expect a 12-year old to play? I didn’t expect him to play in “boring” style, but this is exactly what the position demanded and young Awonder demonstrates maturity beyond his years. Learn about backward moves, overprotection and prophylactic thinking from a twelve-year-old!

Monday, March 14 IM Valeri Lilov Veresov Attack by Veresov (openings)
The Veresov is little-played and understood when we compare it to other queen’s pawn openings, like the Trompowsky, Torre Attack and London system. As such it can be a very dangerous weapon in the right hands. Very few club or amateur players will be properly prepared to play against it. The Veresov is an attacking opening, based on quick minor-piece development followed by effective pawn levers to open the game.

Tuesday, March 15 IM Bill Paschall The Genius of Michael Adams Part 3 (openings, tactics)
Adams with white shows good preparation in a rare line of the Sicilian Kan variation. White sacrifices a pawn in the center in a position analogous to the Advance variation of the French. Black gets greedy by grabbing another pawn at b2 and falls tragically behind in development. Mickey seems in good combinative form with the creative 14. Bf5!! exploiting his development edge. Although black manages to castle finally, he was never really in the game, and white executes a decisive attack just in time. Overall a very impressive and efficient win by Adams against a decent grandmaster. Somehow just too French-like to escape an Adams crush!

Wednesday, March 16 FM Dennis Monokroussos Remembering Paul Keres, Part 4: The 1960s (openings)
Paul Keres’ last trip to the Candidates came in 1965 when he played a quarterfinal match against Boris Spassky, the eventual winner of the cycle. Keres won game 1 of the 10-game match, but Spassky won games 3-5 to take a two-point lead. Game 8 was do-or-die for Keres, and he came through in the clutch with a fine win, giving himself a fighting chance to save the match. He didn’t succeed, but he came closer to beating Spassky than anyone else did in that cycle.

Thursday, March 17 GM Leonid Kritz A Very Interesting Battle at the London Classic (strategy, tactics)
The game became interesting from the very beginning, and at some point Topalov got a large advantage and should logically get a point. However, at this tournament he had lots of bad luck and also this time he overlooked Giri’s attack. Very interesting complicated battle with both strategic and tactical aspects.

Friday, March 18 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Evaluating Middlegame Positions: Statics and Dynamics in Practice (opening, strategy)
What’s better: pawn structure or two bishops, king safely or extra pawn?  Pay attention to how these concepts are seen in practice at GM-level and how certain decisions are made with static and dynamic factors in mind.

Monday, March 7 IM Valeri Lilov The Attacking Potential (strategy, middlegame)
Attacking and tactics are linked, since one goal of strategic, “attacking” play is to increase the power of your pieces and create fertile conditions for tactical strikes on later moves. Sometimes this is a matter of arranging your pieces so that they have more freedom of movement and denying the same freedoms to your opponent; sometimes it is a matter of coordinating your pieces so that they are aimed at the same sector of the board; sometimes it is a matter of arranging your pawns to help achieve those same purposes for your pieces. Learn more from IM Lilov’s newest video lecture!

Tuesday, March 8 IM Bill Paschall The Genius of Michael Adams Part 2 (strategy, endgame)
Adams opens with an unusual King’s Indian attack move order versus the Sicilian Defense. Having taken his opponent into original territory, Mickey goes on to give what is basically a clinic on pawn structure chess. Black almost manages to hang on, but Adams shows excellent technique converting in a bishop vs knight ending with a powerful passed outside pawn. The entire game is a testament to the practical and strategic side of Adams’ chess. Adams is strategically brilliant and alert tactically as always.

Wednesday, March 9 FM Dennis Monokroussos Remembering Paul Keres, Part 3: The 1950s (opening, tactics)
Before round 14 of the 1955 Interzonal in Gothenburg, Sweden, three Argentine players prepared a new line of the Najdorf Sicilian for Black. As it turned out, all three – Miguel Najdorf, Oscar Panno, and Herman Pilnik had the opportunity to play it at the same time, against three Soviet players: Paul Keres, Efim Geller, and Boris Spassky, respectively. It did not go well. The three Soviets, starting with Geller, found all the best moves at the board and thrashed their seemingly well-prepared grandmaster opposition. We’ll see how Keres handled his victim, and catch up a bit on the current status of the variation.

Thursday, March 10 GM Leonid Kritz Anand’s Mispreparation at the London Classic

Friday, March 11 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Carlsen Shines in Qatar: A Miniature vs. Mamedyarov
Carlsen plays a Super-GM and makes it look so easy! What did Mamedyarov do wrong in this game? In the words of the World Champ:
“6.Bxf6 loses the bishop pair and the game, a wise man said…” Do you love the bishop pair just as much? Maybe you should too!

Monday, February 29  GM Nadya Kosintseva QGD Ragozin Defense, Part 10 (openings)
In the second part of the 5.Qa4 line, we discuss separately the 6.e3 move. In general, this line is considered harmless for the black side, but still promises a competitive advantage from knowing the correct order move and an ability to recognize strategical nuances of different pawn structures. Instead of long forced variations, we will learn some standard plans and typical maneuvers of the pieces which enhance additionally general understanding of chess. This completes our ten-part discussion of the sharp, counter-attacking Ragozin Defense to the Queen’s Gambit.

Tuesday, March 1  IM Bill Paschall The Genius of Michael Adams Part 1 (openings, strategy)
This game is a classic Adams squeeze against the Sicilian Defense. In a fianchetto Najdorf, white restrains black on the queenside and then expands with his own kingside pawns. Adams combines positional and tactical motifs throughout the game to launch a crushing attack against the weakened black kingside. Adams shows great attacking instincts as well as good care and respect for the safety of his own king. Of particular significance is Adams’ sacrifice of a pawn in the middlegame to gain the bishop pair as well as time and initiative. Not many players are capable of crushing a 2700+ rated opponent in this manner.

Wednesday, March 2  FM Dennis Monokroussos Remembering Paul Keres, Part 2: The 1940s (strategy)
This week we look at a slightly more sedate game – but only slightly! Playing Black in a world championship event, Paul Keres manages to beat a former world chess champion in just 25 moves – a startling accomplishment. This is all the more impressive given that his opponent, Max Euwe, was a very good theoretician. Keres was one of the greatest specialists ever in the Ruy Lopez, especially on the black side, and this week’s game offers ample confirmation of that claim.

Thursday, March 3  IM Valeri Lilov The Secret of Tal (middlegame)
Let’s remember Great Tal and his “Attack Strategy” towards the goal. Tal developed a strategy towards understanding and making the best of the uncertain states on the board. He created illuminative terms for chess theory which can be used as pillars of a business development strategy. According to Tal, in the course of chess party, there comes a moment where the player with the lead in development has to attack or risk losing this advantage. Thus Tal affirms that, the main advantage is preparation, lead and attacking at the right time. Lilov’s latest lecture shows how Tal did this beautifully!

Friday, March 4  GM Leonid Kritz A Very Non-Standard Development (strategy)
Both players like aggressive and non-standard ways of playing, but this game was rather strategic in its nature. Black played interesting, but not necessarily good, so after Aronian solved all the opening problems he got a position with light pressure. A couple of small mistakes made the position of Jobava lost and Aronian converted his advantage easily.

Monday, February 22  GM Nadya Kosintseva QGD Ragozin Defense, Part 9 (openings)
White plays 5.Qa4 with a check, forcing knight to go on c6. Because now Black’s knight on c6 is blocking the own “c” pawn, it becomes significantly more difficult for Black to open lines on the queen side. Instead, Black tries to use the unstable position of the queen on a4 and delay in the development of White’s pieces. Part 1 covers three continuations for White: an active knight jump 6.Ne5, next 6.a3 betting on the bishop pair and finally 6.Bg5 transferring to a Carlsbad pawn structure. We will discuss separately 6.e3 in Part 2.

Tuesday, February 23  IM Bill Paschall Steinitzian Classics Part 5 (openings, tactics)
Black accepts the ever dangerous Evans Gambit and plays the dubious 5…Bc5. White holds a devastating spacial advantage in exchange for the material , but follows up with some small inaccuracies. Black missed a clear chance to simplify with 10…Nxc4 in the opening. Steinitz should prefer 10.Bd3 , to keep pieces on the board and punish the bad knight on a5. Afterwards , black is starved for space. Steinitz gets a bit carried away with his queen sacrifice , but the game makes for an entertaining miniature in a very tricky line. Simply 18.Nxe5 would have allowed Steinitz an easy win without the fireworks.

Wednesday, February 24  FM Dennis Monokroussos Remembering Paul Keres, Part 1: The 1930s (tactics)
Paul Keres was born 100 years ago this January, and as one of the greatest players of all time never to become world chess champion, his career is well worth remembering. Over the next weeks we’ll look at a game he played in each decade of his professional career, starting from the 1930s and going through the 1970s, when he passed away. Early in his career he played very sharp chess, and in this week’s video we’ll see him crush the English master William Winter in a short game full of sacrifices. (In the space of just 19 moves Keres sacrificed three pawns, then a piece, then – admittedly a sham sac – another piece, and then the exchange.) This brilliant game, won when he was a teenager, put Keres on the map.

Thursday, February 25  IM Valeri Lilov Long Term Prospects (strategy, middlegame)
When evaluating the position, our aim is not only to ascertain the site that has the advantage. It’s also to predict the upcoming events, any future changes of the positional factors. We also have to evaluate the positions that may appear on the board after particular lines are played. Check out IM Lilov’s new lecture to learn more!

Friday, February 26  GM Bryan Smith The Fierce MacCutcheon, Part 6 (openings)
The series winds up with an excellent win by Hikaru Nakamura using an obscure system in the main line.

Monday, February 15 GM Nadya Kosintseva QGD Ragozin Defense, Part 8: Classical, But Not Boring Bd3, Part 2 (opening, tactics)
In the second part of the Bd3 line, we consider Bh3 move after Black’s g6 instead of exchanging the white-squared bishop. Similarly to the part-1, Black needs to organize the counter play against White’s weaknesses on the queen side and watch out for breaking e3-e4. You will learn the positional nuances and typical tactical tricks for the both sides and, as a result, will be able to understand the invisible logic of the opening.

Tuesday, February 16 IM Bill Paschall Steinitzian Classics Part 4 (opening, tactics)
Steinitz plays his favorite Vienna Gambit and black goes astray losing control of the center after the faulty 4…dxe4. Steinitz gains central control and sacrifices a piece to trap the black king in the center and prevent his harmonious development. Steinitz paralzyes the king and traps the black rooks out of play, then breaking through tactically with his coordinated forces. A model game for white !

Wednesday, February 17 GM Eugene Perelshteyn. Carlsen Shines in Qatar: Positional Masterpiece Against a Strong Russian Junior (strategy, middlegame)
Did you ever expect Carlsen to play in an Open tournament? Magnus is either bored or loves a challenge… World Champ teaches us a thing or two about positional chess: space advantage, a bishop pair, the h-pawn rush, an exchange sac…what more can use ask? Enjoy!

Thursday, February 18 IM Valeri Lilov Smyslov’s Positional Mastery (strategy, middlegame)
Vladimir Kramnik once said about Smyslov: “He mastered all elements of play. Smyslov was a brilliant endgame specialist, all in all his play resembled a smooth flow, like a song. When you look at his games, you have that light feeling as if his hand is making the moves all by itself while the man is making no effort at all – just like he was drinking coffee or reading a newspaper! This has the feel of Mozart’s light touch! No stress, no effort, everything is simple yet brilliant. I like this feature of Smyslov and I am fond of his games.” How did Smyslov succeed in his games? Learn from this video lecture!

Friday, February 19 GM Bryan Smith The Fierce MacCutcheon, Part 5 (openings)
In this game by the author, the closed but extremely sharp positions after 8…Kf8 are examined.

Monday, February 8 GM Nadya Kosintseva QGD Ragozin Defense, Part 7: Classical, But Not Boring Bd3, Part 1 (openings)
After Bg5 and e3 White develops the bishop on d3, it provokes Black to play c5-c4 and close the pawn structure in the center. In the first part we analyze what happens if after White’s Bf5 and then Black’s g6 moves, White gives up the white-squared bishop for the knight on d7 and starts to prepare a break in the center – e3-e4. Black should choose the right order of moves depending on an opponent’s actions and find evidence that the counter play on the queen side is enough to neutralize the White’s activity in the center.

Tuesday, February 9 IM Bill Paschall Steinitzian Classics Part 3 (openings)
A brilliant game by Steinitz both strategically and tactically. White essays the gambit which would later bear his name in the Vienna Opening. In the middlegame, black is completely outplayed from a strategic perspective and later demolished with a series of tactical blows. Black never really had a chance after chasing ghosts and misplaying the opening, where he wrongly gives up his white squared bishop and faces a daunting weakness on the f5 square and along the entire f-file. Notable is the vitality of the uncastled white king due to white’s superior central control.

Wednesday, February 10 FM Dennis Monokroussos Remembering Reti, Part 4: The Mature Rubinstein, Part 2 (openings, tactics)
Richard Reti won a slew of brilliant games in the great New York 1924 tournament using the opening that bears his name, and here we’ll look at the game that won him the tournament’s first brilliancy prize. Interestingly, his treatment got an assist from the world champion, Jose Capablanca (whom Reti defeated in the tournament, with the Reti!), whose suggestion turned the game into a favorable Catalan (another opening that was receiving its birth around that time, thanks to another hypermodern great: Savielly Tartakower). This short game shows how a positional advantage can quickly pay off tactically as the position opens up.

Thursday, February 11 IM David Vigorito Inside Coverage of the USCL 2015 – part 19

Friday, February 12 GM Bryan Smith The Fierce MacCutcheon, Part 4 (tactics)
The obvious move 6.Bh4 is not so common, but something that has been tried more often at a higher level recently, and also a move which amateur players might see. Here Hikaru Nakamura shows the way.

Monday, January 31 GM Nadya Kosintseva QGD Ragozin Defense, Part 6: The Straightforward dxc5 Line (openings)
White does not wish to see the black pawn on c4 and exchanges the d4 pawn for the c5 pawn immediately after Black plays c5. In its turn Black may choose playing more positional chess with equal amount of material or may provoke White into complications taking a pawn that looks poisoned on the first glance. At one moment, White will have an extra rook, but still suffer.

Tuesday, February 1 IM Bill Paschall Steinitzian Classics Part 2 (openings)
Playing in classical style, Steinitz gains better control of the center in the opening, despite a symmetrical structure. Black should have played actively with c5 at several points in the opening, but drifts into a passive position relying on the idea of f6 to kick the white knight out of it’s outpost on e5. Steinitz makes some small inaccuracies, but basically plays in brilliant fashion, sacrificing his outposted knight at e5 to gain space and time for a direct attack against the black king. A brilliant sacrificial attack follows and Blackburne, although great as an attacker, fails here on defense, horribly weakening his kingside with the fatal 21…h6.

Wednesday, February 2 FM Dennis Monokroussos Remembering Reti, Part 3: The Mature Rubinstein, Part 1 (openings, strategy)
As the mid-’20s dawned, Richard Reti became more of a hypermodern player than the go-for-tactics fiend we’ve seen in the earlier games. This coincided with his strong advocacy of the opening that came to bear his name, 1.Nf3, often followed by c4 and a kingside fianchetto. We see it work beautifully in this game, against one of the great positional players of the era (and perhaps of all time), Akiba Rubinstein. Reti not only employs his opening to great effect (and plays it better than even some strong players of our own day!), but shows an understanding of ideas that became popular decades later with the advent of the Benko Gambit. A beautiful game that was ahead of its time.

Thursday, February 3 IM Valeri Lilov Korchnoj’s Brilliant Piece Play (middlegame)
Korchnoi’s playing style initially was an aggressive counterattack. He excelled in difficult defensive positions. Where he was strongest though, was the piece play. In chess your pieces should be able to move if the need arises to a different square for defense or attack. In other words, they’re mobile, we call this the precise movement part. In practice this often means you have to connect your pieces towards a specific goal. Check out this lecture to learn more!

Friday, February 4 GM Bryan Smith The Fierce MacCutcheon, Part 3 (tactics)
An epic and spectacular battle results from creative play in response to White’s sharp 6.Be3 move.

Monday, January 25 GM Nadya Kosintseva QGD Ragozin Defense, Part 5: The Malicious Be2 Line (openings)
White does not do anything against Black’s plans on the queen side, but instead just finishes development of the pieces on the king side playing e3 and then Be2 after Bg5. Which will prevail? Black’s attack against White’s pawn weaknesses on the queen side or White’s counter play in the center? No easy decisions for either side. Every move counts.

Tuesday, January 26 IM Bill Paschall Steinitzian Classics Part 1 (middlegame, tactics)
Steinitz develops logically and efficiently when confronted with an unorthodox defense. Black sets up too passively with the move 10….Nbd7. In an apparently locked and symmetrical structure, the first World Champion unleashes a sacrificial assault beginning with 15.g4 to bring down his opponent’s king protection. The black king cannot resist as he is behind terms of both space and development. A model attacking game for white.

Wednesday, January 27 FM Dennis Monokroussos Remembering Reti, Part 2: Reti Rolls A Future World Champion (tactics)
In 1920 Max Euwe wasn’t yet the player he would become, but he wasn’t bad, either. He and Richard Reti played a four game match that year, and Reti won 3-1. Every game was decisive, and we’ll look at the first two, both won in spectacular style by Reti. In the first game, Euwe offers a sacrifice in the opening; Reti takes it, then sacrifices even more and wins in crushing style. In the second game it’s Reti who plays a gambit, then sacrifices even more material to win once again in crushing style! Reti may be best known to us today as a “hypermodern”, but he could play romantic, swashbuckling chess with the best of them.

Thursday, January 28 IM David Vigorito Inside Coverage of the USCL 2015 – part 18 (openings, strategy)
in this game I have the formidable task of holding off GM Becerra, a player that I was 0/4 against. I was winning the last game so I tried not to let this affect me. Becerra is a noted theoretician, yet for the second game in a row he avoided mainstream theory. Here he plays a ‘harmless’ Anti-Sicilian, but I was well aware that the line had some bite. I easily neutralized his slight initiative, but I also explain how he could have managed to get into the line that I imagine he was aiming for.

Friday, January 29 GM Bryan Smith The Fierce MacCutcheon, Part 2 (openings)
The main deviation, 5.exd5, is covered in this video featuring a short and sharp win by Black.

Monday, January 18, IM Valeri Lilov Piece Activity Control  (strategy, middlegame)
Piece activity has always been a challenging concept to most intermediate chess players. In this lecture, IM Lilov presents an instructive game of the Chinese GM Ni Hua who beautifully combined a flexible pawn structure with strong piece activity.

Tuesday, January 19  IM Bill Paschall Hungarian Bronze at European Teams Part 4  (strategy, openings)
GM Almasi faces a tough future GM who was undefeated throughout the rest of this event. Black plays the opening fine until compromising his position with the extremely optimistic and weakening move 12…b5 ?? Almasi plays in Sicilian style and sacrifices an exchange to gain winning chances with his powerful “dragon bishop”. Black misfires a second time with 20…e4 in a state of panic and Almasi gains a winning position. Although white could have won more easily by keeping queens on the board, Zoltan’s technique is good and Hungary wins 2.5 to 1.5 over Norway, despite Leko losing to Carlsen on board 1.

Wednesday, January 20  FM Dennis Monokroussos Remembering Reti, Part 1: The Young Tactician (tactics)
Many of us know of Richard Reti (1889-1929) for his opening (1.Nf3), his super-famous king and pawn endgame study and for being one of the so-called hypmoderns. But he was one of the greatest players of the early 20th century, and his legacy is much richer than a one-move opening, a famous study, and an historical footnote. We’ll look at some of his great games over the weeks to come, and we’ll start this time with a look at a couple of entertaining tactical games from his early years. The first game is very well known, but the second is less familiar, prettier, and builds on material we’ve examined in recent shows.

Thursday, January 21  GM Leonid Kritz Typical Peter Leko (openings, strategy)
A typical game for Peter Leko – go for the minimum and try to get maximum out of it. As so often, it does not work against a strong opponent and a draw is more than a typical result. However, from the opening standpoint the game is quite interesting.

Friday, January 22  GM Bryan Smith The Fierce MacCutcheon, Part 1  (openings)