Monday, July 6  IM David Vigorito Punishing Indifferent Play (opening, endgame)
In this game a 2600+ player is seemingly caught off guard by Nakamura’s opening choice. After Socko plays a harmless exchange of pieces in the opening, he quickly ends up in a slightly worse position. The American super-GM seems to easily increase his advantage in methodical fashion.

Tuesday, July 7  IM Bill Paschall Miles on Hypermodernism, Part 4 (opening, middlegame)
Miles uncorks another hypermodern staple from his repertoire; the Nimzovich Defense. The game takes on a Scotch type of structure and white gains an opening advantage due to his strong central e4 pawn.Later, white fails to consolidate his space advantage and Miles takes the initiative with an early queen sortie to h4. We see another example of weaknesses and over-extension exploited by black. In particular, the move 12. g3 leads to serious weaknesses in white’s camp and Miles launches a decisive counter attack in the hypermodern style.

Wednesday, July 8  FM Dennis Monokroussos The Mighty Chigorin, Episode 1 (opening, tactics)
Tags: Chigorin, Steinitz, Evans Gambit, positional play
Description: We’ve recently seen the great Russian player Mikhail Chigorin at his worst, but in fact he was a terrific player who deserved his two shots at the world championship. Here we see him comprehensively outplay the world champion with White in an Evans Gambit, showing good opening preparation, better judgment, a fine tactical eye and great creativity on his way to an impressive victory in the first game of a two-game match played by cable.

Thursday, July 9  GM Eugene Perelshteyn How to Win Without Ever Moving Your King! (opening, tactics)
In the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon, White chooses a very sharp idea with an early h4 pawn push. But Black can just leave the king in the center and activate all the pieces! Watch how the king has never moved from e8 when White resigned.

Friday, July 10  GM Bryan Smith The Clear Play of Bobby Fischer, Part 8 (opening, tactics)
For the final game of the series, we look at one of Fischer’s last publicized games – from his 1992 rematch against Boris Spassky. In this match, the off-the-board events somewhat overshadowed the play, so the games are not so well known. But here we can see how Fischer has adapted to the changed opening theory, using the relatively-new English attack against the Sicilian, and showing clear and purposeful play in the opposite-side castling situation.

Monday, June 29 IM Valeri Lilov Carlsen’s Mastery  (middlegame)
Many players wonder what is the secret of Carlsen’s success in his games. In his newest lecture, IM Lilov will try to uncover some of the key ideas the world champion is using to win his games!

Tuesday, June 30 IM Bill Paschall Miles on Hypermodernism, Part 3  (openings, tactics)
Miles stuns Karpov by playing the St.George Defense , 1…a6 . Karpov achieves a slight advantage in the opening, but slightly overextends himself. Instead of playing to consolidate, and equalize, Karpov gets tempted by a risky and unsound plan which leaves him uncoordinated. White must surrender the bishop pair and black gains a serious advantage. Eventually, Miles wins a pawn and then another and despite the presence of opposite colored bishops on board, his advantage is decisive. Yet another example of the dangers of overextending yourself when facing hypermodern systems against a strong counterattacking player.

Wednesday, July 1 FM Dennis M. Great Tragedies in Chess History, Part 4  (openings, tactics) 
Hastings 1895 was Harry Nelson Pillsbury’s breakout tournament, the first and greatest success of his short career. The tournament was a Who’s Who of the top players of the era: new world champion Emanuel Lasker played, the just defeated Wilhelm Steinitz participated, two-time challenger Mikhail Chigorin, Siegbert Tarrasch, future challenger Carl Schlechter and many other stars of the time as well. Pillsbury’s accomplishment was great, but many forget that he was helped mightily by a couple of terrible failures by his main competitors in the penultimate round. At that point Chigorin was leading, with Lasker and Pillsbury half a point behind. Lasker had White against Blackburne, and after achieving a great position from the opening played rather poorly, and Blackburne outplayed him rather badly. Chigorin also had White, against Janowski, and his play was shockingly bad – probably one of the worst games ever played by an elite player still at or near the top of his form. We’ll have a look at these two shocking games in this video.

Thursday, July 2 GM Eugene P. Battle vs the Youngest Female Master in the Country! (middlegame, tactics)
In this battle of Youth vs Experience, young Carrisa proves a worthy challenger. In complex King’s Indian position she comes up with interesting tactical ideas to keep the tension. The game is very instructive of the tactics behind the scenes!

Friday, July 3 GM Bryan Smith The Clear Play of Bobby Fischer, Part 7  (openings)
In this 1970 game against Svetozar Gligoric from the pinnacle of his career, Fischer gave a great demonstration of the “Spanish torture”.

Monday, June 22  IM Valeri Lilov The Key of Opened Positions (strategy) 
Playing opened positions is tricky because of the multiple attacks and different threats that exist for each side on a regular basis. Check IM Lilov’s new video to learn a few tricks to outplay your opponent!

Tuesday, June 23  IM Bill Paschall Miles on Hypermodernism, Part 2 (openings)
Miles lures the solid Farago into unfamiliar territory. The English Defense was pioneered by Miles and other English grandmasters during the 1970’s. In this example, white makes too many pawn moves and slowly becomes overextended and weakened on the long diagonal h1-a8. Also of note is the relative weakening of the white king’s position. This game is a textbook hypermodern win for black. The endgame technique is simple and accurate ; as was the standard for GM Miles.

Wednesday, June 24  FM Dennis M. Great Tragedies in Chess History, Part 3 (openings)
Paul Keres was one of the greatest players never to become world champion. Four times he came in second in Candidates’ tournaments (in 1953, 1956, 1959 and 1962), and in 1962 he was heart-breakingly close, finishing just half a point behind Tigran Petrosian. Tied for first entering the penultimate round Keres faced Pal Benko, whom he had defeated seven times in a row. Seemingly a perfect setup, but…you can guess what happened. He had good chances to win in the last round as well, against the young Bobby Fischer, which would have brought him into a tie for first with Petrosian and a subsequent playoff. As we’ll see, it was not to be.

Thursday, June 25  IM David Vigorito And Now for Something Completely Different  (openings, middlegame)
In this lecture we take a look at what is practically a brand new opening system. It is part English Opening, part King’s Indian, and part Queen’s Indian! Black can easily add this system to an existing repertoire, at least as a surprise weapon.

Friday, June 26  GM Bryan Smith The Clear Play of Bobby Fischer, Part 6
As black in a 1966 game against Jan Hein Donner, Fischer showed that even such a complex and dangerous opening as the King’s Indian Defense can be played in a clear and simple way.

Studies in: The Budapest Gambit

By GM Eugene Perelshteyn and FM Dennis Monokroussos

Recommended for Intermediate Players

Presented by International Grand Master Eugene Perelshteyn and FIDE Master Dennis Monokroussous for ChessLecture.com

The Budapest Gambit (or Budapest Defense) begins with the moves: 1.d4 Nf6 2. C4 e5  The Budapest Gambit contains several specific strategic themes. In numerous variations the move c4–c5 allows White to gain space and to open prospects for his light square bishop For Black, the check Bf8–b4+ often allows rapid development.

Once used by Vidmar to beat Rubinstein convincingly in just 24 moves.

Content: 90 minutes of chess theory and discussion, with examples over a series of 4 lectures.

Members of ChessLecture.com rated this series a 4.54 out of 5

Fans on ChessLecture.com said: Excellent lecture, thanks. It’s great to have games covering openings popular at club level. 

GM Eugene Perelshtyen earned his third GM norm after sharing first place in the 2006 Foxwoods Open, giving him the official GM title. He won the Samford Chess Fellowship in 2002, an award that amounts to $64,000, which is awarded to the top American player under 25 years old. Eugene also led the University of Maryland, Baltimore County to several Pan American championships from 1998-2002. Eugene also won the highly prestigious US Junior Championship in 2000. Eugene recently co-authored the books Chess Openings for Black, Explained and Chess Openings for White, Explained.

FM Dennis Monokroussos is a 3 time Nevada State Champion and won the Indiana State Championship in 2009. Dennis has taught philosophy at several universities including the University of Notre Dame. Dennis currently works as a chess coach for both children and adults both in person and over the internet. He can be contacted through his blog.

Monday, June 8  IM Valeri Lilov Opposite Castle Attacks  (strategy, middlegame) 
In this video, IM Lilov shows us the keys to being more successful when attacking an opposite castled king.

Tuesday, June 9 IM Bill Paschall Keres Plays Black – Part 5  (strategy, tactics)
Keres plays a solid setup against The Torre/Trompowski formation. With black, he gains the bishop pair but must leave his king in the center in an imbalanced position. Black is able to create a strong counterattack despite the improvisation regarding his king position. The win comes for Black as he converts his sacrificial attack to a winning endgame with a strong combination of powerful pawns, king position, and coordination.

Wednesday, June 10  IM David Vigorito Basic K+P Endings: Pawns that Protect Themselves (endgame)
In this lecture we look at some principals of King and pawn endings where pawns are able to ‘protect themselves’. Even though K+P endings are basic in nature, they are often more complicated than they appear. This lecture shows some concepts than can help players determine when to transpose into this endgame.

Thursday, June 11  GM Eugene Perelshteyn  The Power of Two Bishops: Domination in the Endgame  (endgame, strategy) 
Watch and learn from the best! Kramnik masterfully outplays a strong GM with an elegant exchange sacrifice for the power of two bishops. Then he gradually improves his position and wins easily using the concept of domination.

Friday, June 12  GM Bryan Smith  The Clear Play of Bobby Fischer, Part 4  (openings)
In this game against a well-known theoretician, Fischer defended against the queen pawn opening with the Semi-Tarrasch Defense. Quickly he reached an ideal setup with pressure on the white center, and when Berliner made some positional concessions, Fischer guided the game to a winning endgame by some nice maneuvers.

Studies in: The Najdorf Sicilian 2DVD set 

by IM David Vigorito

Recommended for Intermediate – Advanced Players                      More                 

Content: 4 hours and 38 minutes of instruction and analysis in a series of 10 lectures.

The Sicilian is known as the “Cadillac or Rolls Royce” of chess openings. The Najdorf version of the opening is named after the Polish-Argentine Grandmaster Miguel Najdorf. Over the years many players have lived by the Najdorf most notably Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov. The Najdorf begins: 1. E4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 NF6  5. Nc3 a6

David takes us through several variations including 6.g3, 6.Bg5, and several lines of play for Black with modern twists.

Members of ChessLecture.com rated this series a 3.82 out of 5    ECO B90, B94

Fans on Chesslecture.com said: Thank you, well explained. I appreciated the end game comments too.

IM David Vigorito is the 2007 Massachusetts Champion. He has been the state champion of New Hampshire and Nevada. David rated at 2479 in USCF and is the Champion of the Boylston (Boston) Chess Club. He played in the 2006 U.S. Championship after finishing in a tie for 3rd place at the U.S. Open in Phoenix. David is a successful chess author – his book Challenging the Nimzo-Indian is very well received by critics and players alike.

Monday, May 25 IM Valeri Lilov Early Middlegame Strategies (strategy, middlegame)
The early middlegame stage is quite important to all kinds of chess players. People often forget that strategy isn’t always about attacking, and there is an important preparatory stage before the late middlegame happens. Check out IM Lilov’s new video to learn more!

Tuesday, May 26 IM Bill Paschall Keres Plays Black – Part 4 (openings, strategy)
Again we see Fischer with problems against the Caro-Kann. This time Keres plays to trade off Fischer’s better bishop and leave him with a useless white squared bishop. Unable to improve since his last loss in this opening, Fischer makes matters worse in the middlegame by weakening his already shaky queenside with the advance 18.b4 ? Keres exploits the situation with an active king, better minor piece and an excellent structure. The final endgame is a masterpiece of coordination and the principle of two weaknesses.

Wednesday, May 27 FM Dennis Monokroussos. The Exchange Queen’s Gambit, Revisited (tactics)
It was quite some time ago when we had a look at the Exchange Variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined, and the game we examined was comparatively old. Does it still hold up as a dangerous option for White? In this game we see that it is, and that the thematic plan involving a central pawn roller turns out to be as dangerous today as it was all the way back in Botvinnik’s time. If your opponents don’t play 3…Be7, use it!

Thursday, May 28 GM Eugene Perelshteyn A Fresh idea in the Caro-Kann Exchange Variation (openings)
GM Perelshteyn introduces a fresh idea in the Caro-Kann Exchange Variation with 6.h3! Black has a serious problem to solve on what to do with his c8 bishop. He finds a way to trade it off and castle queenside. However, with a timely pawn sacrifice White gets a strong attack and executes with a cool tactic at the end!

Friday, May 29 GM Bryan Smith The Clear Play of Bobby Fischer, Part 2 (openings)
Only one year after our first video, we see the young Fischer making his international debut at the Portoroz Interzonal, 1959. In this game he wins smoothly in thematic Najdorf Defense style against Raul Sanguinetti.

Black’s Blasting Bishops in the Symmetrical Tarrasch

By FM Dennis Monokroussos

Recommended for Intermediate Players       More                               

Presented by FIDE Master Dennis Monokroussos for ChessLecture.com

In this line of the Tarrasch, White forgoes the fianchetto, with its direct play against d5, opting to keep central tension for the moment by playing 4. e3, after which 4… Nf6 5. Nf3 Nc6 is the normal continuation. Dennis shows us how Black blasts through this and wins the day.

Content: 41 Minutes in a series of 2 lectures.  

 ECO:  D40       PGN Files Included                  

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

FM Dennis Monokroussosis a 3 time Nevada State Champion and won the Indiana State Championship in 2009. Dennis has taught philosophy at several universities including the University of Notre Dame. Dennis currently works as a chess coach for both children and adults both in person and over the internet. He can be contacted through his blog