Chess Lectures

Monday, November 30 GM Nadya Kosintseva QGD Ragozin Defense Part 3: The Crazy Rook Causes Trouble! (openings)
A very interesting and complicated line in which the black rook gets to g2 and seems to be lost after White blocks it with his bishop on g3. However, surprisingly Black finds enough resources to create dynamic play and to force White to look for best moves in order to… get an equal position! A line that is a must because of its sharpness and level of complication.

Tuesday, December 1 IM Bill Paschall Boris Spassky’s Spasstacular Attacking Miniatures, Part 8 (tactics, strategy)
White opens with a King’s Gambit and black returns the sacrificed pawn in the opening with 3…d5. Later, Sakharov weakens his kingside slightly with 13…g5 and 15…h6, holding onto the f4 pawn. Spassky whips up a huge sacrificial attack seemingly out of nowhere. In truth, white’s good central control and better development made this brilliant attacking win possible. Great intuition, creativity and calculation displayed by Spassky in this classic game.

Wednesday, December 2 FM Dennis Monokroussos A Desperate Fight For the Initiative (tactics)
Garry Kasparov was the #2 player in the world even when he was a teenager, but that didn’t mean he had nothing to learn from his elders. In this game he plays against Boris Spassky, and while Spassky was no longer a threat to the world championship he was still an elite player, not only immensely strong but psychologically astute and full of wiles. Kasparov obtains a winning advantage with objectively better play, but Spassky’s persistent battle for the initiative and all costs bears fruit. Kasparov is bamboozled, sinks into time trouble, and ultimately loses on time in a lost position.

Thursday, December 3 IM Valeri Lilov How to Manage a Flank Attack (strategy)
The most common attack in chess the one which starts on the king/queen’s flank. Those attacks require many features to be successful. On one hand, we need a solid central command and space control. It could still prove difficult to advance it without knowing the right steps to follow when attacking. See IM Lilov’s new lecture on being successful with a flank attack!

Friday, December 4 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Student Game Analysis: Playing Against the Stonewall (openings, middlegame, strategy)
Like the English and don’t know how to handle the Stonewall? You have the perfect opening for this, just don’t commit the d-pawn to d4. White achieves a big edge with simple d3,e4 center break. Black plays poorly with cookie-cutter plan of Bd6,Nbd7,Qe8 and ends up in a lost position quickly. The rest is just technique.

Monday, November 23 GM Nadya Kosintseva QGD Ragozin Defense, Part 2: Why Most Players Take on d5 First (openings, strategy)
Why do most players take on d5 first and then play Bg5, rather than develop the bishop immediately? The important difference between taking on d5 and playing Bg5 versus playing Bg5 right away is that Black has an additional opportunity after 5.Bg5, namely he can capture the pawn on c4 and play this position. Even though Black gives up some initiative and White has certain compensation for the sacrificed material, the position of Black turns out to be more than just playable – there is enough potential for him to defend and even fight for counterplay.

Tuesday, November 24 IM Bill Paschall Boris Spassky’s Spasstacular Attacking Miniatures, Part 7 (tactics, strategy)
Spassky shows his prowess against the Winawer French, Black plays a bit passively in the opening and Spassky takes the initiative with active pieces and the bishop pair. Spassky finishes his attack with a classic rook lift and sacrifices said rook decisively.

Wednesday, November 25 IM Dennis Monokroussos A Wild Shootout Ends In A Draw (tactics)
I’ve played my share of crazy games over the years, but this may be the tactically richest game of them all. Neither I nor my opponent were fully up to the challenge – this won’t be so surprising once you see the game for yourself – but we both played with energy and imagination, and produced a game that will at least entertain if not instruct. (Though I hope a little instruction will seep in as well.)

Thursday, November 26 GM Eugene Perelshteyn The Unknown Side of Young Kasparov:  Positional Masterpiece & Principle of Two Weaknesses!  Part 2 (strategy, endgame)
Once more, we see the eighteen year old genius from Baku follow in the style of his coach, Mikhal Botvinnik. Gary plays slow, boring, positional chess against the IQP. What looks like a game heading for a draw is quickly spoiled but a slight inaccuracy by Black, weakening the queenside pawns. The rest is yet another lesson on the principle of two weaknesses! Watch and learn and be surprised by mature positional understanding from young Gary.

Friday, November 27 IM David Vigorito Inside Coverage of the USCL 2015 – part 17 (opening)
Continuing coverage of the U.S. Chess League sees me facing off against veteran IM Jonathan Schroer of the Carolina team. I use the Reti Opening and get a position that I have had many times, but with colors reversed (London System). So this lecture should also be of interest to King’s Indian players. This is a good system to play to avoid a lot of theory while still gearing up for a good middlegame fight. It’s ok if the position is equal if you can play it better than your opponent!

Monday, November 16 GM Nadya Kosintseva Queen’s Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defense, Part 1 (opening)

Tuesday, November 17 IM Bill Paschall Boris Spassky’s Spastacular Attacking Miniatures, Part 6 (strategy, tactics)
Spassky again displays a scintillating combination of both tactical and strategic ability. In this game we see again his preference for the knight tandem in a middlegame with a somewhat closed position in the center. His tactical prowess and creativity are embodied by a wild rook sacrifice. A top level opponent might have held on against Spassky’s creative attacking play, but few could find the draw in such mind boggling complications.

Wednesday, November 18 FM Dennis Monokroussos Carlsen Gets Away With Telling a Tal Tale (tactics)
We’re all used to seeing Magnus Carlsen grind out wins the endgame, and we’re all used to seeing him avoid the sharpest variations in order to “just play chess”. But when forced to, he can head into the swamp and try to prove that 2 + 2 sometimes = 5, as the all-time king of complications, Mikhail Tal, used to put it. After getting outplayed in the early middlegame by Veselin Topalov, a great calculator and lover of complications himself, Carlsen goes all out with a sacrificial attack that is at least two parts bluff, but he finally wears Topalov down, induces some errors, and pulls out the win in a crazy game.

Thursday, November 19 IM Valeri Lilov How to Attack Gradually (strategy, middlegame)
Attacking gradually has always been a problem to many players. We all know that at a certain point, out attack needs a slower and more preparatory approach to get going. Knowing how to do it without losing our grip and initiative could be challenging. In his new video, IM Lilov presents a classical game that illustrates which patterns are most significant to improve our attack gradually.

Friday, November 20 GM Leonid Kritz An Unforgettable World Cup Finals – Part 2 (opening, tactics)
Both players made lots of mistakes in this game, and at the end they cancelled each other out to end up in a completely drawish position. However, Karjakin had two more fatal blunders in his pocket for this evening….

This week, we are proud to announce the debut of our newest lecturer, Grandmaster Nadezhda “Nadya” Kosintseva. Nadya, who has been ranked as high as #4 on FIDE’s rating list for women, has been winning gold medals since before she was ten years old, and became a GM in 2011. She is currently a graduate student in finance at the University of Texas at Dallas, and together with Leonid Kritz, forms one of the strongest married chess couples in the world.

Nadya’s first lecture, released today, is short but full of fireworks, bringing us the first in a series that should interest anyone looking to play sharply against the Queen’s Gambit: the QGD Ragozin Variation. In subsequent lectures, Nadya will demonstrate a complete attacking repertoire against all White options in this sharp opening.

Monday, November 9 IM David Vigorito Anti-Theory Miniature (opening, tactics)
In this game I wanted to avoid theory against my young opponent, who had beaten a very strong GM earlier in the tournament. The Reti Opening/Anti-Slav was an experiment that led to a surprisingly quick win. Even in quiet openings one must always stay alert.

Tuesday, November 10 IM Bill Paschall Boris Spassky’s Spastacular Attacking Miniatures, Part 5 (strategy)
Spassky shows again why he is considered the ultimate proponent of the “Universal Style”. In this game we see Spassky playing brilliant strategic chess, culminating in a an unstoppable attack. Gurgenidze, also a strategic player, is completely lost for a plan as Spassky builds up his advantage. White plays brilliantly with his pawns and then uses the long diagonal a1-h8 and his space advantage just as Salo Flohr did in a similar structure in his feature series here at ChessLecture.com

Wednesday, November 11 FM Dennis Monokroussos An Old School Win By A New Star (opening)
An Old School Win By A New Star. Tags: Description: Most young players are great in tactics and specialize in attacking play, but there are occasional exceptions. Anatoly Karpov was one, Magnus Carlsen was another, and now Anish Giri is a third. He is a great technician, as Veselin Topalov had occasion to note. Topalov was in great form, reaching #2 in the world and winning the tournament, but in this, his one loss, Giri was clearly in charge. It’s an impressive display of technique, showing how to create problems with a strong knight against a bishop that’s not so much bad as irrelevant.

Thursday, November 12 GM Eugene Perelshteyn The Unknown Side of Young Kasparov:  Positional Masterpiece & Principle of Two Weaknesses!  Part 1 (strategy, endgame)
You may know Gary Kasparov as one of the greatest attacking players of all times. But how did the young Gary play? Watch and learn boring positional chess from the eighteen year old! Kasparov plays in the style of his coach, Mikhail Botvinnik and gives an excellent lesson on the principle of two weaknesses! In a seemingly equal positional he outplays a strong opponent and makes it look easy!

Friday, November 13 GM Leonid Kritz An Unforgettable World Cup Finals – Part 1 (opening, tactics)
This is the first game from the World Cup final 2015 between Svidler and Karjakin. A pretty long and slow strategic battle in the opening that flows into tactical complications after Svidler opens the position with 16.d4!? Interesting to see how White’s pieces take control over the entire board while Black is condemned to watch it happen.

Monday, November 2 IM David Vigorito Inside Coverage of the USCL 2015 – part 16 (opening, endgame)
This game shows some of the difficulties involved in getting a fight against a peaceful-minded opponent. The King’s Indian usually leads to sharp play, but in here my opponent is quick to remove as many pieces as he can from the board. he probably goes too far and loses a pawn, but after I make a lackluster decision the chance to torture my opponent goes out the window and he easily gets his much-coveted draw.

Tuesday, November 3 IM Bill Paschall Boris Spassky’s Spastacular Attacking Miniatures, Part 4 (opening, tactics)
A key game in the Najdorf that helped to derive the name of the variation of the Najdorf in question, the Gothenburg. Spassky mixes his usual aggressive but positional style of development with a vicious sacrificial attack. Black plays the risky idea 9….g5 and fails to find a safe haven for his king. Tremendously creative and deeply planned attacking play demonstrated by Spassky. There was no way out for black.

Wednesday, November 4 FM Dennis Monokroussos Ljubo Living on the Edge (opening)
When analyzing the game in 1980, Jan Timman described this as the best game of the past 20 years. I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s a wonderful battle where creative attacking play comes up against inspired defense. Only at the last critical moment does Ulf Andersson’s defensive prowess fail him, and Ljubomir Ljubojevic goes on to win a classic.

Thursday, November 4 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Lessons from World Cup: What Happens When You Surrender the Center (opening)
We all know the value of the center. But even Super GMs sometimes get carried away and forget about this vital area of the board. Watch how Karjakin slips and allows Svilder to take over the initiative with a timely …d5! break. He makes it look easy!

Friday, November 5 GM Bryan Smith A Little Vignette from Frankfurt, 1930 (endgame)
In this video, GM Smith shows how a Soviet analyst from the early twentieth century, Nikolai Grigoriev, uncovered fantastic depths in a seemingly simple position. Starting from an endgame with knight and five pawns each – including protected passers – important and oft times surprising aspects of knight endings, and then king and pawn endings, and even possible resulting queen endings are explored and explained.

Monday, October 26 IM Valeri Lilov The Pawn Structure Subtleties (strategy, middlegame)
Pawns are very immobile, almost motionless for the majority of the game. But it is this immobility that gives the position its character. The pawn structure lays out the terrain for the coming battle, providing lines for your army. Basically, the pawns determine where your pieces will play.

Tuesday, October 27 IM Bill Paschall Boris Spassky’s Spastacular Attacking Miniatures, Part 3 (openings, strategy)
As black in the Leningrad Nimzo, Golombek combines too many plans, playing both a pawn sacrifice on the queenside with b5, and weakening his kingside with h6 and g5. Spassky, for his part, displays his usual combination of positional understanding and tactical acumen. Black simply has too many weaknesses in his position. This game shows how effective the Leningrad variation can be against an unprepared opponent.

Wednesday, October 28 FM Dennis Monokroussos To Jay Whitehead and Walter Browne: In Lieu of a Tribute (openings)
Walter Browne passed away earlier this year and Jay Whitehead passed away several years ago, and this game connects to both players. Some months prior to this game Jay Whitehead, a talented international master, showed me some prep he had intended to use against Walter Browne, still a very strong grandmaster at the time. He didn’t have the chance to use it so I had his permission to use it if given the opportunity, and some months later I had my chance. I’m not sure if I remembered it correctly (there were a few people with databases then, but I wasn’t among them), but I got the upper hand in a very sharp game. I was able to build on that advantage, but missed my one chance to win the game and Browne’s resourceful defense got him off the hook with a draw. It was an exciting game, and a theoretically significant one as well.

Thursday, October 29 GM Leonid Kritz Even More Tricks in the Open Spanish (openings)
A very interesting opening idea from Mamedyarov. I am pretty sure that his analysis went very far, and he did really a great job at home. However, objectively I think that there are many ways to find equality after 7.e5, it is just difficult to do in a single game when you play against home preparation. Ragger made all the solid moves, but ended in a worse endgame and played it pretty badly, so that at the end Mamedyarov celebrated the well deserved victory.

Friday, October 30 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Controversial Win by Nakamura in Armageddon (middlegame, strategy)
Win or Lose. Advance or Go home… We all love when it comes down to the wire, and it doesn’t get better than to see two of the world’s best blitz players square off in the World Cup Armageddon tiebreak! The game is exciting to watch as Nakamura builds up a deadly attack. However, with an added controversy of how Naka castled, this is a great thriller!

Monday, October 19 IM Valeri Lilov The Early Attacks (middlegame)
Beginners who are eager to win see opportunities in every move to attack or capture one of the opponent’s pieces. They may have a difficult time focusing on the “big picture” of the game. When an opening comes available to attack the opponent, the beginner leaps on the chance, and jumps into the attack without thinking or from fear of losing or getting countered.

Tuesday, October 20 IM Bill Paschall Boris Spassky’s Spastacular Attacking Miniatures, Part 2 (tactics, strategy)
Spassky features his favorite 6.Bg5 against the Najdorf. Black chooses a passive setup giving white the initiative. Spassky relentlessly sets up a kingside attack with strategically principled double pawn sacrifice. Black cannot cope with the coordinated white attack and has too little counterplay. White then punishes black in short order for his lack of dynamism and routine play.

Wednesday, October 21 IM David Vigorito Inside Coverage of the USCL 2015 – part 15 (openings, endgame)
In this game I repeat the opening I had in my USCL game with IM M.Brooks – and the game follows the same story. I play the ‘boring’ Caro-Kann and getting a pawn up rook ending in less than 30 moves! Usually this means a long and difficult grind but after a couple of inaccuracies from my opponent a little calculation leads to a surprisingly quick victory.

Thursday, October 22 GM Leonid Kritz Tricks in the Open Spanish (openings)
An interesting game for multiple reasons. One of them is that the all-known attacker Mamedyarov selects a very positional opening and goes into and endgame right in move 8. However, even then he finds tactical possibilities to destroy his opponent’s position. The idea b4 is a classic and definitely needs to be known!

Friday, October 23 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Student Game Analysis: Understanding Statics and Dynamics (opening, strategy)
In a typical battle of Accelerated Dragon vs the c3 Sicilian, what would prevail: White’s static advantages or Black’s dynamic play? Watch and learn how both sides missed critical positional ideas. The lessons: When you have a static weakness, look for dynamic ways to get rid of it! When attacking a weakness, fix it first! There’s a nice endgame bonus at the end!

Monday, October 12 IM Valeri Lilov The Chinese Restriction (strategy)
What is restriction? The art of restriction is knowing how to limit your opponent’s plan and arrange your pieces to accomplish superior activity. The restrictive strategy outlined in the lecture will get any chess player on the road to understanding the base of the restrictive strategy – how to control the chess board from the very opening. Later you will discover many resources to aid in further transformation.

Tuesday, October 13 IM Bill Paschall Boris Spassky’s Spasstacular Attacking Miniatures! Part 1 (tactics, strategy)
A classic Spassky games combining strategy and tactics. Portisch gets carried away in a bad opening and white shows the usefulness of two knights vs two bishops when there are few pawn breaks and or doubled pawns in the position. Cool play by Spassky on offense and defense!

Wednesday, October 14 IM David Vigorito Fortune Favors the Brave (opening, middlegame)
Despite an aging memory I decide to go down one of the sharpest lines in the King’s Indian. After a thematic pawn sacrifice, I have to give up another pawn, and then another, to keep the initiative going. Playing for the initiative at all cost may not always be completely sound, but it gives the opponent practical problems to solve.

Thursday, October 15 GM Leonid Kritz Closed Sicilian –  a dead end? (openings)

Friday, October 16 GM Bryan Smith A Repertoire for White in the Ruy Lopez: Part 10 (openings)
In the final part of his series on the Spanish as a repertoire for White, GM Bryan Smith takes on the Open Variation with some uncommon recommendations.

Monday, October 5 IM Valeri Lilov Study the Classics Part 1 (middlegame)
Wanting to understand chess without studying the classics is like wanting to land on the moon without knowing if the Earth is round, or wanting to become an incredible pianist without dedicating hours upon hours of daily practice. Studying the games from the great players serves many purposes: you will learn more strategic plans; better understand how to recognize and exploit positional strengths and weaknesses; improve your pattern recognition and ability to form suitable plans; and have greater awareness of tactical opportunities.

Tuesday, October 6 IM Bill Paschall Fischer and the Two Bishops, Part 7 (openings)
Fischer allows Byrne to play a symmetrical type of Fianchetto Grunfeld where white is slightly passive. Black finds a way to open the game for his two bishops with the central break 12…e5. White carelessly weakens his f2 point ; the base of his pawn structure, allowing Fischer to sacrifice to open lines for his two bishops. The white kingside is fatally weakened on the light squares and the black bishop on the h1-a8 diagonal wins the game with a little help from Black’s queen.

Wednesday, October 7 FM Dennis Monokroussos Bishop’s Opening, Part 2 (openings, strategy)
We continue our look at the Bishop’s Opening, and this time we examine a more theoretically significant variation with 4…Na5. White often replies with 5.Nge2, but I’m going to suggest that we borrow an idea of Steinitz’s from the Scotch. White can grab a pawn in the main line, and while Black’s compensation may be sufficient with perfect play, there are plenty of ways for him to go wrong. Indeed, as we’ll see in our featured game, even when Black’s compensation is initially sufficient according to the silicon oracle it may not be easy to maintain it. Ivanchuk took the pawn, consolidated step by step, and won with ease against a very strong grandmaster.

Thursday, October 8 GM Leonid Kritz ‘Popular’ is Not a Synonym For ‘Good’ (tactics)

Friday, October 9 GM Bryan Smith A Repertoire for White in the Ruy Lopez: Part 9 (openings, tactics)
The Marshall Gambit is a critical answer to the Spanish. Here, GM Smith suggests some ways to combat – or rather, avoid – the Marshall.