Chess Lectures

Monday, April 27
IM Bill Paschall – Botvinnik: Exploiting Space Advantages, Part 3 | Strategy, Middlegame
Our third example in the series reinforces the same structural idea from game two. Again we see the Maroczy type structure. Black has a serious space advantage, but White misses opportunities to complicate the game by damaging the Black pawn structure! If Botvinnik’s opponent had been willing to play dynamically, he might have offset his spatial disadvantage. In the example from this game, White was forced to retreat and fell victim to a simple combination, losing material and essentially ending the game.

Tuesday, April 28
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – How to Create a Deadly Attack with an IQP! | Opening
In this game, we delve back into history and discover a beautiful gem by GM Nicholas Rossolimo. He was a gifted player, theoretition and a great attacker! White willingly accepts an isolated queen pawn (IQP) out of the opening but quickly mobilizes his forces toward the enemy king. The attack is swift and ends in unbelievable sacrifice. Can you find it?

Wednesday, April 29
FM Dennis Monokroussos – A Quick Win for Black in the Trendy Queen’s Gambit | Opening, Strategy
The line 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 (and its transpositional equivalents) is one of the sharpest systems in the Queen’s Gambit, and a far cry from the dusty old systems of the past. Where Black used to play the Queen’s Gambit Declined in search of a draw or at least a solid and stable equality, Black now plays lines like this in search of winning chances. This game was no exception, and proved an unqualified triumph for the line 5…b5 6.e5 Nd5 7.Nxb5 Nb6. From a structural perspective Black’s play looks bizarre, but as you’ll see his dynamic chances are fantastic. Have a look, and freshen up your repertoire with this very modern variation.

Thursday, April 30
GM Leonid Kritz – Quiet Moves Win Many Games | Opening, Tactics
A very interesting, non-standard game from the opening onwards. Two important ideas here: on move 17, White refuses to take the black bishop on c6 because his knight is stronger, which turns out to be decisive to White getting an advantage; and later, on move 22, White plays Bc4 just to take control over the square d5 and not allow Black to develop his queen – great strategic thinking. Afterwards black’s position falls apart without any counterplay.

Friday, May 1
GM Robert Hungaski – Answering an Interesting French Sideline: 3.Bd3 | Opening, Strategy
In this video I will be sharing one of my most recent projects: the French Defense. One of the hardest parts about mastering this opening is being ready for the many interesting sidelines at White’s disposal. Here I will cover one of the most popular ones at the moment: 3.Bd3. The point of this move is quite simple, to put pressure on the h1-a8 diagonal so as to make it hard for Black to develop his light-squared bishop. A noble idea, but as we’ll see Black has a very strong way to counter it!

Monday, April 20
IM Bill Paschall – Botvinnik: Exploiting Space Advantages, Part 2
Botvinnik is rightly considered the greatest master of strategy by many top players. The former World Champion was extremely systematic and much can be learned from his approach. In this example, playing Black, Botvinnik is able to employ the “Maroczy Bind”, by using his e and c pawns at e5 and c5 to restrict the opponent. White must fight against the Black center with pawn breaks or try to simplify by trading pieces, but in this example, he was unsuccessful. The game is a model for exploiting a space advantage from Botvinnik’s perspective.

Tuesday, April 21
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Combining Two Openings into White: Nimzo and Catalan!
It’s not often that you get a Catalan Opening out of the Nimzo, yet this is exactly what GM Eugene Perelshteyn does in this game vs a strong GM Zviad Izoria. Black avoids complications and quickly returns the pawn to open up his bad c8 bishop. It seems like White did everything wrong: gave himself an isolated queen pawn (IQP), got his queen out early, and opened up the enemy bishop. Yet, Eugene shows you that looks could be deceiving! A deep dive into the position shows that it is Black who’s in trouble and needs to find accurate moves to stay in the game. An exciting battle ensues from which White comes out victorious!

Wednesday, April 22
FM Dennis Monokroussos – A Tactical Slugfest in the English | Tactics
Most of us think of the English as a more “positional” opening, but this wild battle between David Anton and Alexander Grischuk shows that it can become very tactical, very quickly. This game was sharp and had the players on their own while it was still the opening, and while Grischuk is one of the world’s best – and best-prepared – players, Anton massacred him in a miniature. Have a look at this beautiful, theoretically significant game.

Thursday, April 23
GM Leonid Kritz – Black Fights for the Center! | Strategy
This is a perfect example of a fight for center squares, in this case specifically it is the square e5. Typical pawn structure for this line, Black gets the square e5 by playing g5, but White has chances to organize dangerous play on the king side. However, everything goes sideways and eventually Black gets a dream position – queens are exchanged, all dark squares in the position of White are weakened, and White has zero counterplay.

Friday, April 24
GM Robert Hungaski – An Unusual Ragozin from Opening to Ending | Opening, Middlegame, Endgame
In this video I will examine a top-level game from one of the most recent events that took place before COVID-19 put the breaks on pretty much everything. It’s not just an interesting revival of a somewhat forgotten line of the Ragozin, but it’s also a great example of a successful execution of an opening idea that carried over to the middlegame and eventually the endgame.

Monday, April 13
FM Dennis Monokroussos – The Immortal Draw (1922) | Opening, Endgame
Alexander Alekhine was one of the all-time greats, the world champion from 1927 to 1935 and from 1937 until his death in 1946. Richard Reti didn’t reach that level of chess immortality, but he achieved a level of fame as a player, study composer, and the inventor of the Reti Opening. That he was a great player in his own right can be seen in this game, which was for decades known as the Immortal Draw. Even now, in the age of computers, the game holds up very well; there are few places where their play can be improved, and in no cases were there clear oversights. The game is a thriller: a wild opening, a long series of combinations and counter-combinations, and finally a challenging ending where Reti’s fine defense lets him save the game despite his opponent’s extra pawn. The play is rich and beautiful, and worth your time.

Tuesday, April 14
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Instructive Central Pawn Sac for White in the Semi-Slav | Opening
Have you heard of a concept called Pawn Shield? You use your opponent’s pawn to shield your king against direct attack. GM Perelshteyn teaches you a cool trick that you can use in the middlegame by sacrificing a key central pawn! He demonstrates in his game vs GM Paragua how the extra pawn was only paralyzing Black’s pieces and enabled White a quick attack. A nice bonus, can you find the mating sequence at the end?

Wednesday, April 15
IM Bill Paschall – Botvinnik: Exploiting Space Advantages, Part 1 | Middlegame, Strategy
The 6th world champion, Mikhail Botvinnik, was one of the greatest strategists of all time. He accumulated the knowledge of his predecessors and passed on HIS strategic understanding to future World Champion Gary Kasparov (#13), among others. Botvinnik’s middlegame play was particularly strong and his use of space advantages provides a great illustration for students of the game. In this series we will go in detail over some of his strategic victories where space advantage, and the fundamental and related concept of control of the center, is pivotal to winning the game.

Thursday, April 16
GM Leonid Kritz – Don’t Forget the Basics: Pawn Grabbing! | Opening, Tactics
This game absolutely does not belong into a GM tournament. Something must have happened to Firouzja that he forgot one of the basic principles of chess – don’t be greedy in the opening. After capturing the pawn on b2 Black got into serious trouble and was eventually destroyed quite rapidly. The moral of the story – king safety and development first, pawns afterwards.

Friday, April 17
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Offense Is The Best Defense | Strategy
In this lecture, I will show you one of my favorite examples of active defense. The game that I introduce was played back in 1989 between two young boys – Konstantin Sakaev and Vladimir Kramnik – both of whom became very strong grand masters a few years later. It’s true that everyone likes to attack, but how many of us like to defend? Who likes to oppose his opponent’s threats rather than bring his own pieces forward and increase the pressure on the enemy king? Not many of us, I guess. But what if we apply the popular expression: “Offense is the best defense” to a chess game? What if instead of retreating we will react creating own threats? It’s exactly what happened in the game: Kramnik sacrificed a piece in a hope to attack but eventually found himself in a role of defender because his opponent rejected to defend passively.

Monday, March 6
IM Bill Paschall – Sacrifice! For the Initiative! Part 3 | Middlegame
This year’s edition of the usually strong Aeroflot Open provides us with another example of sacrificing material for the initiative. Black, a veteran grandmaster, was out to win against an upstart youngster before he realized how dangerous his situation was. The “upstart” planned a devious piece sacrifice to completely turn the tables! The very surprising sacrifice – by simple abandonment! – of a whole piece by White in this games illustrates the power of White’s coordination and development lead, as well as the irreparable weakness of the dark squares around the Black’s king position. Black faces an enormous defensive task and could not cope.

Tuesday, March 7
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Fighting for Advantage in the Grunfeld with a Forgotten Line: 5.Bd2 | Opening, Strategy, Endgame
How do you fight for the advantage vs the Grunfeld? In this game, GM Perelshteyn uncorks an old line 5.Bd2. This is a very annoying line for Black as White is quite solid and doesn’t allow the typical pawn weaknesses. Black tries to use the extra tempo to blow up the kingside but finds himself in the worse endgame a few moves ago. The endgame looks very difficult to convert yet once again it is Black who is about to be checkmated in the middle of the board! Can you spot the killer idea?

Wednesday, March 8
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Crushing the Grunfeld, Alpha Zero Style | Tactics
One of the characteristic developments in chess the past 2-3 years, since the advent of Alpha Zero and now other neural net-style engines, is an increased appreciation for the power of attacks based on ramming the h-pawn to h6 (or by Black’s pushing to h3). It’s not that no one ever thought of doing this before – of course they had – but now it’s almost treated as an end in itself, as if the game is half-won once the pawn has achieved its aim. This recent game is a splendid example: once White pushed his pawn to h5, Black’s position was soon in disarray, and Bluebaum’s attacking potential seemed to grow every move. The game culminates with a nice combination — appropriately enough involving the h-file. Have a look, and see the PGN for further evidence of the challenge of the h-pawn. Someday Black will figure it out, but for now it’s a potent weapon.

Thursday, March 9
GM Leonid Kritz – Critical Opening Decisions: To Exchange Queens – Or Not? | Opening
This game is a typical example of a binary decision that needs to be made in the opening – whether to go into an endgame directly, or not. Here Black decided to exchange queens and play an endgame that is quite passive. Tastes differ, of course, but personally I do not recommend this line and think Black should take more risk, especially if he chose to play Grunfeld.

Friday, March 10
GM Robert Hungaski – Two Knights Defense: The Fried Liver – Main Sidelines | Strategy
In this video we resume our journey across the Fried Liver. This time we will discuss what I consider to be Black’s main sidelines: The Ulvestad and Fritz Variations. These lines enjoyed quite a bit of popularity before the era of the engine, but now are struggling to survive. However, I aim to provide you with articulated ideas on how to combat these without having to rely on the memorization of computer moves.

Monday, March 30
IM Bill Paschall – Sacrifice! For the Initiative! Part 2 | Opening, Middlegame, Strategy
In part two of this series we continue the pursuit of the initative with a very classic pawn sacrifice devised by Efim Geller. Geller builds upon the ideas of all time greats like Alekhine to devise a dangerous pawn sacrifice for the initiative against the usually solid Slav Defense to the Queen’s Gambit. If Black wants to play the Slav he has no choice but to accept Geller’s Gambit, but peril awaits! The positions in this line are not typical of what Black players want to see and the initiative passes to White!

Tuesday, March 30
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – How to Punish White For Passive Play in the Opening! | Opening, Strategy, Tactics
In this game, a club player decides to sidestep opening theory as White. He plays two odd-looking moves in the opening that at first don’t seem that bad. Yet, together these moves prove fatal as White gets completely locked on the queenside! This game illustrates that opening theory matters!

Wednesday, April 1
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Coffeehouse Chess at its Best | Strategy
Charousek was late in learning how to play (16) and early in passing from this world (26), but during his brief career he was remarkably successful. His most notable achievement was a win over world champion Emanuel Lasker (covered elsewhere on this site), and his lovely combination in this game is his calling card. Poor Wollner never knew what hit him! Watch, enjoy, and match wits with the players. Can you defend better than Wollner, and find Charousek’s sparkling finish?

Thursday, April 2
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Play g3 Against the King’s Indian Defense | Strategy
In this lecture, I will introduce to you how to play against the King’s Indian Defense from White’s point of view in order to avoid typical attacks on the white king and at the same time maintain the pressure in the middle of the board. The scheme that I consider offers to develop the light-squared bishop to the long diagonal after White plays g3. As a result, the bishop starts pressing on the b7-point and makes it harder for Black to develop the queen side. We will focus on Black’s plans with e7-e5 right after he moves the queen side knight out. For this knight there are two options: Nc6 and Nbd7. Depending on Black’s choice, White then either closes up the center and goes to attack on the queen side or maintains the pressure in the middle for a while to limit Black’s pieces.

Friday, April 3
GM Robert Hungaski – Two Knights Defense: The Fried Liver Attack in Action | Strategy
In this video we will take a break from the study of opening theory in order to examine two recent games I played in the Fried Liver at the 2020 Florianopolis Open. Studying opening theory is important, but one must also see how theory measures up to practice. In these two games, the players handling the black pieces quickly went astray and found themselves in trouble.

Monday, March 23
IM Bill Paschall – Sacrifice! For the Initiative! Part 1 | Strategy, Tactics
Rudolph Spielmann was a renowned and feared attacking player who published the first great treatise on the subject of sacrifice in chess. This game illustrates the rewards possible for a brave player, willing to sacrifice material long term for the initiative. As Mikhail Tal later became most famous for, this type of disruptive sacrifice is very difficult to defend against. White, obviously stunned, is unable to castle and has difficulty coordinating his forces. Although perhaps “unsound” according to a modern computer program, such sacrifices as in this game pose too much difficulty for a human defender and must be judged “correct” according to practical considerations, especially with limited time to find responses in over-the-board play.

Tuesday, March 24
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Positional Pawn Sacrifice in the Nimzo-Indian | Opening, Strategy
Black plays a solid Nimzo-Indian, doubling White’s pawns but surrendering the bishop pair. How does White fight for the initiative? With a positional pawn sacrifice, of course! Watch how White blasts through the center and opens up his bishops for a deadly attack!

Wednesday, March 25
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Even Former Candidates Can Be Zombies! | Opening
Johan Hjartarson was a World Championship Candidate a generation ago, and is still a good solid GM to this day. He’s experienced and strong – and yet, like all of us he’s capable of making moves in the opening that are natural, automatic, and mistaken. That’s what happened in this game against David Navara, a top player of the present time, and he is punished in impressive style. It’s an instructive game, and as Hjartarson’s error is one that has been played before, and is very likely to be played again, it’s a theoretically useful game to study, too.

Thursday, March 26
GM Leonid Kritz – Instructive Tactics and Strategies in Another Slowly Starting Spanish Game | Tactics, Strategy
Top Grandmasters appear to be slowly regaining a willingness to play the Spanish (Ruy Lopez), after a long period of preferring the Italian Game. They are less worried about the Berlin and the Marshall nowadays, but we are seeing more games in which White plays an early d3, and slowly builds. An instructive battle rich in both tactics and strategy follows.

Friday, March 27
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Facing the Queen’s Indian Defense | Strategy
In this lecture, I will speak to you how to continue for White after the following moves: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6. Compared to the King’s Indian Defense, where Black moves the dark-squared bishop to the long a1-h8 diagonal, in the Queen’s Indian Black does the similar thing but with his light-squared bishop: it goes to the long h1-a8 diagonal in order to establish better control over the middle of the board. After white’s 4.Nc3 black has a choice – whether to play 4…Bb4 or let White play the preventive 5.a3 that stops it. In both cases, White should play actively to occupy the center as soon as possible – otherwise Black can bring more pieces to take over the middle of the board.

Monday, March 16
IM Bill Paschall – The Genius of Leonid Stein, Part 5
Stein, like his many of his Soviet GM contemporaries, excelled in King’s Indian type positions. The long list of these masters includes Geller, Boleslavsky, Petrosian, and goes on and on. Perhaps we should point to the plan of 13.Nb3!, which attempts to induce c4 as influenced by Rubinstein in the beginning of the 20th century. Stein was in his element both strategically and tactically in this thrashing of Sokolsky. Black’s decision to surrender his white squared bishop for the b3 knight was artificial at best, and the break against the strong-point on e5 seemed anti-positional.

Tuesday, March 16
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – The Power of an Outpost: the Octopus Knight!
In this game, Black plays a somewhat old but solid like of the Ruy Lopez, the Steinitz Deferred variation. He seems to be doing everything right by trading minor pieces in a cramped position. But a single move allows White to seize the light squares with a key outpost. Once the Octopus Knight is planted, White executes a very simple endgame plan. Black is totally hopeless and has to wait and suffer. The lesson: beware of the Octopus Knights!

Wednesday, March 16
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Attack Until You Lose
If one must err, it’s generally better to do so on the side of confidence and aggression. Generally, but not always. Case in point, this fascinating Bundesliga battle between Tamir Nabaty and Richard Rapport. Nabaty kept going forward, trying to make things happen, and as Rapport hadn’t done anything to justify Nabaty’s aggression the Israeli GM’s position deteriorated bit by bit. He was given a chance to survive when Rapport executed the right idea in the wrong order, but rather than grasping his chance Nabaty rolled the dice again, and lost, quickly. The game is a salutary reminder that wanting to attack doesn’t mean that one’s attack will succeed or be justified. Sometimes we’re just committing suicide, and that’s not a good idea!

Thursday, March 16
GM Nadya Kosintseva – How to Meet Popular Gambits in the Italian Game
In this lecture we will go over the two branches of the Italian game when White sacrifices a pawn after the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 in order to win extra time for his pieces in the beginning of the game. In one of them, White first castles the king (4.0-0) and then after Black moves the king side knight out (4…Nf6), White plays 5.d4 without any additional preparation. The idea behind it is either to get control over the e5-square or get a bishop pair with a potential attack on the king side. The sacrifice should not hurt Black if he knows the typical tricks White applies; by playing correctly, Black can end up with more than equality out of the opening. In another gambit, so called Giuoco Piano system, White starts with 4.c3 to play 5.d4 right after Black’s 4…Nf6. The positions that arise as a result of sacrificing can be very sharp, so if Black goes into them he should be prepared and learn some forcing lines that are not always very logical. Black should be ready to give some material back and avoid too passive a defense.

Friday, March 16
GM Robert Hungaski – Magnus Meets the Fried Liver Attack
In this video we’ll be examining the game that allowed Magnus Carlsen to break the current record for the longest unbeaten streak (previously held by Sergei Tiviakov at 110 games!). Moreover, it will give us an opportunity to examine a variation that has always fascinated me, the Fried Liver Attack against the Two Knights Defense!

Monday, March 13
IM Bill Paschall – The Genius of Leonid Stein, Part 3 | Middlegame
Stein was dangerous in all openings with White or Black. In this game against the experienced Czech GM Filip, Stein playing an English type of formation; which was easy as he was extremely well versed in the Sicilian as Black. In the following example, Leonid takes a rather boring symmetrical English to start with and injects incredible life into the position by creating dynamic imbalances. By the end of the battle White’s bishop pair dominated the board and the Black king was walking a tightrope.

Tuesday, March 13
GM Leonid Kritz – Carlsen Returns to the Spanish Game (Slowly) | Strategy
Good sign for all Spanish (Ruy Lopez) players – the world champion plays the Spanish Game again! Even though Carlsen does not go into main lines and avoids the possibility of the Marshall Attack, at least he shows that he has some ideas against Berlin Wall. Very slow moving game, typical for Carlsen, in which he acquires advantages inch by inch and eventually, without really having done a lot, gets an absolutely won position. Typical masterpiece of strategic playing by Magnus.

Wednesday, March 13
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – 16-Year-Old Carissa Beats the World Champ! | Tactics
It is not often that you see a 16-year-old phenom outplay a reigning World Champion as Black. Yet, this is exactly what Carissa Yip did vs. Ju Wenjun in the recent Cairns Cup in St.Louis. Carissa’s opening prep was superb and she got exactly the type of dynamic position that she excels in! The rest is an instructive strategic masterpiece with a beautiful tactical finish!

Thursday, March 13
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Remembering Gennadi Kuzmin | Tactics
The late Gennadi Kuzmin, who died this February, was probably unknown to most chess fans outside of Ukraine, at least if they weren’t aware of the chess scene in the 1970s. At that time Kuzmin was one of the world’s best players – in the top 15 at his peak – and he qualified for three consecutive Interzonals at a time when that meant proving oneself in the Soviet Championships – then the strongest annual super-tournament in the world. He didn’t remain in the elite for such a long time, turning his attention to training (he worked with the young Sergey Karjakin, for example), but this game from 1990 gives a glimpse into the depth of his talent. His GM opponent played the opening in a perfectly logical way, and as it turned out, it lost practically by force. Proving this, however, involved a deep tactical trick, one which led subsequent Najdorf players – like Kasparov – to take note and to vary. See for yourself: it’s a game that’s both theoretically important and tactically brilliant – and those two elements are perfectly connected.

Friday, March 13
GM Nadya Kosintseva – The Catalan: Open Variation with 7.Ne5 | Strategy
In this lecture we will consider a variation of the Catalan system that arises after the moves: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Ne5. Compared to the more popular 7.Qc2, this line limits Black’s responses if he wants more than equality out of the opening. For instance, he cannot play 7…b5 to guard the c4-pawn since his rook on a8 is hanging. Also, he cannot completely equalize by playing 7…c5 to trade first the White’s central d4-pawn and then the queens, since White’s light-squared bishop will make it difficult for Black to develop his queen side. The main line is 7…Nc6 and it’s an absolutely non-obvious decision for someone who sees the position for the first time because Black willingly produces tripled pawns. Both sides should play creatively: White – in order to avoid many trades and keep targets for his attack; Black – in order to fix his pawn weaknesses and activate the pieces.

Monday, March 2
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Creative New Idea in the Saemisch King’s Indian for Black! | Opening
How do you combine the Benko Gambit and King’s Indian? The answer is given by SuperGM Alexander Grischuk in his game vs the Polish 2700 youngsters Duda. You start with KID and meet the slow Saemisch Nge2 plan with a quick …b5 pawn sacrifice. Then you blow up the center! But wait, there’s more fireworks if White castles queenside. Can you find the winning tactics?

Tuesday, March 2
IM Bill Paschall – The Genius of Leonid Stein, Part 3 | Middlegame
Leonid Stein was a relatively universal player with the White pieces, capable of playing 1.d4, and the English opening as well as everyone’s favorite attacking move 1.e4. In this game we see Stein playing a classical opening in the Ruy Lopez with White. This game features White fighting for domination of the center early with a focus on the key square d5. Stein’s attack is illustrative of how key this point (d5) is in the Spanish game and Sicilian defenses. Black collapses on the White squares; IM Paschall explains why this attack was so successful.

Wednesday, March 2
GM Leonid Kritz – A Strategic Diamond by Dubov | Strategy
A brilliant game that demonstrates two important strategic aspects. First, this is a great example how to apply the principle of two weaknesses. Second, the importance of possessing the open file, even if it does not look like it can be used, is clearly shown in this game. It is fascinating how a position that looks approximately equal falls apart just because White understands better the little nuances of chess.

Thursday, March 2
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Play the Exchange Variation of the Slav Defense | Strategy
In this lecture we will go over the variations of Exchange Slav that arise after the following moves: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5. As for me this system, in spite of the early trade of central pawns and the symmetric pawn structure, can be an interesting alternative to the main lines in which White keeps more tension in the center. One of the main ideas of this opening is to lock Black’s light-squared bishop behind the pawns, or if the bishop goes out, White gets a chance to start an early attack against the b7-point. If Black is not prepared, there are many ways for him to go wrong and end up in a worse position out of the opening.

Friday, March 2
GM Robert Hungaski – A Classical Repertoire vs 1.e4: Steinitz Defense vs the Ruy Lopez, Update #2 Strategy
In this video I revisit the Steinitz Variation of the Ruy Lopez. I got an opportunity to test this line in a crucial game, played in the last round of the 2020 Montevideo Open. My opponent was the strong Cuban GM (now representing Paraguay) Neuris Delgado. He chose the Duras System (placing pawns on e4 and c4), which had been briefly discussed in a previous video (although in a slightly different order). This is an underrated system, no worse than the main lines. Therefore, Black must have a clear idea of which piece trades benefit him, and especially which changes in the pawn structures work in his favor.

Monday, February 28
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Interesting Idea vs.the Quiet Hedgehog Setup | Opening
Sometimes the Symmetrical English positions can be boring or transpose to a super solid Hedgehog. Check out this fresh idea from GM Perelshteyn to spice up the boring Hedgehog and start a quick kingside attack. The famous engine, Houdini, tries to defend black and of course he does it with “only moves.” Yet, even a draw against a top engine is a big achievement in this game! But the attack is absolutely devastating – if only White played all the moves perfectly. Can you find them?

Tuesday, February 28
IM Bill Paschall – The Genius of Leonid Stein, Part 2 | Middlegame
Leonid Stein was one of the most feared attacking players of his generation. Equally capable of winning whether White or Black, he played many aggressive systems such as the King’s Indian Defense and the Sicilian. In this battle we see Stein using the “solid” and dependable 1…e5 and just as much playing for the win! Lutikov plays listlessly and Black sacrifices a queen and a rook to go for mate!

Wednesday, February 28 – FM Dennis Monokroussos – Rising Star 1, Legend 0 | Strategy
Battles between rising stars and those who are well-established in the firmament have long been a source of special interest to chess fans. Will the veteran’s experience (and strength, of course) suffice against the hungry youngster, or will the energy of youth prevail? In this case, it was no contest. Veselin Topalov, the former FIDE World Champion, one of the world’s best players from the mid-90s to the present day, was defeated handily by 14-year-old Indian super-talent Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. Had it been Topalov on the white side of this game, it would have been much less surprising, but to see the veteran manhandled (boyhandled?) was a shocker. The game is also of theoretical significance, and shows that while the French Steinitz lines with …b6 are well-motivated, they are also very dangerous for Black.

Thursday, February 28
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Facing the Closed Sicilian for Black | Strategy

Friday, February 28
GM Robert Hungaski – Blunting the Catalan Bishop, Part 4 | Strategy
In this video we’ll explore the Classical Main Line that has recently fallen out of favor, greatly due to the efforts of Israeli GM Boris Avrukh and his magnificent publication on the Catalan. Even though Avrukh’s recommendations have breathed new life into White’s position, Black is still very much alive. And very solid, actually. By making some very logical moves, we can easily put White in a tough position where in order to fight for an advantage he will have to make some very unnatural moves.