Chess Lectures

Monday, August 22 IM Valeri Lilov Control the Center and Attack (strategy, middlegame)
The center is the most important area of the board in chess. Controlling it means to improve your piece effectiveness and speed while attacking. Learn how to do so in IM Lilov’s new instructive video!

Tuesday, August 23 IM Bill Paschall Avoiding the Berlin Defense : Classic Games, Part 1 (middlegame, strategy)
Although this game is technically not a Berlin Defense move order, a position typical of the lines where white plays d3 against the Berlin is reached. Fischer models his opening play after Steinitz, with the early Nbd2 and Nf1 before castling. White avoids the drawish lines of the Berlin and keeps all the pieces on the board. Black strikes in the center with d5, but instead of the logical expansion 10…d4 as in the Worall attack, Smyslov makes the questionable decision to play 10…dxe4, giving up his central advantage and follows with 11….Be6. The black pawn structure is broken, and Fischer wins convincingly in the ending.

Wednesday, August 24 FM Dennis Monokroussos Sometimes it’s Better to Stay in Book (tactics)
The Finnish master Eero Book thought he would surprise world champion Alexander Alekhine with a novelty on move 9, attacking a knight on c3. It was a logical idea, as shown in subsequent games where Black’s opponent’s failed to react the way Alekhine did. But the right way – Alekhine’s way – was much stronger. Playing with tremendous energy, he simply sacrificed the knight for a fearsome attack and won brilliantly. It’s a model attacking game, and a theoretically important one to boot.

Thursday, August 25 GM Leonid Kritz A Dangerous Alekhine
With the help of computers, today even openings like 1.e4 Nf6 have been made playable, and see how! Navara did not find the right plan, and Black counter attacked immediately, forcing White to give up material and, later, also the game. A very important game from a strategic point of view, in particular how to play pawn structures d4-e5 against c6-d5.

Friday, August 26 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Student Game Analysis: Typical Mistakes in the Accelerated Dragon vs Alapin Sicilian (opening, strategy)
What’s best way to improve in chess? Study your own games and the games of your peers! Watch how two 1700’s keep making positional mistakes, one after the other. Eugene is not happy with his student’s play and he hopes you will not repeat the same mistakes as well!

Monday, August 15 IM David Vigorito Anatomy of a Disaster (openings)
In this game my opponent was in a must-win situation. He played an incredibly risky opening that objectively just seems bad. It is complicated however, and in my poor form I not only failed to punish my opponent, but I had my worst white loss in a decade. An interesting lesson in risk-taking.

Tuesday, August 16 IM Bill Paschall Caruana Conjures in the Caro (tactics)
Caruana makes the impractical decision to play for a win as black with the Caro-Kann defense against a lower rated grandmaster. In the Advance variation, Short line, he chooses the modern 5…Ne7. We see a repeat of a recent game from the Polish Championship with the dubious 8…g5, which is positionally unsound. Najer deviates from the afore mentioned game with 11. c4 , when it seems white is giving black good defensive chances by yielding the d5 outpost to black. Despite achieving a reasonable position, white plays awkwardly with his rooks and leaves himself little room for mistakes. Some good defense and practical play is featured here by Caruana , after achieving a questionable game out of the opening.

Wednesday, August 17 FM Dennis Monokroussos Italian Game Sidelines: The Hungarian Defense and 3…d6 (openings, tactics)
Italian Game Sidelines: The Hungarian Defense and 3…d6. Tags: . A viewer was curious about the Hungarian Defense, so we’ll have a look at it and its cousin, 3…d6, against the Italian Game. Both moves allow White to obtain a slight but stable advantage – generally with natural moves – both Black achieves playable positions and can avoid a fair amount of theory.

Thursday, August 18 GM Leonid Kritz Amazing Battle from Beginning to End (openings)
A really interesting game that took an untraditional development from the very beginning. It looked so as if White quickly gets an advantage, but the position of Black had many nuances that needed to be taken care of. In the end, though, White did not find the right way, and only thanks to Black’s mistake in the endgame was he able to get a full point.

Friday, August 19 GM Bryan Smith Exploring Rook Endgames, Part 6: Andersson – Huebner (endgame)
In this elegant endgame by one of the greatest masters of that field ever – Ulf Andersson – we see very clearly the theme which has run throughout this series. White establishes a permanent positional advantage on the kingside, and finally simplifies the game to the point where that advantage is all that remains. Watch how Andersson makes it look easy.

Monday, August 8 IM Valeri Lilov The Secret to Ruy Lopez (strategy, opening)
With the Ruy Lopez being the most popular opening in chess, many want to know how to handle it successfully as white. Let IM Lilov show you some of his ideas on being successful with the Spanish Game as white!

Tuesday, August 9 IM Bill Paschall Elite Games from the Capablanca Memorial 2016 Part 3 (middlegame)
White plays a side line in the Scotch with 9.Nd2, and after reacting reasonably, black makes the risky decision to castle queenside. The weakening move 18…d6 is too much and white whips up an amazing attack against the open Black king. After Black’s 22…Na5, the position is beyond hope and white seals the victory with a positional piece sacrifice, leading to a mating net! This is inspiring attacking game, upending a solid and theoretical Almasi, who seemed slightly out of form in this event.

Wednesday, August 10 FM Dennis Monokroussos Noticing An Overlooked Superstar (opening)
Ding Liren hasn’t achieved as much attention in the West as other players of his caliber, so let’s take a first start at remedying this. He is in the top ten in the world, and is currently the world’s #1 in blitz, even ahead of Magnus Carlsen! Today’s game not only shows his strength in play and preparation, but also highlights a very exciting line against the Bogo-Indian, one where Black has to know what he’s doing to avoid a potential catastrophe. In this game, even as strong a player as Egyptian GM Bassem Amin didn’t manage to solve his theoretical problems, and lost quickly and spectacularly. Bogo players, beware!

Thursday, August 11 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Student Game Analysis: What Happens When You Play Without a Plan (strategy)
In this game, Black plays without a plan and gets duly punished. Watch and learn in order not to repeat the same mistake! One move could have stopped White’s plan of a simple queenside counterplay. Can you find it?

Friday, August 12 GM Bryan Smith Exploring Rook Endgames, Part 5: Alekhine – Spielman (endgame)
This video deals with a complicated rook ending won by Alexander Alekhine. Black is reduced to passivity from the start, but White’s challenge is to make progress. Once the die is cast, the ending becomes very interesting, and several instructive mistakes are made.

Monday, August 1 IM Valeri Lilov Master Wild Positions! (strategy, middlegame)
Wild positions are not easy to play. We often find ourselves in a challenging situation with a limited number of moves and many weaknesses for both sides. Check IM Lilov’s important suggestions on handling this type of positions in chess.

Tuesday, August 2 IM Bill Paschall Elite Games from the Capablanca Memorial 2016 Part 2 (openings, endgame)
Ivanchuk uses a rare defense against the Spanish, attributed to the late Norwegian IM Svein Johannessen. This line follows a game the author of the video actually played with GM Nebosa Niksevic in 2001 and it seems that Ivanchuk is wise to play the improvement 15…Kf7! which was suggested by Niksevic in the post-mortem of our game. Interestingly, the whole game is based on a fantastic Spassky game against Taimanov from the 1955 USSR Championship , which was published and analyzed in the classic and (OUT OF PRINT!) Modern Chess Opening Theory by GM Alexey Suetin.

Wednesday, August 3 FM Dennis M. A Positional Masterpiece vs the Kan (tactics)
In 1972 Anatoly Karpov was a rapidly rising star while Mark Taimanov was still one of the best players in the world. The players were closely matched in terms of rating, but Karpov thoroughly outclassed him in their battle from the USSR Team Championship. Karpov was a great specialist on both sides of the Kan Sicilian, and although it was Taimanov who introduced the first new idea in the game it was Karpov who more clearly understood what was going on. While the computer shows that Taimanov’s position may not have been as bad as most commentators thought, at least not as early as they thought, he was still thoroughly outplayed in grand style. The game is very instructive, but further description will ruin the surprises. Have a look for yourself!

Thursday, August 4 GM Leonid Kritz The Dangerous Berlin
Another brilliant game by Vladimir Kramnik in his favorite opening – Berlin Wall. As so often, it looks like White plays without taking on much risk. However, the position of Black becomes better and better and all of a sudden White falls apart. A great combination of positional understanding and tactical ability demonstrated by Russia’s strongest
player.

Friday, August 5 GM Bryan Smith Exploring Rook Endgames, Part 4: Spielman- Rubinstein (endgame)
Every series on rook endings must include an example by their greatest master, Akiba Rubinstein. Here we see how Rubinstein turns his slightly more compact pawn structure into a win, despite the scant amount of material.

Monday, July 25 IM David Vigorito Sharp Opening Trap in a Rapid Game
This was an unusual (for me) rapid game. I played a sharp opening and got to play a wonderful trap that I was fortunately familiar with. This game reminded me that is a lot of fun to play sharply. My opponent made one mistake and then some accurate calculation and it was all wrapped up.

Tuesday, July 26 IM Bill Paschall Elite Games from the Capablanca Memorial 2016 Part 1 (strategy, tactics)
Vasily Ivanchuk again shows he is a premier player, dominating the Capablanca Memorial. His latest victim is Hungarian veteran Zoltan Almasi . Regarded as a strong theoretician, Almasi is led into a quiet , non-theoretical system by Ivanchuk, who is unpredictable. This game shows the danger of playing “routine” moves against a very strong opponent. Black plays 5…d5 in the opening, where a queenside fianchetto setup would be more flexible. He also makes the fundamental mistake of exchanging on d4 with 8..cd too early, a mistake known since the time of Akiba Rubinstein. Ivanchuk impresses with subtle moves like 12.Qe3 and then deals up a fantastic attack starting with a pawn sacrifice to open lines on the kingside.

Wednesday, July 27 FM Dennis Monokroussos Scotching the Scotch (strategy, tactics)
Garry Kasparov was very successful with the Scotch in the recent blitz super-tournament in St. Louis, winning three games with the opening while drawing two and losing just one. But that one loss was especially noteworthy, as it was Caruana who dictated the play with an almost completely new and interesting-looking idea. It was a good game by blitz standards, and the variation in the game is one that merits a closer look by those who play either side of the Scotch.

Thursday, July 28 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Executing Typical Sicilian Ideas – Improve Your Worst Piece! (strategy, tactics)
In a typical Sicilian battle for dark squares, Black executes a standard idea to improve his worst piece, the bishop on e7!   However, White plays well to maintain balance by improving his worst piece the knight on c2.  Yet, the positional game quickly explodes as White incorrectly opens the h-file.  Watch out for nice tactics, and a nice bonus at the end…can you identify the worst piece you need to improve to win the game?  Yes, it is Black’s king!

Friday, July 29 GM Bryan Smith Exploring Rook Endgames, Part 3: (endgame)
In part three of his series on rook endings, GM Bryan Smith analyzes an ending he played some years ago, where a full rook ending results in the defender being restricted to passivity, followed by a turning movement of the white king. Instructive moments early in the endgame show Black’s missed chances to obtain counterplay and draw.

Monday, July 18 IM Valeri Lilov How To Handle Unprepared Attacks (middlegame)
When our opponent starts an unprepared attack, we usually know that there is an efficient way to counter it, though we don’t know exactly what it is. Often times, the best method is to follow a number of principles which will help you take care of all important issues in the position.

Tuesday, July 19 IM Bill Paschall My Chess Comeback 2016! Part 3 (strategy, middlegame)
White chooses a solid line against the Sicilian Dragon, surprising Black, who expected a quieter 1.d4 opening. Black plays an inferior variation with 11…e6. The best for Black would be 11…Nd7 to avoid exchanges. White, a lower-rated player who would be content with a draw, gains the upper hand and Black is forced to defend ingeniously. In the critical stage, White is overambitious with his 25. f6 and suddenly Black has all the chances with a good knight versus bad bishop.

Wednesday, July 20 FM Dennis Monokroussos Korchnoi and the Art of Defense, Part 2 (tactics)
Aivars Gipslis was a countryman of Mikhail Tal’s and an almost exact contemporary, and like Tal he loved to attack. In this game he finds a beautiful and dangerous attacking idea that would have succeeded brilliantly against many players, but against the great defense of Viktor Korchnoi his ingenious idea was even more brilliantly rebuffed. In this game Korchnoi demonstrates a very important defensive principle; namely, that the defender can often return the material sacrificed by the opponent in order to wrest the initiative from him. Just how effective that policy can be, you shall see!

Thursday, July 21 GM Leonid Kritz A Tricky Sicilian (strategy, tactics)
A very interesting game in which both players showed many non-standard ideas. It does not happen too often that White can put his bishop on c3 or b4 in Najdorf, but this was one of the major themes in this game. A nice strategic battle with a typical Sicilian finale!

Friday, July 22 GM Bryan Smith Exploring Rook Endgames, Part 2: Flohr-Vidmar (endgame)
In the second part of this series on rook endgames, we take a look at how the famous technician Salo Flohr wins a minutely-better endgame. Also touched on is the subject of passive versus active defense.

Monday, July 11 IM Valeri Lilov Anand’s Attacking Concepts (middlegame)
Vishy Anand has been one of the greatest chess players and brilliant attackers for the last few decades. What concepts does he use in his games to succeed? Check IM Lilov’s video to find out!

Tuesday, July 12 IM Bill Paschall My Chess Comeback 2016! part 2 (opening, strategy)

Wednesday, July 13 FM Dennis Monokroussos Korchnoi and the Art of Defense, Part 1 (tactics)
Mikhail Tal is one of the all-time great attacking players, but in Viktor Korchnoi he met his kryptonite. Korchnoi was a player who could not be bluffed, and he was a match for Tal (and maybe then some) when it came to calculation. He loved to accept sacrifices offered in the interest of an attack, and he would often hunker down, rebuff the attack, and win with his extra material. That’s just the formula he follows in this game, and we will see Korchnoi demonstrate a number of important defensive principles along the way to a convincing win.

Thursday, July 14 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Instructive Use of the e5 Outpost in the French (opening, strategy)
Everyone knows about the “French” bishop and the backward e6-pawn. However, it is often the control of the e5-outpost that is most unpleasant for a French player. Watch how Eugene uses this outpost first with his knight, but then the rook simply replaces it! The Exchange sacrifice causes so many practical issues for Black that she falls apart in just a few moves. A classic Exchange sac for positional domination!

Friday, July 15 GM Bryan Smith Exploring Rook Endings, Part 1: Smyslov-Benko (endgame)
The first of a new series by GM Smith on rook endings – here we will see how the seventh World Champion transforms a basic positional advantage in the rook ending, through many pawn exchanges, to simplified winning endgame where the silhouettes of the original advantage can still be seen.

Monday, July 4 IM Valeri Lilov Preesure and Attack (strategy, middlegame)
Pressuring the opponent always feels quite good. Bobby Fischer used to say he most likes the moment where his opponent’s ego is broken due to the huge pressure he has endured. Many players try to capture the right steps to achieving this pressure but very few can actually keep it for more than a few moves. How to do it successfully? Check this video to learn more!

Tuesday, July 5 IM Bill Paschall My Chess Comeback 2016! Part 1 (openings)
White plays a King’s Indian attack formation against the Slav; a safe, but essentially harmless opening if black defends accurately. Black is able to keep the position fairly closed, despite giving up the bishop pair with 13…Bxf3. Problems surface as black plays passively in the middlegame with moves such as 20..Ng6 and 23…Nf8. In time pressure, Black becomes overly optimistic with the reckless 36…g5 ?? Black is suddenly facing the bishop pair and a dangerous pawn majority on the kingside , when further resistance is impossible .

Wednesday, July 6 FM Dennis Monokroussos Chess’s Past Still The Present Against Its Future (openings)
In his incredible career, Viktor Korchnoi defeated nine world chess champions (though not necessarily when they were world champions), and that includes reigning champ Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen was only 14 at the time, you might say, but by then he had been a grandmaster for more than a year, and in any case Korchnoi was 73 years old! The game was instructive throughout, even if the game’s conclusion turned out to be an anti-climax of sorts. But there’s a lesson there too; chess players must exercise vigilance in more ways than one!

Thursday, July 7 GM Leonid Kritz Avoid Overly Optimistic Sacrifices! (openings, tactics)
After the opening Black got a very solid position, a typical situation for this type of pawn structure where White has a symbolic advantage, but Black’s position looks like a castle with no holes. However, with 17….c5 Eljanov decided to give up a pawn to get some virtual counterplay. His view was too optimistic, though, and after a couple of moves it was clear that White has a pawn for free. The young Chinese player did not have any trouble converting his advantage.

Friday, July 8 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Lesson From My Komodo Match, Part 4: Play Actively When Possible! (openings, tactics)
In the final game of Handicap match, Komodo sacrifices a piece for a pawn! This the biggest of the odds so far for GM Perelshteyn. Can he punish the best chess engine in the world? Watch and enjoy!

Monday, June 27 IM David Vigorito Shocking Sacrifice Befuddles Computers (tactics)
This was one of my strangest games ever. My opponent played a somewhat dubious opening. My position looked better (to both human eyes and computers), but my opponent came up with an amazing idea. Almost everything went wrong for me in this tournament, so it felt a bit unlucky, but I must give my opponent credit for such creativity!

Tuesday, June 28 IM Bill Paschall Fighting Chess From the European Championship (openings, endgame)
Black holds the balance in a sharp line of the exchange Grunfeld where white employed the offbeat 8.h3. Setting up an ideal double fianchetto formation, Piorun, one of Poland’s top young players; finds his way with creative idea of 13..Qe8 and the active 15…f6. White should be able to hold the balance, but falters after black finds a powerful combination with the original 22…Rxc4 ! Black allows an exchange of queens, but gains a slight initiative without any risk. Although the ending was tenable, white misses his chances and black converts a full point.

Wednesday, June 29 FM Dennis Monokroussos How to Attack Like a Kid at (Almost) 80 (strategy)
Nearly 80 years old at the time of this game, Viktor Korchnoi defeated Fabiano Caruana with the black pieces – and how! Caruana didn’t blunder anything, or fall into some sort of opening trap, or get slowly outplayed in a “boring” position due to his opponent’s many decades of experience. Nor was this Korchnoi defeating Caruana when he was but a tyke; Caruana was already over 2700 at the time of this game. Instead, Korchnoi played aggressive, energetic chess, flinging his pawns at his opponent’s kingside and defeating him with a direct attack. It’s easy to play this sort of chess when one is young (though playing this well is another matter), but one would never know to look at the game that Black was 61 years older than his opponent. It’s almost preposterous, but this is an illustration of what an incredible player the chess world has just lost.

Thursday, June 30 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Lesson From My Komodo Match, Part 3: Be Alert, No Matter How Safe Your Position Is (endgame, strategy)
GM Perelshteyn takes on best chess engine in the world, Komodo, in game 3 of the Handicap match. The opening goes great for White, as GM Perelshteyn retains the pawn with a comfortable position. It looks like White has no risk of losing, right? Well, see what happens in a few moves after only one mistake by White… The engine shows amazing endgame technique!

Friday, July 1 GM Bryan Smith A Repetoire Against the Modern With 4.Be3, Part2 (openings, tactics)
Besides 4…a6, Black has a much older and more solid option, 4…c6. Nevertheless, with calm positional play White can put series pressure on the opponent. In this video, we see how.

Recommended for Intermediate Players                                    

Presented by International Master Bill Paschall for ChessLecture.com

Anthony John Miles (23 April 1955 – 12 November 2001) was an English chess Grandmaster, the first Englishman to earn the Grandmaster title in over-the-board play. Miles was very influential in modern chess. His creativity in the openings was legendary his creativity in general was legendary. He was the first really great English chess master. He did leave a large amount of quality material and he definitely leaned toward hypermodern chess. Miles liked to play the Dragon, reverse Sicilian type games with white. He was masterful with the English.

In this DVD Bill explores 5 of Miles amazing games in Hypermodern lines.

Content: 2.5 hours of instruction and analysis in a series of 5 lectures.  

ECO: E14, A40, B00, E13

Members of ChessLecture.com rated this series a 5 out of 5

Fans on Chesslecture.com said: I like the way Miles played in the spirit of hypermodern play with his bishops fighting for control of the center! Very well explained. Thanks Bill!

IM Bill Paschall currently resides in Budapest, Hungary. Bill was the Boylston Chess Club Champion 2002, finished 1st at the Foxwoods Open 2002, Three-Time New England Open Champion, and has defeated more than 20 IGM’s in tournament play. Bill has extensive experience training both adults and children privately and in the schools.