Chess Lectures

Monday, January 9 IM Valeri Lilov Petrosian’s Method of Attack (middlegame, strategy)
The world champion Tigran Petrosian was one of the greatest strategicians and positional players of all time. His rivals used to call him the “Iron Tigran” due to his solid approach and bulletproof strategies. The effectiveness of his play was mainly due to his ability to follow simple rules that helped him to build up very solid both defensive and attacking type of positions. Learn his method in IM Lilov’s new video!

Tuesday, January 10, IM Bill Paschall Lessons From My Recent Games, Part 2 (opening, strategy)
Black plays the risky Kavalek or Soltis variation of the King;s Indian Defense; a highly hypermodern treatment against White’s solid fianchetto system. In this game, Black seeks complications with 8…Bg4 instead of the more solid 8..e5 as is more common theoretically. White goes down the main line , but is unaware of the idea of 12. Rb1 ! , an improvement played against Paschall years ago by GM Alek Wojtkiewicz. Paschall later finds the key idea of 15…Bh6 seeking dynamic counter-play, as unbeknownst to him was also played by GM Soltis years ago. Black keeps the initiative and , despite mutual time pressure, finds a piece sacrifice to decisively break the White king’s defenses.

Wednesday, January 11 FM Dennis Mnokroussos Remembering Taimanov (endgame)
The late Mark Taimanov (1926-2016) was one of the world’s best players from the 1950s through the early 1970s, a great player deserving to be known for more than the variation of the Sicilian that bears his name and his 6-0 loss to Bobby Fischer in their 1971 Candidates match. Here, for instance, we see him defeat then world-champion Anatoly Karpov – with the black pieces – in a very impressive game culminating in a beautiful combination.

Thursday, January 12 GM Leonid Kritz An Important Idea in the Najdorf (opening)
This is an interesting game from the opening perspective. White sacrifices a pawn, but gets very good compensation and eventually ends up in a better position. Then we see a demonstration of how to play positions with small, stable advantage.

Friday, January 13 GM Bryan Smith Carauana’s Queen Sacrifice in London (tactics)
In the sixth round of the 2016 London Chess Classic, Fabiano Caruana won a beautiful game with a positional queen sacrifice. Here GM Bryan Smith explains this unusual game.

Monday, January 2 IM Valeri Lilov Setting up an Attack (strategy, middlegame)
Attacking is a complex subject. Setting up the right features for attacking is always a challenge, even to the most experienced players of all classes. Check IM Lilov’s new videos to study more on how to build up strong attacks!

Tuesday, January 3 IM Bill Paschall Lessons From My Recent Games, Part 1 (tactics)
IM Paschall plays against a veteran FM with a wily and unusual opening repertoire. In this game, we see the Two Knights Tango, a favorite of specialist IM Georgi Orlov. Paschall prepares specifically for this opponent, allowing transposition to a NImzo with the move 4.Nc3. Black goes his own way with a series of highly unusual and non-committal moves including d6,Bd7, and h6. Black provocative play is incorrect, but difficult to exploit. White overextends a bit on both sides with the risky plan of h4-h5 and b4 in the resulting King’s Indian type structure. In the end, white relies on the classic plan to play on the white squares and exploit the “bad” dark squared or King’s Indian bishop.

Wednesday, January 4 FM Dennis Monokroussos A Brilliancy in a London Sideline (openings)
The London System has shown itself in recent years to be a surprisingly rich opening, and this game – albeit one from several decades ago – helps to demonstrate the diverse approaches available to White. Even with seemingly all the time in the world, Black, playing in the finals of the world correspondence championship, was unable to solve the very tricky problems posed by his opponent, and lost a short game in spectacular fashion. London foes, be careful!

Thursday, January 5 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Strategic and Tactical Lesson from the World Champion: Carlsen-Karjakin World Champ Match, Rapid Playoff, Game 4  (openings, strategy, tactics)
With everything on the line, Karjakin faces an impossible task. Beat the World Champ…with Black! Can he do it? Watch and learn how Magnus Carlsen surprises Sergey in the opening and builds a powerful Maroczy Bind setup. However, the challenger is able to keep the tension on the board by avoiding early trades. The game builds up with Magnus masterfully maneuvering his knights to fight for the d5 outpost, while Sergey finds a nice h-pawn push to create imbalances. Yet again, Carlsen emerges as a superior strategist, using draw odds to outplay the challenger to finish the match with a spectacular Queen sacrifice leading to mate! Wow, what a game!

Friday, January 6 GM Bryan Smith Change of Structure and Change of Direction  (strategy)
In this video, GM Bryan Smith shows an instructive game where the underestimation of the quirky but thematic kingside pawn structure quickly leads Black from an excellent position to defeat.

Monday December 26 IM Valeri Lilov The Catalan Weapon (opening, strategy)
The Catalan is one of the most powerful, yet simple openings known to white pieces. However, very few people know about its strength and the ways to utilize it successfully against black. In his new lecture, IM Lilov presents a beautifully strategic victory by Garry Kasparov vs. Viktor Korchnoi that utilizes all the key aspects of the Catalan weapon!

Tuesday, December 27 IM Bill Paschall European Club Cup Part 3 – The Fake Fianchetto (opening, tactics)
GM Erdos faces an unusual form of the Bogo-Indian/Catalan where black tries to retreat his bishop to d6. White initially plans typical development in Catalan style, but switches plans to open the position with e4 as the game turns into a a type of Slav. It appears that the break with 12..e5 is a new idea in a relatively rare position. White plays ingeniously and launches a quick attack with opposite side castling. Black misses his best defensive chances and the white attack breaks through with decisive force!

Wednesday, December 28 FM Dennis Monokroussos Modern Gambit Play (opening, strategy)
Old-time gambits tended to be about development: a player would sac a pawn (or more) to gain a lead in development, which was used in the service of attacking the enemy king. Contemporary gambits tend to have a different focus, like long-term positional pressure. That’s what the gambit in this game is all about. White’s trendy sac in a sort of Reti/Slav hybrid gave him lots of queenside pressure, and when Black slipped just a bit the result was a paralyzing bind and a speedy win. The moral for all of us is to diversify our gambit play: it’s not just about going for the enemy king!

Thursday, December 29 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Positional Lesson from the World Champion: Carlsen-Karjakin World Champ Match, Rapid Playoff, Game 3 (opening, strategy)
Magnus Carlsen successfully defended his title, but he had to do in the rapid portion of the match. Watch insightful analysis by GM Perelshteyn of how Carlsen masterfully outplays the challenger by giving him a lesson on positional chess. Key concepts to remember: pawn chains, dark square strategy, play on the whole board, and positional pawn sacrifice!

Friday, December 30 IM David Vigorito An Interesting Idea for Black in the Petrosian King’s Indian (opening, middlegame)
Facing the female prodigy Carissa Yip, I run into an ‘inaccuracy’ in the King’s Indian that is supposed to be bad for Black. Carissa went into the line on purpose however, as she had a specific idea in mind. I think her idea is quite viable, although a hasty attacking move led her into strategic difficulties.

Monday, December 19  IM Valeri Lilov Getting the Space Advantage (middlegame)
Getting the space advantage is known to be the highest priority and most important task in every opening or middlegame. How to acquire a strong space advantage brings up an important theme to learn from this lecture!

Tuesday, December 20  IM Bill Paschall European Club Cup Part 2 – Benoni Knightmare (opening, tactics)
White plays a not-so-surprise variation against Benoni that has long gone out of fashion. Lupulescu innovates with the novelty 13.Qc2 and simply loses time. It’s possible that he was inducing black to play play 13…Bf5, but this plan of Qd1 and Nh4 proves a costly waste of time for white. Black demonstrates incredibly the power of quick development and centralization. The sacrificial attack which follows is quite natural, given that the white king is trapped in the center. The finish features an original mating attack by GM Papp Gabor.

Wednesday, December 21  FM Dennis Monokroussos Facing One’s Favorite Opening (opening, strategy)
Nikita Vitiugov has written a couple of fine books on the French, and he is or at least was a consistent practitioner of that opening. So what does he do when he faces it? In this game we can see for ourselves, as he wins a model game against Michael Feygin.

Thursday, December 22  GM Eugene Perelshteyn When Two Knights Are Better Than Two Bishops (strategy, endgame)
We all know about the advantage of two bishops. But what about two knights? When are knights better than bishops? Watch as GM Perelshteyn explains the key factors that make the knights more powerful! Bonus: practice your endgame skills as well!

Friday, December 23  GM Bryan Smith Kramnik’s Irrepressible Tactics (tactics)
In this game, we see an example of Kramnik taking on the …Bf5 system against the King’s Indian Attack. He manages to create an attack that won’t go out.

Monday, December 12 IM Valeri Lilov How to Punish a Bad Opening (openings)
How to punish your opponent if he plays badly in the opening? IM Lilov tries to provide some good suggestions on how you can acquire the important qualities you need to get an advantage if the opponent makes the wrong opening moves.

Tuesday, December 13 IM Bill Paschall European Club Cup 2016 Part 1 – The London Strikes Again (strategy, tactics)
Grandmaster Romanov gives a powerful display of positional chess in the London System. Black makes several positional mistakes in the opening, including an early exchange on d4, releasing the tension too early, and later playing the weakening 16…g5, loosening his light squares. White breaks through via a sacrificial attack on move 24. This game features good play by white both strategically and later exploiting his advantage by tactical means.

Wednesday, December 14 FM Dennis Monokroussos The Not-So-Safe London System (openings, tactics)
In a way, this was one of the strangest games of the year. In late 2015 Sergey Karjakin showed how to handle the London System with Black, and in our main game, played at the start of 2016, he played the London with White, and was crushed by the same system he used in the earlier game! Of course Karjakin varied from the earlier game, but the change wasn’t for the better, and he was crushed. In this video I try to offer an overview of some of the most important ideas in one of the main Anti-London Systems, so that you can play either side of the opening with some degree of confidence.

Thursday, December 15 IM David Vigorito Going to the Well Once Too Often (opening, middlegame)
Facing my nemesis Alexander Ivanov for the sixty-something time, I go for a solid-looking line of the Najdorf that I had previous success with. The middlegame that arises was considered to be equal or just a sliver better for White, but this latest game shows that White has a bigger advantage than theory had considered.

Friday, December 16 GM Bryan Smith A Sharp Answer to the 4.Qc2 Nimzo-Indian, Part2 (tactics)
In this video, GM Smith shows one of his games where he met the 4.Qc2 Nimzo-Indian, and used the sharp but classical response 4…d5. This game will focus on White’s move 5.a3.

Monday, December 5 IM Valeri Lilov Attack in the Opening (strategy, openings)
Attacking in the opening is very tricky. Everyone wants to attack but what are the right features to setup an attack early on? Check IM Lilov’s videos to study more!

Tuesday, December 6 IM Bill Paschall Sharp Struggle at the Russian Superfinal
Grandmaster Tomashevsky deals with the Classical Variation of the Nimzo-Indian (4.Qc2) using a relatively new and successful system. Black plays an early b6 , allowing white to set up a strong pawn center, in order to counterattack with a quick c5. White’s play is non critical. The best line of attack seems to be the alternative, the sharp 6.e5 leading to complications. Bocharov’s quieter approach with 6.d5 gives black good counterplay along the e-file and seems to leave white slightly overextended. The game becomes insanely complicated later as both sides play sharply for the win. Tomashevsky finds an inventive queen sacrifice and Bocharov matches him blow for blow until mistepping in an objectively equal position.

Wednesday, December 7 FM Dennis Monokroussos A Wild Modern from the European Club Cup (opening, tactics)
Super-GM Dmitry Andreikin was a heavy favorite against Marco Baldauf in their game from the 2016 European Club Cup, and he did go on to win the game. Along the way there were many adventures, though, and while Baldauf didn’t make the most of his opportunities he did take advantage of enough of them to give his elite opponent a fright. It was an entertaining game, and an instructive one for those who play either side of the Modern or the King’s Indian.

Thursay, December 8 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Accelerated Dragon: Tricky Tactics in the Middlegame! (tactics, middlegame, endgame)
White makes some positional concessions early in the game, but what follows next is instructive tactical melee that requires both players to be extra accurate. The resulting endgame is easy to misplay. White’s knights get carried away with too much pawn grabbing, allowing Black to set up an elegant trap. Can you find it?

Friday, December 9 GM Bryan Smith Coffeehouse Chess, Part 5 (openings)
In the fifth video of “Coffeehouse Chess”, we see an old king hunt played between two famous study composers.

Monday, November 28 IM Valeri Lilov Pawn Structure in the Opening (opening, strategy)
Pawn structure is all that matters when it comes down to a successful opening. Setting up a better structure is always a challenge. Let IM Lilov teach you the keys to making a better pawn structure in the opening.

Tuesday, November 29 IM Bill Paschall Provocative Play in the Classical Pirc (opening, tactics)
Jakovenko turns to the classical variation against the Pirc defense. Black plays a very risky system involving an early nc6-e5, allowing the pawns to be doubled at e6 and e5. The game transforms into what is basically a King’s Indian, with Jakovenko maneuvering Na4 and playing 14.c4. White balances a queenside attack with timely kingside defense. Of special note is the beautiful plan of 21.Nb1 followed by the “river guarding” rook maneuver 22.Ra3. In the end, Black’s attack falls short, and his kingside is left weakened. Jakovenko picks up the pieces in a better endgame as well as a full point!

Wednesday, November 30 FM Dennis Monokroussos Kramnik Busts the Najdorf? (opening, endgame)
Vladimir Kramnik has avoided 1.e4 for most of his career, but whenever he plays any opening he ends up making a valuable contribution to theory. This game was no different, and his achievement is all the more impressive for coming against Boris Gelfand, who is not just an elite player but one of the all-time great Najdorf specialists. The whole game is noteworthy, culminating in an instructive opposite-colored bishop ending. As Kramnik very clearly shows, there are plenty of cases where they aren’t even drawish – something worth keeping in mind.

Thursday, December 1 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Instructive Battle in the English, Statics vs Dynamics – Grandmasters Blunder, Too  (strategy, tactics)
In this game White avoids main line KID to steer the game into the English, or Closed-Sicilian with reversed colors. Watch and learn how Statics and Dynamics play a vital role for choosing White’s moves and notice the shift in strategy once White has won the positional battle and left Black with a poor pawn structure. A nice bonus: can you spot the tactics that a strong GM missed at the end?

Friday, December 2 GM Bryan Smith Coffeehouse Chess, Part 4 (tactics)
In part 4 of his “Coffeehouse Chess” series, GM Bryan Smith covers an epic battle from 1924 between David Janowski and Edward Lasker, where a queen sacrifice leads to a really fantastic and unusual position.

Monday, November 21 IM Valeri Lilov What is Key to Initiative (middlegame)
Initiative is known to be the highest most important bit of attacking. How to acquire a strong attacking initiative brings up an important theme to learn from IM Lilov’s new lecture!

Tuesday, November 22 IM Bill Paschall Bundesliga Apocalypse
Grandmaster David Navara is known for his attacking play. In this game he imbalances the game early , giving up a bishop for knight to prevent his opponent from castling. Later, he sacrifices a rook for only 2 pawns and an attack against the opponents king. Black finds it very difficult to coordinate and his extra rook is out of play. The finish of the game is extraordinary, with Navara calculating a decisive king walk into his opponents’ territory , despite both queens still being on the board!

Wednesday, November 23 FM Dennis Monokroussos Dig a Deeper Hole (openings)
One of the first things we learn in studying positional play is to avoid holes, and with good reason. But as Bobby Fischer famously said, “you’ve gotta give squares to get squares”, and if one can create an even more worrisome hole in the opponent’s position by creating one of our own, then it’s worth it. Salov-Spassky is a great example, and even a great – a former world champion – failed to appreciate the danger.

Thursday, November 24 IM David Vigorito A Strong Novelty Turns the Tables in a Quiet Sideline (opening, endgame)
A few weeks before this game was played, Ivan Saric got ground down in an endgame that arises in a sideline of the King’s Indian. In this game he unleashes a wonderful novelty. Black sacrifices the exchange and opens up the game to any result. Note especially the use of Black’s rook pawns to squeeze White’s position on both sides of the board.

Friday, November 25 GM Bryan Smith Coffeehouse Chess, Part 3 (tactics)
In the third episode of “Coffeehouse Chess”, GM Bryan Smith explores a beautiful sacrificial attack by attacking legend Viktor Kupreichik.

Monday, November 14 IM Valeri Lilov Carlsen’s Ruy Lopez (openings)
Magnus Carlsen is one of the history’s most brilliant positional players. His ability to handle the opening structure and prepare a powerful piece domination have inspired many. Study IM Lilov’s new lecture to learn how to world reigning champion tackles the oldest chess opening with finesse!

Tuesday, November 15 IM Bill Paschall Bluffing Like Tal (opening, strategy)
The legendary World Champion Mikhail Tal was knows for his ability to bluff opponents with sacrifices nearly too complicated to calculate. His tradition has been carried on by fellow Latvian GM Alexei Shirov. In the following game, Shirov borrows the element of bluff , so typical of Tal’s style. On 2 occasions white offers the sacrifice of his c-pawn and then invites black to gain a tempo and space with his provocative move 17.Nh4, practically inviting the logical move 17..g5 from black. Shirov’s opponent, Harika, declines all 3 offers from Shirov and plays in an extremely passive and meek style. Harika should have accepted the first pawn sacrifice, and she even missed a miraculous chance to draw the game by force near the end. Perhaps the idea of active play was never on Black’s mind, who was intimidated by the aggressive style of Shirov.

Wednesday, November 16 FM Dennis Monokroussos The Makings of the Man: The Early Karjakin (opening, endgame)
With the World Championship upon us it makes sense to have a look at the participants in action. In this video we take a look at an impressive victory by a young (17-year-old) Karjakin over Alexander Grischuk, and even in this game from nine and a half years ago we see some of the virtues that have propelled him to a world championship match. His opening preparation was remarkably deep, and ability to fight and persevere was also noteworthy. In this game we don’t yet see him put his best foot forward in the endgame: some parts of it were played very well, but there were some inaccuracies and errors as well. But in the end he kept at it, and the final phase was handed magnificently.

Thursday, November 17 GM Bryan Smith Coffeehouse Chess, Part 2 (opening, tactics)
In part two of his series “Coffeehouse Chess”, GM Smith shows a creative, exciting, but also flawed encounter between two unique players from Georgia: Baduur Jobava and Tamas Gelashvili.

Friday, November 18 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Instructive Way To Meet Early Bb5+ in the Nf3,c3 Setup vs the Accelerated Dragon (opening, middlegame, endgame)
Pay attention to White’s opening play after the Bb5+! While …Nc6 is more popular Eugene believes that …Nd7! is better as it prevents White from damaging Black’s pawn structure with Bxc6 later on. Black was better prepared in the opening and could have won material with a nice tactic early on. Can you find it?

Monday, November 7 IM Valeri Lilov Build a Skeleton (middlegame)
Setting up the right pawn structure and backing it up with a good piece skeleton isn’t an easy task. In this lecture, IM Lilov will teach you how these two work perfectly together in the hands of the first world champion Wilhelm Steinitz!

Tuesday, November 8 IM Bill Paschall Giri Starts Hot at the Tal Memorial (middlegame)
Giri faces the super solid Gelfand, as black in a fianchetto King’s Indian. Black trades his strong point, the e5 pawn, for some freedom of movement, and then provokes Gelfand with Nc6-e7-f5. White plays well, albeit becoming slightly overextended with 13.g4, he reaches a better position, but blunders a crucial tempo with the mistaken 18.Qf4, Gelfand indeed becomes overextended and grabs a rather risky pawn on offer by Giri. White could have saved the game with perfect play, but collapses due to pressure on the board and the clock after a key Giri sacrifice. The entire concept of Giri’s advantage and sacrifice depended entirely on the power of centralization of the pieces.

Wednesday, November 9 FM Dennis Monokroussos Dvoretsky v Pohla (openings)
The famous author and trainer Mark Dvoretsky just passed away, and while his literary legacy will live on for a long time (and rightly so), his abilities as a competitive chess player are likely to get short shrift. So we’ll take a very small step towards remedying that with a look at a nice win from one of his tournament successes, an event in which he finished ahead of Mikhail Tal, among others. Dvoretsky won a good game, but it has to be admitted that it could have been even nicer, as Tal himself demonstrated. You’ll want to watch the video, if only for the Tal anecdote!

Thursday, November 10 GM Leonid Kritz Punishing a Passive Caro-Kann (strategy)
A game from the last round from the Olympiad where Bareev obviously was too focused on playing safe. This resulted in Caruana outplaying him in a typical, strategic way. This game is a very good example of how to play 3.e5 system against Caro-Kann and what to do if your opponent plays to slowly.

Friday, November 11 GM Bryan Smith Coffeehouse Chess, Part 1 (tactics)
The purpose of this series is to entertain you with wild, somewhat flawed but beautiful games. Through enjoyment, however, you can learn a lot. Part one covers the game F.Perez-J.Durao, a wild King’s Indian where the board becomes spectacularly lopsided.