Dawn Novarina

Monday, August 3 GM Leonid Kritz Dare to Take the Pawns! (tactics)
A very strong game by the unofficial Woman World Champion that she could have won if she dared to take the white pawns that were hanging all the time. Hou outplayed her opponent after the opening, got a terrific position with her knight on e4, and was absolutely able to hope for more than just a draw. Unfortunately, she was too careful and did not want to take what she could, so Nisipeanu got his chances on the king side and quickly used them to force a draw.

Tuesday, August 4 IM Bill Paschall Classic Karpov, Part 3 (strategy, middlegame)
Karpov plays from another situation where he is comfortable with both black and white in the Queen’s Gambit Declined. As white , Karpov chooses a quiet variation with 6. Bxf6 and things get interesting when a position with an isolated queen’s pawn arises. White wins using classic and simple principles. We see the value of the open file, the 7th rank and the exploitation of undefended points and pieces in the enemy position. Black is forced into a desperate queen sacrifice, but his attempt at counterplay with an advanced passed pawn is too slow against Karpov’s accurate technique.

Wednesday, August 5, FM Dennis Monokroussos Who Needs Bishops? (openings)
There are various opening lines that involve a player giving up one or both bishops for the opponent’s knights, but Michael Adams’ concept in his game with Veselin Topalov from Dortmund 1996 was unusual and especially deep. First, he did it in a position where he apparently left a weakened fianchetto position and in a position where White’s bishops really didn’t look bad at all. But Adams’ idea was very deep and not just a general instance of handling knights vs. bishops. To say more would ruin the surprise, so please watch the video!

Thursday, August 6, GM Eugene Perelshteyn Calculate Like a GM! Part 1 (tactics, middlegame)
Learn how to calculate like a GM! The key concepts to remember: identify a few candidate moves, start with the most forcing one, pause and look for opponent’s candidate moves. Disciplined thinking is very important!

Friday, August 7, GM Bryan Smith A Repertoire for White in the Ruy Lopez: Part 2 (openings, tactics)
In the second part of his series on the Spanish, GM Bryan Smith shows a good response to the Steinitz Variation in the context of his game against Darmen Sadvakasov.

Monday, July 27 GM Leonid Kritz Ambiguous Experiments in the Opening (openings, tactics)
Strange enough – Grischuk who has an excellent opening repertoire plays a line that is considered bad and… gets a bad, almost lost, position right after the opening. All Giri needed was to show certain degree of precision, which he partially did, but at some point Grischuk was able to get into complications and almost equalize. A very interesting game in a rare opening and with many tactical and strategic aspects.

Tuesday, July 28 IM Bill Paschall Classic Karpov, Part 2 (openings, tactics)
Karpov finds himself right at home in a line of the Catalan which he has played with both colors. His opponent, super-GM Beliavsky, makes a very audacious capture with the queen on d5 on black’s 13th move. Karpov uncorks a powerful novelty with the move 14. h4 !, which guards the bishop on g5 and leaves the black queen in great danger on d5. Black is never able to neutralize white’s pressure on the the h1-a8 diagonal in this classic Catalan encounter. Black, in desperate trouble, quickly goes astray, trying to solve his problems tactically but missing a classic Karpovian quiet move.

Wednesday, July 29 FM Dennis Monokroussos In Praise of Kieseritzky (tactics)
Lionel Kieseritzky is best known today as the loser of the “Immortal Game” and for the variation named for him in the King’s Gambit. But he was really a talented player in his own right, as we’ll see: a gifted attacker with a nice eye for sacrifices. (See especially the second game fragment in the video, which suggests that he was the first discoverer of a mating pattern named for someone who found it a generation later!)

Thursday, July 30 GM Eugene Perelshteyn How to Win 1st Place Outright Ahead of 7 GMs If You’re Only 14! (endgame, strategy)
Learn endgames from the best! Kamsky slowly outplays his younger opponent in what looks like a equal endgame. Where did White go wrong? Watch and learn how to think in terms of “schemes” and plans and how to attack in the endgame!

Friday, July 31, GM Bryan Smith A Repertoire for White in the Ruy Lopez: Part 1 (openings, strategy)
In this first part of his repertoire series, GM Bryan Smith looks at ways for White to meet the Classical Variation (3…Bc5) against the Spanish.

Monday, July 20 IM David Vigorito Prophylactic Mating Attack (middlegame, tactics)
After an unusual opening transposition, a highly unbalanced middlegame is reached. Here we see how a flank attack can work well even when the center is not closed. The key to success here is always remembering to think, ‘what can my opponent do?’.

Tuesday, July 21 IM Bill Paschall Classic Karpov, Part 1 (openings, tactics)
Karpov gains the bishop pair and a spacial advantage in the opening. Timman misplays in some early situations, deploying the wrong knight to b4 as well as deferring e6, thus allowing Karpov a very disruptive pawn sacrifice. Black is unable to coordinate or generate counter-play in this sharp situation with king his castled long. Karpov brilliantly sacrifices his queen and gains a devastatingly powerful passed pawn, which is the key to his victory. The former World Champion displays excellent technique in this imbalanced endgame.

Wednesday, July 22 FM Dennis Monokroussos Remembering Walter Browne (openings, tactics)
Walter Browne died this June, and as one of the legends of U.S. chess and a world-class player in the 1970s and early 1980s, he deserves to be remembered. In this game he shows his mettle, crushing one of the world’s best players. He found a brilliant idea against his opponent’s opening idea, and finished the game with an impressive attack. Browne’s high-energy play may have made it look easy, but it wasn’t!

Thursday, July 23 GM Leonid Kritz Time Trouble (tactics)
Even though every game of the World Champion is interesting to watch, this one is something special. And it is not because of chess attributes. Yes, Carlsen played very strong and outplayed his opponent as he does so often, but then… Mistakenly, the world champ expected additional 15 minutes after move 60, but he did not get them and… lost on time in a position where he was winning by force. That does not happen too often. Besides, the most important moment of the game is the idea that almost always you should play h5 once your opponent plays h4 with the idea of weakening your king. Topalov did not do it and got in trouble in a position that was absolutely OK.

Friday, July 24 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Play the Endgame Like Kamsky! (endgame, strategy)
Learn endgames from the best! Kamsky slowly outplays his younger opponent in what looks like a equal endgame. Where did White go wrong? Watch and learn how to think in terms of “schemes” and plans and how to attack in the endgame!

Monday, July 13 IM David Vigorito Pawn Tension From the Opening Into the Endgame (openings, endgame)
In this lecture I present one of my own recent games. Facing an experienced Canadian IM I used my preparation for a previous round to get a comfortable ending. There is lasting pawn tension in the center and both sides have half-open files for their rooks. Who will handle the tension better? (me!)

Tuesday, July 14 IM Bill Paschall Miles on Hypermodernism, Part 5 (openings, strategy)
Miles sidesteps white’s preparation in the Queen’s Indian. The resulting Nimzo is played in very hypermodern fashion by Miles. Black benefits from a better structure and fewer weaknesses than white. Gheorghiu is not so much overextended, but does incur long-term weaknesses and a lack of coordination. White could have improved by castling queenside at some point. The plan by Miles of avoiding f5 in the opening and developing with Nc6 and Qe7 is particularly interesting.

Wednesday, July 15 FM Dennis Monokroussos The Mighty Chigorin, Episode 2 (tactics, middlegame)
Last time we saw Chigorin defeat the world champion with the white pieces in game 1 of their two-game cable match; this time we’ll see Chigorin finish him off with Black in another theoretical duel. Chigorin enters the early middlegame with the better prospects, as Steinitz again undervalues his opponent’s initiative. This time, however, Steinitz decides to mix things up, and in the ensuing complications it’s again Chigorin who comes out ahead, seeing a couple of nice zwischenzugs that leave him on top. The great Russian finishes smoothly as well, making it clear to Steinitz then and to us today that he really was a great of the era, a player who deserves our appreciation and attention even now.

Thursday, July 16 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Facing the Youngest GM in the Country: Sevian’s Queen Triangle Wins the Game! (tactics)
Eugene faces the youngest Grandmaster in the country. Watch and learn great tactical queen triangle from the young Sevian!

Friday, July 17 LM Dana Mackenzie Returns and Farewells (strategy, tactics)
In his valedictory lecture for ChessLecture, NM Mackenzie shows the game that finally returned his rating to the 2200 (master) level, after nearly twenty years. He points out areas where his play has improved in the last 5-10 years and a number of themes from his previous ChessLectures, including: controlling the pace of the game, choosing between strategy (“building” moves) and tactics (sacrifice), piece coordination, passed pawns as a weapon in the middlegame, the Mike Splane Question (“how will I win this game?”), and sacrificing pawns for tempi in a rook and pawn endgame.

Monday, July 6  IM David Vigorito Punishing Indifferent Play (opening, endgame)
In this game a 2600+ player is seemingly caught off guard by Nakamura’s opening choice. After Socko plays a harmless exchange of pieces in the opening, he quickly ends up in a slightly worse position. The American super-GM seems to easily increase his advantage in methodical fashion.

Tuesday, July 7  IM Bill Paschall Miles on Hypermodernism, Part 4 (opening, middlegame)
Miles uncorks another hypermodern staple from his repertoire; the Nimzovich Defense. The game takes on a Scotch type of structure and white gains an opening advantage due to his strong central e4 pawn.Later, white fails to consolidate his space advantage and Miles takes the initiative with an early queen sortie to h4. We see another example of weaknesses and over-extension exploited by black. In particular, the move 12. g3 leads to serious weaknesses in white’s camp and Miles launches a decisive counter attack in the hypermodern style.

Wednesday, July 8  FM Dennis Monokroussos The Mighty Chigorin, Episode 1 (opening, tactics)
Tags: Chigorin, Steinitz, Evans Gambit, positional play
Description: We’ve recently seen the great Russian player Mikhail Chigorin at his worst, but in fact he was a terrific player who deserved his two shots at the world championship. Here we see him comprehensively outplay the world champion with White in an Evans Gambit, showing good opening preparation, better judgment, a fine tactical eye and great creativity on his way to an impressive victory in the first game of a two-game match played by cable.

Thursday, July 9  GM Eugene Perelshteyn How to Win Without Ever Moving Your King! (opening, tactics)
In the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon, White chooses a very sharp idea with an early h4 pawn push. But Black can just leave the king in the center and activate all the pieces! Watch how the king has never moved from e8 when White resigned.

Friday, July 10  GM Bryan Smith The Clear Play of Bobby Fischer, Part 8 (opening, tactics)
For the final game of the series, we look at one of Fischer’s last publicized games – from his 1992 rematch against Boris Spassky. In this match, the off-the-board events somewhat overshadowed the play, so the games are not so well known. But here we can see how Fischer has adapted to the changed opening theory, using the relatively-new English attack against the Sicilian, and showing clear and purposeful play in the opposite-side castling situation.

Monday, June 29 IM Valeri Lilov Carlsen’s Mastery  (middlegame)
Many players wonder what is the secret of Carlsen’s success in his games. In his newest lecture, IM Lilov will try to uncover some of the key ideas the world champion is using to win his games!

Tuesday, June 30 IM Bill Paschall Miles on Hypermodernism, Part 3  (openings, tactics)
Miles stuns Karpov by playing the St.George Defense , 1…a6 . Karpov achieves a slight advantage in the opening, but slightly overextends himself. Instead of playing to consolidate, and equalize, Karpov gets tempted by a risky and unsound plan which leaves him uncoordinated. White must surrender the bishop pair and black gains a serious advantage. Eventually, Miles wins a pawn and then another and despite the presence of opposite colored bishops on board, his advantage is decisive. Yet another example of the dangers of overextending yourself when facing hypermodern systems against a strong counterattacking player.

Wednesday, July 1 FM Dennis M. Great Tragedies in Chess History, Part 4  (openings, tactics) 
Hastings 1895 was Harry Nelson Pillsbury’s breakout tournament, the first and greatest success of his short career. The tournament was a Who’s Who of the top players of the era: new world champion Emanuel Lasker played, the just defeated Wilhelm Steinitz participated, two-time challenger Mikhail Chigorin, Siegbert Tarrasch, future challenger Carl Schlechter and many other stars of the time as well. Pillsbury’s accomplishment was great, but many forget that he was helped mightily by a couple of terrible failures by his main competitors in the penultimate round. At that point Chigorin was leading, with Lasker and Pillsbury half a point behind. Lasker had White against Blackburne, and after achieving a great position from the opening played rather poorly, and Blackburne outplayed him rather badly. Chigorin also had White, against Janowski, and his play was shockingly bad – probably one of the worst games ever played by an elite player still at or near the top of his form. We’ll have a look at these two shocking games in this video.

Thursday, July 2 GM Eugene P. Battle vs the Youngest Female Master in the Country! (middlegame, tactics)
In this battle of Youth vs Experience, young Carrisa proves a worthy challenger. In complex King’s Indian position she comes up with interesting tactical ideas to keep the tension. The game is very instructive of the tactics behind the scenes!

Friday, July 3 GM Bryan Smith The Clear Play of Bobby Fischer, Part 7  (openings)
In this 1970 game against Svetozar Gligoric from the pinnacle of his career, Fischer gave a great demonstration of the “Spanish torture”.

Monday, June 22  IM Valeri Lilov The Key of Opened Positions (strategy) 
Playing opened positions is tricky because of the multiple attacks and different threats that exist for each side on a regular basis. Check IM Lilov’s new video to learn a few tricks to outplay your opponent!

Tuesday, June 23  IM Bill Paschall Miles on Hypermodernism, Part 2 (openings)
Miles lures the solid Farago into unfamiliar territory. The English Defense was pioneered by Miles and other English grandmasters during the 1970’s. In this example, white makes too many pawn moves and slowly becomes overextended and weakened on the long diagonal h1-a8. Also of note is the relative weakening of the white king’s position. This game is a textbook hypermodern win for black. The endgame technique is simple and accurate ; as was the standard for GM Miles.

Wednesday, June 24  FM Dennis M. Great Tragedies in Chess History, Part 3 (openings)
Paul Keres was one of the greatest players never to become world champion. Four times he came in second in Candidates’ tournaments (in 1953, 1956, 1959 and 1962), and in 1962 he was heart-breakingly close, finishing just half a point behind Tigran Petrosian. Tied for first entering the penultimate round Keres faced Pal Benko, whom he had defeated seven times in a row. Seemingly a perfect setup, but…you can guess what happened. He had good chances to win in the last round as well, against the young Bobby Fischer, which would have brought him into a tie for first with Petrosian and a subsequent playoff. As we’ll see, it was not to be.

Thursday, June 25  IM David Vigorito And Now for Something Completely Different  (openings, middlegame)
In this lecture we take a look at what is practically a brand new opening system. It is part English Opening, part King’s Indian, and part Queen’s Indian! Black can easily add this system to an existing repertoire, at least as a surprise weapon.

Friday, June 26  GM Bryan Smith The Clear Play of Bobby Fischer, Part 6
As black in a 1966 game against Jan Hein Donner, Fischer showed that even such a complex and dangerous opening as the King’s Indian Defense can be played in a clear and simple way.

Monday, June 8  IM Valeri Lilov Opposite Castle Attacks  (strategy, middlegame) 
In this video, IM Lilov shows us the keys to being more successful when attacking an opposite castled king.

Tuesday, June 9 IM Bill Paschall Keres Plays Black – Part 5  (strategy, tactics)
Keres plays a solid setup against The Torre/Trompowski formation. With black, he gains the bishop pair but must leave his king in the center in an imbalanced position. Black is able to create a strong counterattack despite the improvisation regarding his king position. The win comes for Black as he converts his sacrificial attack to a winning endgame with a strong combination of powerful pawns, king position, and coordination.

Wednesday, June 10  IM David Vigorito Basic K+P Endings: Pawns that Protect Themselves (endgame)
In this lecture we look at some principals of King and pawn endings where pawns are able to ‘protect themselves’. Even though K+P endings are basic in nature, they are often more complicated than they appear. This lecture shows some concepts than can help players determine when to transpose into this endgame.

Thursday, June 11  GM Eugene Perelshteyn  The Power of Two Bishops: Domination in the Endgame  (endgame, strategy) 
Watch and learn from the best! Kramnik masterfully outplays a strong GM with an elegant exchange sacrifice for the power of two bishops. Then he gradually improves his position and wins easily using the concept of domination.

Friday, June 12  GM Bryan Smith  The Clear Play of Bobby Fischer, Part 4  (openings)
In this game against a well-known theoretician, Fischer defended against the queen pawn opening with the Semi-Tarrasch Defense. Quickly he reached an ideal setup with pressure on the white center, and when Berliner made some positional concessions, Fischer guided the game to a winning endgame by some nice maneuvers.