Dawn Novarina

Monday, March 16 GM Leonid Kritz Home Preparation with No End (tactics)
A very interactive game – basically out of nowhere tactical complications started in the relative quite and strategic endgame. It would be interesting to know how far the opening preparation of the two players lasted. I can imagine that Caruana analyzed until 26….Bd3. The line chosen by Ivanchuk against Gruenfeld is certainly not the most ambitious one, but also it has little risk. However, Caruana eliminated all the play opportunities and forced the game in a drawish endgame.

Tuesday, March 17 IM Bill Paschall Navarra Bashes the Sicilian  (opening) 
Finishing runner-up in the 2015 European Individual Championship , David Navara plays in uncompromising style against the Sicilian. Notice his unrelenting attacking play on the kingside,and his way of taking advantage of black’s wasted tempi with the maneuver Na5-c4 in the opening. The kingside finale is efficient and white fears no ghosts of black counterplay on the long diagonal a8-h1 . Navara’s calculation is flawless. Also of note is the classical importance demonstrated here of the key square d5 in the Sicilian, as always.

Wednesday, March 18 FM Dennis Monokroussos A Brilliant King Walk (strategy, Ragozin System, steel king)
Even with the queens traded off, it’s rarely a good idea to send one’s king up the middle of a board full of pieces. And yet that’s just what the very strong Russian grandmaster Nikita Vitiugov did in a recent game, and the idea was brilliant. Black’s pieces were all around the king, and yet the king remained safe through thick and thin. Moreoever, Vitiugov wasn’t winning in spite of his king raid, but because of it! He won material in that way, and closed the game quickly with an attack on the enemy king that was partly thanks to his own king’s activity. It was a great game, and a theoretically significant one as well.

Thursday, March 19 IM David Vigorito Inside Coverage of the USCL 2014 – part 14 (strategy, calculation) 
More US Chess League coverage! In this game I am poised to take down the multiple league MVP and with Black, no less. After an unusual opening I quickly gain a decisive advantage, but when it is time to deliver the final blow I become confused with the plentiful options and go from a great win to a heartbreaking loss.

Friday, March 20 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Don’t Play Bad Openings! (openings, middlegame, control of center) 
Learn how an experienced IM chooses a subpar variation to confuse his young opponent and it backfires badly. Lesson: don’t play bad openings!

Monday, March 2 IM Valeri Lilov Keeping a Good Formation (strategy, middlegame)
Keeping a solid piece and pawn’s formation is the secret of holding against master opponents. How do we achieve it? Check out this new video to learn new concepts to avoid weaknesses and reduce your mistakes!

Tuesday, March 3 Bill Paschall Excerpts from Tbilisi 2015 Part 1 (openings, strategy)
Tomashevsky essays the very rare variation 8.g4 in the Makagonov Variation of the Clasical King’s Indian. On move 10 Grischuk unleashed super deep pawn sacrifice and novelty 10…c6 !? The pawn sacrifice would lead to amazing complications if accepted, so Tomashevsky declines after deep thought. In the ensuing strategic struggle , both sides seem indecisive , but Grischuk much more so. White is able to build up a space advantage and seal it with a beautiful exchange sacrifice. Grischuk is allowed and missed one chance at freedom with a later Rd4 idea and went down in flames.

Wednesday, March 4 Dennis Monokroussos Tartakower the Grand Maverick (openings, tactics)
Savielly Tartakower (1887-1956) was a great experimenter in the opening, willing not only to play the fashionable tabiyas of the day but also lines that had gone out of fashion (or were never in fashion in the first place) as well as those that were ahead of their time. He could play solid lines and gambits, classical variations and hypermodern ones, and preparing for him must have been a hopeless undertaking. In today’s game we’ll see him try a dubious idea of his own invention (3…f5 against the Three Knights), but the confusion he sowed soon resulted in a powerful initiative. Without making any obvious mistakes, White already faced a crisis on move 12. He had to find a nice series of moves that would reestablish the harmony of his position, and when he failed to do so he soon came under a withering attack. This high-risk, high-energy approach wouldn’t have worked against his peers, but it was devastating against lesser lights, and could work for many of us as well in our battles at the club level.

Thursday, March 5 Leonid Kritz Rare Phenomenon – Novelty in Well-Known Position (tactics)
The most interesting aspect of this game is that Carlsen made a novelty in 8. move (Ba6) in a well known position – a phenomenon that occurs very rarely in today’s practice. As a result, white was pressing all the time and had multiple opportunities to put black in big troubles. However, one slow move (a3), and the game turned even though Carlsen still had to find the strong a5 resource at the end.

Friday, March 6 Bryan Smith Rubinstein’s Great Endgames, Part 5 (endgame)
In a somewhat lesser-known game from the St. Petersburg 1909 tournament, Rubinstein shows the great value of centralization in carrying a small advantage in mobility from the opening until a pure knight ending.

Monday, February 23 IM Valeri Lilov The Strength of Piece Coordination (strategy, middlegame)
Understanding how piece coordination works is an essential component in every chess player’s preparation. Check up a brilliant game annotated by IM Lilov, so you can learn the secrets of a successful piece interaction!

Tuesday, February 24 IM Bill Paschall Mohr Flohr! Part 3 (middlegame, strategy)

Wednesday, February 25 FM Dennis M. Crushing the Berlin with 4.d3 (endgame)
The Berlin endgame has been giving White headaches for years, but lately Black has been suffering a bit due to 4.d3. It is by no means the refutation of the Berlin, but it seems that White is enjoying the positions more than Black. That was certainly the case in this game, a powerful attacking performance by India’s #2 player, Pentala Harikrishna. Harikrishna was surprised by his opponent’s novelty on move 8, but no matter: he refuted it over the board! His pawn sac 9.d4! gave him tremendous compensation in the form of long-term attacking prospects, and he delivered on those prospects in grand style. It was an inspiring game for the white cause against the Berlin, and an impressive example of how to conduct a long-term attack.

Thursday, February 26 IM David Vigorito An Accidental Novelty (opening, tactics)
In this game I end up in an opening that I play for both colors, yet my fuzzy memory meant that I was on my own very early. I came up with something new that was not particularly good or bad; it was just new. In new territory both sides have unusual problems to solve.

Friday, February 27 GM Bryan Smith Rubinstein’s Great Endgames, Part 4 (endgame)
In Part 4 of GM Bryan Smith’s series on Akiba Rubinstein’s endgames, we see a classic endgame against a young Alexander Alekhine. Structural themes, transitions to king and pawn endings, and the principle of two weaknesses feature prominently in this example.

Monday, February 16 IM David Vigorito Calculation and Candidate Moves (tactics)
In an offbeat opening I make the decision to sacrifice a pawn for the initiative. This requires both good judgment and calculation. While the former was on target, the latter left a lot to be desired. this game is a good example of how it is important to be critical of not only your losses, but your wins.

Tuesday, February 17 IM Bill Paschall Mohr Flohr! Part 2 (middlegame, tactics)
The usual solid, positional Flohr goes on a sort of tactical rampage in his own variation of the English. White employs the brilliant strategic idea 12.Qa4 in the opening and then follows up with the messy pawn sacrifice 13.c5!? Both sides could have vastly improved their play in the middlegame. Flohr rushes the tactics a bit with an unnecessary yet interesting exchange sacrifice at d7. Finally the smoke clears and the black king is wide open in the center. A funny blunder at the very end by Flohr could have allowed Kashdan to save a draw. Not a flawless game, but a refreshing change of pace for the usually controlled Flohr. Definitely not a one trick pony !

Wednesday, February 18 FM Dennis Monokroussos The Strongest 15-Year-Old in History?
The 15-year-old Chinese grandmaster Wei Yi has just become the youngest player in chess history to achieve a 2700 rating, breaking the record formerly held by Magnus Carlsen. An incredible achievement! The game we’ll see here may not be the greatest test of his skill, but it’s very impressive, both as a demonstration of preparation and accurate – and imaginative – calculation. Moreover, it’s just a beautiful game, so enjoy it and prepare to see many more great games by Wei Yi in the years to come.

Thursday, February 18 GM Leonid Kritz Rainfall of Unpredictable Possibilities (openings, strategy)
A game that got out of my control pretty early because my opponent chose a system that surprised me a lot. Usually black does not play c5, but e5. A small mistake (Bf2) instead of healthy a3 allowed black to get some counterplay, and if he took on f8 with the bishop rather than with the rook, the game should end in a draw. Interesting endgame and many unexpected turns are the label of this game.

Friday, February 19 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Solitaire Chess: Understanding the Complex Hedgehog Stucture (middlegame, strategy)
Challenge yourself in this instructive game on the Hedgehog structure. White’s central grip and space advantage is counterbalanced by Black’s dynamic potential. An extra bonus is cool tactics throughout the game!

Monday, February 9  IM Valeri Lilov  Changing the Pawn Structure
How and when to change the pawn structure? This question is both very important and complicated. Many times it is the positional features that we need to assess pawn exchanges. Other times it is the positional outcome that really matters. See IM Lilov’s new video to learn more on this valuable topic!

Tuesday, February 10 IM Bill Paschall Mohr Flohr!  Part 1 (middlegame, strategy)
Flohr displays the power of the long diagonal against a weakened black kingside. The exchange in the opening by white 11. dc5 is paradoxical as it gives up the center, but critical here as it generates attacking chances for white. White makes great use of the open lines provided by black, especially the f-file becomes a valuable second avenue of attack.

Wednesday, February 11  FM Dennis Monokroussos  Winning With Nothing
Magnus Carlsen is known for winning games from positions where he seems to have absolutely nothing, and rightly so. But he’s not the first player with this skill; before him, there was Ulf Andersson. Andersson, like no one before and very few since, managed to win game after game from positions where the players would agree to a draw lest they fall asleep at the board or miss out on watching paint dry. His game with Laszlo Hazai is a beautiful example of this ability. After just 18 moves all but three minor pieces and seven pawns have been exchanged, the pawn structure is almost exactly symmetrical and neither side has any weaknesses. Black was almost certainly counting on an easy draw, and other players had in fact agreed to a draw in that position. Yet Andersson showed that there were problems for Black to solve, and in just half a dozen moves White was clearly better and well on his way to a win. So there are two sorts of lessons to be learned: chess lessons based on Andersson’s treatment of the position and his excellent technique, and psychological lessons for both the defender and the side trying to make something happen. Watch and see!

Thursday, February 12  GM Leonid Kritz  A Failed Attempt to Fight for the Tournament Win
The special thing about this game was that in the case of a win Giri would have shared the first place with Carlsen. So, he decided to go for Gruenfeld and get into hopefully sharp lines that would promise him enough counterplay. Wojtaszek played very solidly, though, and did not let Giri create anything really serious. The only chance to play for more was 10….f5, but it is a risky continuation and Giri did not want to go for it. So, it ended as a logical draw after all the pieces got exchanged.

Friday, February 13  GM Eugene Perelshteyn  Instructive Play Against the Karpov System in the English (openings, strategy)

Monday, February 2 IM Valeri Lilov Transforming the Advantage (strategy, middlegame)
Learning how to transform an advantage isn’t easy because it takes precision and time to find the right time for a breakthrough against your opponent. In this video, you will learn some of the key steps to help you maintain your advantage while you keep improving at the same time!

Tuesday, February 3 IM Bill Paschall My Best Hits, Part 2  (opening, middlegame)
Grandmaster Blatny plays one of his offbeat openings, but Paschall is well prepared. Black used the setup with 1..,d5 and 2…Bg4 which the author recommends elsewhere in his videos on the site. This particular line can be used against many systems such as 1.b3 , 1.b4, and 1.Nf3. 2. g3 . For the particular variation in question, the Bird-Larsen, Paschall has prepped the super-aggressive 5…e5 counter in the center. The game is like a good version of Staunton Gambit against the Dutch, with colors reversed. White makes too many pawn moves in the opening and black gains a huge initiative and even material. Ultimately, even the uber-resourceful Blatny could not hang on !

Wednesday, February 4 FM Dennis Monokroussos Don’t Give Yourself a Bad Bishop (tactics)
Most of us know a bad bishop when we see one; the trick is to avoid getting the bad bishop in the first place. Sometimes we can’t help it, due to our opponent’s superior skill, but you’d think we wouldn’t do it to ourselves, right? Here’s a game where an IM tries to engineer what he thinks will be a favorable exchange of one minor piece, only to discover that his opponent will swap off two sets of minor pieces and alter the pawn structure in such a way that our protagonist suddenly finds himself with a bad bishop and a nearly lost position. Have a look, and beware!

Thursday, February 5 GM Leonid Kritz Playing the Dutch Stonewall for a Win, Part 2
Again, I am defending the view that Stonewall is a playable opening, this time against a stronger opponent. The g3 line is amongst the most popular lines today. However, I believe that the bishop on g2 is as bad as the bishop on b7, and I don’t think that white can seriosly hope for an advantage here. As the time got sparse both playersv started making mistakes,and the game turned wild. My opponent played very creatively and indeed created some unpleasant threats agains black king. However, at the very end there was a nice tactical trick that he overlooked and that allowed me to get a full point.

Friday, February 6 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Solitaire Chess: Test Your Skills in a Complex KID Structure (opening, tactics)

Monday, January 26 IM Valeri Lilov Pawn Structure Essentials (strategy, middlegame)
Getting a good pawn structure isn’t that easy. In most games, the pawn structure for both players is quite equal. It takes strong discipline and analysis to setup a more beneficial pawn structure to make your development successful in the middlegame.

Tuesday, January 27 IM Bill Paschall Busting a Bad Benoni (opening, middlegame)
The following game from the Hungarian Team Championship illustrates the ease with which an inexperienced player can find themself in an unpleasant position in the Benoni Defense. Black should try to remain active and preserve the Benoni bishop if at all possible.. In the example , white freezes black’s queenside majority with the key maneuver b4 ! After the queenside is blocked, white then has a free hand in the across the board and black no counterplay with his dark bishop exchanged and his kingside weakened.

Wednesday, January 28 FM Dennis Monokroussos Tal-Platonov, Episode 2 A Tal Tale of a Trap (opening, tactics)
Last time we saw that the little-known Igor Platonov was a fine player, capable of going toe-to-toe with Mikhail Tal and even coming out on top. This time we’ll see Tal get his revenge, once again in a Najdorf Sicilian with 6.Bg5. Platonov played very well for quite a while in this complicated game as well, but Tal set a nasty little trap that worked. Some beautiful lines remained behind the scenes, so tune in not just for Tal’s win but for some great variations – and some useful opening theory – as well.

Thursday, January 29 GM Leonid Kritz Playing the Dutch Stonewall for a Win, Part 1 (opening, strategy)

Friday, January 30 GM Bryan Smith Rubinstein’s Great Endgames, Part 3 (endgame, strategy)
In Part Three of GM Bryan Smith’s series on the endgames of Akiba Rubinstein, we see how the great master extracts a victory from a seemingly-small advantage, in a manner almost like demonstrating a mathematical theorem.

Monday, December 22  IM Valeri Lilov   The Master Secrets Part 1
Understanding how the masters think has always been a challenge to most players. Chess masters account for about less than five percent of chess players worldwide. The masses are left to guess and wonder what chess masters know and do that others don’t. Check this video to learn what you need to know to be a part of that elite group that is set apart from the rest of the chess world.

Tuesday, December 23  IM Bill Paschall   Bluffing with a Good Image
IM Paschall illustrates the advantage of cultivating a good image as a sound player. Sometimes risky or tricky variations can be employed to gain an opening advantage if the opponent is too “trusting”. This illustrative game shows again how one such bluff has worked time and time again in many games

Wednesday, December 24  FM Dennis Monokroussos   Giving It All Away
We all know and love the old 19th century games where the players sac a queen and a couple of rooks to deliver mate. They’re impressive and entertaining too, even if the level of resistance was pretty low. But such games are a relic of the distant past, right? Not necessarily. The game we’ll see today was played in 1993, featuring GMs who are alive and well today, and outdoes all of the earlier games. The winner, Grigory Serper, sacrifices *every single one* of his pieces – and the sacs are all eventually accepted, too! The whole combination – or series of combinations, really – is sound, and he meets with very decent resistance too. I don’t know if Serper’s feat is unique, but at the very least it’s exceedingly rare.

Thursday, December 25 LM Dana Mackenzie When Flashy is Not Necessarily Best
A recent U.S. Chess League game between GMs Daniel Naroditsky and Conrad Holt featured three stunning sacrifices by Naroditsky, and was named Game of the Week. Yet the game ended in a draw. What went wrong for Naroditsky? Perhaps his youthful exuberance. He repeatedly let his emotions over seeing a “brilliant” combination outweigh calm, patient, objective analysis. Holt’s stubborn defense also deserves credit, and his drawing method in the endgame has to be seen to be believed.

Friday, December 26  GM Bryan Smith Carlsen   Takes the Lead in Sochi
In game two of the 2014 World Championship Match, Magnus Carlsen managed to defeat Anand’s Berlin defense in an interesting game. Here GM Bryan Smith looks at the key moments from that game.

Monday, December 8 IM Valeri Lilov Fischer’s Game Secret, Part 1 (middlegame)
Bobby Fischer is certainly one of the greatest players who ever lived. Yet, many chess players wonder how he was able to play so strongly that his opponents couldn’t even survive his attacks. The secret of Fischer’s play is a subject that may help many to understand the real way to chess improvement!

Tuesday, December 9 IM Bill Paschall Grischuk Dominates Petrosian Memorial (middlegame, tactics)
The Reti Opening (1.Nf3) is becoming increasingly popular, both as a way of transposing to certain 1.d4 openings and to the English while trying to cut out some of Black’s options and as an opening in its own right. As a sort of public service to my beleaguered brethren, I offer what I hope will be a useful idea to those of you who face this opening and need some tools. Specifically, the …c4 pawn sac used in this game and in a companion game by the great Russian/German grandmaster Artur Yusupov gives Black a nice way to fight for the initiative, both strategically and tactically. Have a look, and be encouraged!

Wednesday, December 10 FM Dennis Monokroussos A Useful Idea Against the Reti (openings)
The Reti Opening (1.Nf3) is becoming increasingly popular, both as a way of transposing to certain 1.d4 openings and to the English while trying to cut out some of Black’s ptions and as an opening in its own right. As a sort of public service to my beleaguered brethren, I offer what I hope will be a useful idea to those of you who face this opening and need
some tools. Specifically, the …c4 pawn sac used in this game and in a companion game by the great Russian/German grandmaster Artur Yusupov gives Black a nice way to fight for the initiative, both strategically and tactically. Have a look, and be encouraged!

Thursday, December 11 GM Bryan Smith A Wild King’s Gambit (openings, tactics) 
In the 2013 Tromso World Cup, Alexander Shimanov faced a must-win situation against Gata Kamsky. So he brought out the King’s Gambit, and hilarity commenced. Here we will see this exciting and dramatic game, along with some analysis of the King’s Gambit with 3.Bc4.

Friday, December 12 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Beating the Nimzowitsch Defense and Scandinavian Qa5 & Nc6 Variation  (openings)
Punish the Nimzowitsch defense by transposing into a favorable Scandinavian, where the c6 knight is misplayed. Once you learn the tricky a3,Rb1,b4 plan — Black’s setup is virtually refuted!