Chess Lectures

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)

Monday, January 11  IM Valeri Lilov  Maneuver as Kovacevic! (strategy, middlegame)
GM Kovacevic is known as a great theorist and opening inventor. He was a true middlegame master as well. In his new lecture, IM Valeri Lilov shows a masterful example of utilizing piece regrouping and maneuvering to their full potential!

Tuesday, January 12  IM Bill Paschall   Hungarian Bronze at European Teams Part 3 (opening, strategy)
The prodigious Hungarian GM Richard Rapport leads his team to a win in their match against France. Once again, Rapport takes an experienced player out of book very early , this time with a strange version of the Bird’s Opening. White’s setup with f4 and an early c4 looks strange and certainly should be fine for black. Fressinet, however, is apparently taken off guard. Black’s reaction of playing e6 followed by dxc4 later, simply gives up the center. White takes the center and then black lashes out with an unsound pawn sacrifice to attempt to free his position. Rapport just keeps the extra pawn and then breaks through on the kingside with the beautiful shot 29. f5!

Wednesday, January 13  FM Dennis Monokroussos   Staying Cool Against A Novelty (tactics)
Hellers-Khalifman. Title: Staying Cool Against A Novelty. Tags: Khalifman, Caro-Kann. Description: Playing Black in a big money game in the last round of the 1990 New York Open, future FIDE World Champion Alexander Khalifman was confronted by a very dangerous novelty, a pawn sac that seemed to give White tremendous play. He didn’t rush past the key moment, nor did he look for some way to bail out with a slightly worse position. Instead, he took his time, worked through the options, and by a process of elimination found a brilliant reply. Confronted in turn by a surprise, his opponent did not manage to keep his own wits about him, and Khalifman went on to win a nice, theoretical important and lucrative game, taking clear first in the tournament.

Thursday, January 14  GM  Leonid Kritz   A Very Suspicious Novelty That Paid Off (opening)
Black plays a very suspicious plan in the opening and gets a position that cannot be good, but White does not find the way to punish him and, moreover, starts a combination that brings only draw, not more. Even worse, he overstretches and loses without any chances.

Friday, January 14  GM Eugene Perelshteyn   How to Play Dynamic Chess! (tactics)
What is dynamic chess? How can you tell when you should sacrifice material for development. Strong plays like Tal, Kasparov, and Shirov have an innate feel for this. But you can develop this as well if you practice and pay attention to the relative value of pieces and king safety. Watch how Eugene plays of his best games of his life to beat a strong GM Holt to prove that dynamic chess still lives in the 21st century!

Monday, January 4 IM Valeri Lilov Winning with the Barry Attack (openings)
The Barry Attack has been one of the most underrated openings for white. The opening provides white with countless original attacks and a number of outstanding challenges against black’s king’s defense. Check out this lecture to learn more!

Tuesday, January 5 IM Bill Paschall Hungarian Bronze at European Teams Part 2 (middlegame, strategy)
Leading the Hungarians to a bronze medal, the young GM Rapport plays an extremely inventive sort of Queen’s Gambit Accepted or Ragozin Variation with reverse colors. Radjabov plays a bit routinely through the game and is slowly forced on the defensive by white’s superb combination of positional play and tactical finesse. Eventually, white is able to exploit his more active pieces and the somewhat exposed position of the black king.

Wednesday, January 6 FM Dennis Monokroussos Great Prep: What Computers Can Do (openings)
Baadur Jobava was and is justly proud of his 2003 game with Evgeny Bareev, all or almost all of which was preparation. Brilliant preparation, too, and at the time of the game even the best chess engines didn’t have a chance of coming up with his idea. In a recent interview Jobava reiterated that claim about contemporary engines, but it turns out that he’s wrong; the silicon beasts have caught up! Have a look at a fantastic game, and admire both what Jobava dreamed up and what computers are now capable of as well.

Thursday, January 7 GM Leonid Kritz A Great Example of Strategic Play (endgame)
The position seemed absolutely equal after the opening, but care needed to be taken to achieve a draw. White used all weaknesses in black’s position and managed to get a point almost out of nowhere. Sargissian played in best traditions of strategic
masters.

Friday, January 8 GM Eugene Perelshteyn How to Play in Symmetrical Pawn Structures (strategy, endgame)
How to play equal-looking positions for a win? Are all Symmetrical pawn structures just draws? Watch this video and learn valuable lessons on trades, pawn structures, weaknesses and more!

Monday, December 28 IM Valeri Lilov How to Use Advantage in Space (strategy, middlegame)
Having advantage in space is common for many games. Taking advantage of it is a different story. In this lecture, IM Lilov takes his time to explain the key principles behind exploiting an advantage in space and better piece activity.

Tuesday, December 29 IM Bill Paschall Hungarian Bronze at European Teams Part 1 (middlegame, strategy)
Hungarians score bronze at the European Teams ! Young phenom Richard Rapport lead his team with some stellar games. In part one, we see a flawless positional performance. Rapport avoids theory and maintains a sound structure, all the while his opponent overextending and desperately seeking ways to coordinate. White exploits pawn structure advantages, better coordination and finally pawn weaknesses before a decisive strorming of the opponents’ exposed kingside. Rapport also shows maturity in the middlegame by giving up the bishop pair to slow down the counterplay for black on the kingside.

Wednesday, December 30 FM Dennis Monokroussos A Trap in the Nimzo-Indian (openings)
The Karpov Variation of the Nimzo-Indian (which can also arise via the Panov Attack against the Caro-Kann) is an important main line, and one very plausible option for White was seen in a 2001 rapid game Vladimirov-Kasparov. Plausible – but not good! To see the interesting details, have a look – you may well get to win the same game for yourself.

Thursday, December 31 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Learning from Kramnik: How to Convert a Slight Edge in the Endgame Part 2 – 20 Years Later (strategy, endgame)
20 years later after the Lautier game, Kramnik is still amazing at converting endgames with a slight edge. This time, it’s Nepo who’s on the ropes and he never has a chance in this game. Take notice how Kramnik avoids opening theory, plays unambitious chess and yet outplays a strong 2700 GM with ease!

Friday, January 1 GM Bryan Smith Only Moves (strategy, tactics)
In this video, we see how surprising traps and complications are hidden in an apparently overwhelming position.

Monday, December 21 IM Valeri Lilov How to Punish Bad Openings (strategy, openings)
Many amateur or even club players know that bad play in the opening is punishable if the opponent plays correctly. How to arrange a successful attack if the opponent deviates from the main course of development is the key topic in this lecture. Don’t miss it!

Tuesday, December 22 IM Bill Paschall A Tense Benoni (strategy)
Chesslecture’s IM William Paschall reviews his own recent original game with white in a topical line of the Modern Benoni. White tries a creative but very risky plan with 10.g4 and 11.Kf1, which has rarely been played in practice. The game is tense and interesting, but finally black begins to defend too passively and falls behind. To improve in chess, it is critical to review one’s own games, and the following was a learning experience for both the author and hopefully all of our ChessLecture viewers!

Wednesday, December 23 FM Dennis Monokroussos Bishop’s Opening, Part 3 (openings)
One important option for Black against the Bishop’s Opening is transposition into the King’s Gambit Declined. This option was mentioned in an earlier part of the series, but this time we take a very deep look at it, completing our repertoire series on this somewhat underestimated option for White against 1.e4 e5.

Thursday, December 24 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Learning from Kramnik: How to Convert a Slight Edge in the Endgame Part 1 (strategy, endgame)
Learn from the best! Young Kramnik demonstrates amazing understanding of the endgame and comes up with a winning plan in a “completely” equal position. Lautier plays active chess true to his style to sac a pawn to reach a R+P endgame. However, Kramnik has a nice surprise prepared to take the game to the technical stage. Enjoy boring chess!

Friday, December 25 GM Bryan Smith A Tempo-Up Benoni (openings)
In this video, GM Bryan Smith shows an intricate and complex game which was the decisive last round of a recent tournament.

Monday, November 14 IM Valeri Lilov Anand’s Winning Blitz (middlegame)
Even wondered how strong masters play fast chess so easily? The simple answer is that they get to keep a very harmonious position for the most part. The great Vishy Anand is a brilliant example of using such strategy to win many of his rapid and blitz games. Check out this lecture to learn more!

Tuesday, November 15 IM Bill Paschall Boris Spassky’s Spasstacular Attacking Miniatures, Part 10 (tactics, strategy)
White plays a rare line against the Slav; the ultra aggressive Geller Gambit. Black weakens his kingside with h6 and later with f5 as well. White has kingside threats as well as play along the c-file, where black is backward. The timely break by Spassky with 23.d5 opens decisively the lines into black’s position. There are far too many weak points in the black position and white wins easily with his better mobilized forces. Time and coordination prove more important than material!

Wednesday, November 16 FM Dennis Monokroussos How To Win With a 33-move Combination (endgame)
A 33-move combination, really? Strictly speaking, no. But in another, purely practical sense, yes. After 18 moves only the queens, a pair of knights and a pair of pair of pawns have been traded, but Laurent Fressinet sees that through a fairly long and mostly forced series of moves and exchanges the contours of a hugely better endgame will arise. Not every move is absolutely forced, but there really wasn’t all that much that poor Nils Grandelius could do. The game is a brilliant illustration of the power of a dominant, outposted, blockading knight against an irrelevant bishop, and as a fringe benefit the game might even be of theoretical value and constitute a sort of positional trap.

Thursday, November 17 GM Leonid Kritz An Unforgettable World Cup Finals – Part 4 (tactics)
This was the last of four classical games that Karjakin needed to win in order to save the match. Svidler played a
terrible opening and was basically lost after 10 moves. However, Karjakin did not find the right way to play and the game turned into an almost equal endgame with small, symbolic advantage of white. I’m pretty sure that under normal conditions Svidler should be able to keep the draw, but in this game he probably could not keep his nerves. And so, another series of bad mistakes and the match moved into tie breaks.

Friday, November 18 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Important Lesson on Pawn Structures and Opening Transpositions (tactics, strategy, openings)
It’s important to know pawn structures that can arise from many openings. In this game, when faced with a new move as early as move four, White juggles many ideas from Reti, Catalan, QGD, and QID to get a nice edge. Black puts up a good fight to keep the game balanced; however, he falters in the late middlegame and allows White a nice attack with a rolling center and two bishops. A bonus with nice tactics at the end!

Monday, December 7 GM Nadya Kosintseva QGD Ragozin Defense Part 4: Wildness on the Board (opening)
Another important variation in Ragozin Defense that you need to know if you decide to play the opening with black. By playing 7.Rc1 White attempts to prevent Black from playing his main idea c5. In order to get enough counterplay Black has to be precise and force the white bishop on h4 first, and then still go for c5 even though it looks very provoking. The analysis shows, however, that in all lines the position of Black is good enough to play on. Black has to act vigorously and he will have his chances.

Tuesday, December 8 IM Bill Paschall Boris Spassky’s Spasstacular Attacking Miniatures, Part 9 (tactics, strategy)
Spassky leaves the main line Winawer with the Nimzovichian 5.Qg4 and 6. dxc5. Black plays a slightly passive setup with Ne7-g6 and white builds up an attacking initiative. A classic Spassky attack featuring the two bishops and a kingside buildup culminates in a smashing attack for white. Black sacrifices the queen out of desperation, but it’s too little too late.

Wednesday, December 9 FM Dennis Monokroussos The Straw That Broke the Allies’ Backs (tactics, strategy)
While the game is a bit of a mismatch, it is still one of my favorites due to several especially interesting decisions by the victor, then-future world champion Jose Raul Capablanca. The first moment of interest came on move 17, when Capa makes a move that seems positionally atrocious, but is actually well-founded. The second comes on move 23, when he make a sac that looks very natural, but after the reasonable sequence that follows it isn’t immediately clear how he’s going to break through. His solution is not the only one, but it is simultaneously brilliant and amusing, and makes the game an especially memorable one.

Thursday, December 10 GM Leonid Kritz An Unforgettable World Cup Finals – Part 3 (tactics)
This was supposed to be the last game of the match because Svidler was leading 2-0 and needed just a draw with white. For a long time it looked like he ie getting there, and at the end he was actually winning, but another unbelievable blunder ruined not just this game, but also fundamentally changed the flow of this final match.

Friday, December 11 IM David Vigorito More Insight into the Reti Opening (USCL 2015 – Part 17a) (opening, endgame)
Only a few days after my USCL game with IM Schroer, I found myself in a must-win game against old friend FM Bill Kelleher. Again I played the Reti Opening. I varied a bit in this game but get a nice endgame with lasting pressure. There is a nice theme in the game with keeping one piece locked out of play in order to win on the opposite flank.