Chess Lectures

Monday, January 28
IM Bill Paschall – The Best of Bronstein, Part 9 | Opening, Strategy
World Champion Tigran Petrosian was a solid, intuitive positional player. Perhaps he could be outplayed tactically, but rarely put himself in a position with wild complications. In this battle, Bronstein again shows his “universal” style to outplay the great Petrosian strategically in the middlegame, then force him into a desperate sacrifice which falls short.

Tuesday, January 29
FM Dennis Monokroussos – What Makes Great Players Great | Opening, Tactics
It’s true that grandmasters know more about chess than non-grandmasters, and the top grandmasters know more than “ordinary” grandmasters. But that’s only part of the story. It’s also true that the best players are the best players because they are much better at figuring out what to do than the rest of us when there’s no standard answer about what to do. That’s what happened in today’s game between Chinese super-GM Yu Yangyi and talented Peruvian IM Deivy Anthoni Vera Siguenas. Vera Siguenas played an unusual opening, perhaps hoping to catch Yu out of his comfort zone, but it turned out that the stronger player negotiated the unusual position far better than his opponent. He first obtained a serious plus on the queenside, and when Black tried to “catch up” on the queenside Yu finished with a blistering mating attack.

Wednesday, January 30
GM Leonid Kritz – Do Not Fear Your Opponent’s Rating! | Tactics, Endgame
This game is a very instructive lesson from the psychological point of view. White was obviously thinking only about how to make a draw, and missed many promising ways to play for the win. Eventually, he went too far in his desire to equalize – from a better position! – and got into a difficult endgame. The moral is simple – play chess and don’t bother about your opponent’s rating! (And when you hold the advantage, don’t give it away even if you only want half of a point.)

Thursday, January 31
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Facing the Trompowsky and London Systems as Black | Strategy
In this lecture I am going to show you what to do against Trompowsky and London systems – two popular side lines that white uses to deviate from well-known theoretical positions. In both cases white starts with 1.d4 whereas black immediately brings the knight to f6. Then, if white moves the dark-squared bishop to f4 we call it the London System. In the Trompowsky system the same bishop goes to g5 to attack the f6-knight. These openings can be pretty tricky, especially if black does not know how to react on them. The variations that I am going to show you from the black’s point of view are not the main lines, but still solid and, what’s also good, do not require a lot of memorization on your side.

Friday, February 1
GM Robert Hungaski – A Strategic Repertoire Against the Sicilian: Facing Minor Black Alternatives After 2…d6 | Strategy
And so we arrive at the last video in this series covering the move 5.f3 when black has played 2…d6; in the following videos, we will discuss systems against other 2nd moves by black. Here I will be discussing some of black’s minor, yet quite interesting, alternatives. These are the lines that arise after the move 5…Nc6 6.c4. Black’s two options at this fork in the road.

At one time white suffered against the prospect of a Scheveningen pawn structure (this is how Bobby Fischer effectively met the 5.f3 Sicilian on more than one occasion) after the move 6…e6, after which black intends to play for a quick …d5.

Less common, but not without logic, is the move 6…Qb6, tending to inhibit the development of white’s queenside (the c1-bishop in particular). Yet with accurate play white should be able to overcome this and in fact I propose an interesting new idea for white that aims to refute 6…Qb6 altogether.

Monday, January 21
IM Bill Paschall – The Best of Bronstein, Part 8 | Strategy, Endgame
Bronstein posted a strong lifetime score against Viktor “The Terrible.” If they had played later than 1975, most likely Kortchnoi could have evened the score, but nevertheless a great achievement. In this game Korchnoi is first outplayed in the opening and then completely dismantled in the ending. Despite his reputation for creativity, again Bronstein seems like an incredible positional player with terrific endgame technique, evident in this near-perfect performance.

Tuesday, January 22
FM Dennis Monokroussos – The Least Successful Best Novelty in History? | Strategy
It’s very rare that a player who loses a game wins a prize for the game, but that’s what happened to Viswanathan Anand. His 11…Rc8 was a strong new move that won the prize for the best theoretical novelty in Informant 136. Unfortunately for Anand, his opponent, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, played very well (it’s quite likely that he too had analyzed this move), and when Anand faltered on move 21 he was able to outplay Anand very smoothly. Sadly, five players have followed in Anand’s footsteps, also playing 11…Rc8 and also losing. It’s a harsh outcome for what is a good novelty, but the problem is that while the move is good enough for equality it’s not an easy equality. Nevertheless, I believe the analysis shows the way for Black to come out alright. Have a look, and hopefully you will be the player who breaks the streak!

WEdnesday, January 23
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Changing of the Guard in St. Louis – A US Welcome for Quesada Perez from Cuba | Opening, Middlegame
He won the St.Louis Winter Classic A with astounding 7 of 9! Who’s the newcomer to American Chess and Webster University? Meet the Cuban Quesada Perez. He shows solid chess, deep positional understanding and ferocious attacking skills. Even the tactical genius himself, Ray Robson, couldn’t stop the Cuban train and gets checkmated on the board!

Thursday, January 24
GM Robert Hungaski – A Strategic Repertoire Against the Sicilian: When Black Lashes Out with 5…e5 | Strategy
So far we have seen black struggle in both the Maroczy and Hedgehog structures. In part, this is due to the easy play that white’s healthy pawn structure provides him. In this video we examine what can happen when black decides to make a stand and prevent us from carrying out our desired structure. The only way black can do this is by means of the move 5…e5!

I believe this is black’s most challenging try. Not only from a theoretical point of view, but also from a practical and psychological point of view, since there are several lines in which we will have to depart from our setup and engage in some concrete play. Nevertheless, I believe white still has enough resources to keep a grip on the position after 6.Nb3!

At this point we will focus on two moves: 6…d5 and 6…Be6. The former effectively stops c4, while the latter invites it but argues that the knight on b3 is misplaced and will guarantee black enough counter play.

Friday, January 25
IM Valeri Lilov – When to Attack Early | Strategy, Opening
Many players wonder if it’s possible to make early attacks and if so, when are they successful. The answer of that question may be difficult as the early attacks are kind of forbidden by the rules of strategy and especially the one suggesting “Don’t engage any attack or complications before you complete your whole piece development”. Nevertheless, every once in a while it’s actually possible to begin an early attack. When? Check out IM Valeri Lilov’s latest lecture to find the answer!

Monday, January 14
IM Bill Paschall The Best of Bronstein, Part 7 | Strategy
In this part we see Bronstein playing creatively with Black against a weaker master. Honfi was a solid International Master who was posthumously awarded the title of GM. This game features a very closed system in the French Defense which is a situation where the stronger player can use his strategic understanding to wear down the opponent. Honfi makes some positional mistakes in the middlegame, but it is Black’s sacrifice of a pawn for a coordinated attacking force that decides the battle.

Tuesday, January 15
FM Dennis Monokroussos One Mistake Is All You Get: An Impressive Sveshnikov Win from the Women’s Olympiad | Opening Traps, Tactics
It’s not only super-GMs and even “ordinary” GMs whose games are worth our while; mere mortals often play wonderful chess, too. Case in point: this game from the 2018 Women’s Olympiad. The players went into a sharp line of the Sveshnikov Sicilian, and while Carbajal might have thought she had outfoxed her opponent, it turns out that she had fallen into the trap instead. Padmini played a great game, finishing with a very well executed attack.

Wednesday, January 16
GM Nadya Kosintseva The Importance of Centralization in Queen Endgames | Endgame
In this lecture, I will discuss with you three instructive queen endgames to illustrate the most important principle of this sort of ending. Based on my own experience, queen endgames pretty often are just about centralization. Indeed, if we think logically, we can conclude that the queen is best placed in the center of the board from where it can aim at all directions. Keeping this rule in mind can help you to save time during the games, especially if you cannot calculate everything to the end and should make an intuitive decision. In this case, for instance, sacrificing a pawn or two but keeping the queen in the center can be preferable to defending or going to the edge in trying to win material.

Thursday, January 17
GM Robert Hungaski A Strategic Repertoire Against the Sicilian: Squeezing the Najdorf into a Hedgehog | Strategy
Welcome back! In this second video we leave behind the Maroczy and move on to the Hedgehog, which takes place after the moves 5.f3 a6 6.c4. Understandably, this is the most likely move order you will face from players that intend to play the Najdorf before they run into the unpleasant surprise of 5.f3. In my personal experience, this has been by far the most common reply I’ve faced.

Even though our setup will be exactly the same as in the Maroczy, black’s ideas are quite different. In the Hedgehog structure black is constantly trying to carry out the d5 pawn break and we must remain vigilant to prevent it on every turn. If we manage to do this (and I believe white has all the necessary resources at hand), then black’s position will be reduced to absolute passivity.

Friday, January 18
GM Leonid Kritz Shocking the Eventual Ukrainian Champion After Being Strategically Outplayed | Strategy, Tactics
A very interesting game from both strategic and tactical point of view. First, this is a good example how to punish White for lack of aggression in the beginning of the game – 4…b5 is a really nice idea by Korobov, who went on the win the event. But second, the way White turned the tables tactically is still impressive – and after a defensive slip, the final mating attack culminates in a stunning queen sacrifice!

Monday, January 7
IM Bill Paschall – The Best of Bronstein, Part 6 | Middlegame, Strategy
In part six of the series we see a great example of David Bronstein’s appreciation for fundamental principles and his inherent intuition about coordination of the forces. This rich example features a typically offbeat opening, and an early queen exchange, but fear not because the endgame is full of life and lessons! Once again the great masters endgame technique is as good as ever and we learn a valuable lesson about the active king!

Tuesday, January 8
FM Dennis Monokroussos  – A Sharp, Short, Semi-Brilliant Sicilian Draw | Tactics
Alexei Shirov is renowned for his ultra-sharp style, and while Vladimir Kramnik had his solid stage he has often been a firebrand in his own right. This game features a razor-sharp line of the Rauzer that might have seemed perfect to the players at the board, finishing in a thrilling, short draw. The game had its brilliant turns, but there were misses, too. It’s a wonderfully entertaining game, and it’s fun trying to find the tactics that these great players missed.

Wednesday, January 9
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Statics and Dynamics in Exchange Slav | Opening
Some may consider Exchange Slav as a boring opening. However, it can quickly become dynamic and tactical as seen from this game. Can you find the beautiful winning idea for White that involves two pawn sacrifices?

Thursday, January 10
GM Robert Hungaski – A Strategic Repertoire Against the Sicilian: Maroczy Bind Against Dragon Systems | Strategy
Hi there! And thank you for tuning in to my lecture series on how to face the Sicilian. If you’re a 1.e4 player, then the Sicilian must always be on your mind. Instead of engaging black in long theoretical discussions, my goal is to provide you with a system that controls the center, based on the Maroczy/Hedgehog pawn structures. Our starting position will be the one that arises after the moves 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3.

Friday, January 11
IM Valeri Lilov – Keeping the Advantage | Strategy
Learning how to keep an advantage isn’t easy because it takes precision and time to find the right moment for a breakthrough without risking the edge. In this video, you will learn some of the key steps to help you maintain your advantage while you keep increasing it at the same time!

Monday, December 31
IM Bill Paschall – The Best of Bronstein, Part 5 | Strategy, Tactics
The example in part five is a typical game where Bronstein exhibits his universal skills in both strategy and tactical play. David showed an ability to play many different opening systems and in this case the strategic and “Nimzovichian” Defense first essayed by Nimzovich. We see good strategic play in terms of pawn structure and coordination; a Bronstein hallmark! Unfortunately no endgame this time around as David wrapped it up tactically in the middle game with nice tactics.

Tuesday, January 1
Carlsen – Caruana World Championship, 2018, Game 12: Most Controversial Game of the Match | Opening, Strategy
This is the last classical game of the WC match 2018 and the one that was debated the most, at least in the media. The reason is simple – Carlsen agreed on a draw in a position where he had a good chance to play for the win. Well, his decision was absolutely correct and two days later we all saw why. Do not forget – a WC match is not a show, it’s all about the final result.

Wednesday, January 2
FM Dennis Monokroussos – A Brilliancy from the 2018 U.S. Championship | Strategy, Tactics
Fabiano Caruana may not have won many games (ok, any games) in the World Championship, but that isn’t much comfort to anyone not named Magnus Carlsen. (Who didn’t beat Caruana either, in classical chess.) Caruana’s play in 2018 has been outstanding, and one of his best games this year came against Varuzhan Akobian in the U.S. Championship. Akobian played the French, as usual, as Caruana came well-prepared. The entire game was a model, so much so that one might doubt Black’s play as far back as 8…b6 with 9…Qc7. It was a logical and beautiful game, a model for white players and a concern for Francophiles who would follow in Akobian’s footsteps.

Thursday, January 3
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – How to Defend Against the Two Bishops | Tactics, Endgame
It’s not easy to play vs the Bishop Pair. Yet, there’s one effective concept everyone should learn, the pawn blockade! Do you know which color to put the pawns on? Do you know when to castle or when to leave the king in the center? All of these questions are answered by this must-see video!

Friday, January 4
IM Valeri Lilov – Balancing Positional and Tactical Chess | Strategy, Middlegame
One of the greatest secrets of the masters is their brilliant ability to bring up tactical mastery, while they keep adding valuable improvements towards their position. It is important that we do both as a part of the overall, long-term plan that can advance our position and let us fight for advantage.

Monday, December 24
IM Bill Paschall – The Best of Bronstein, Part 4 | Middlegame, Strategy
In part four of the series Bronstein essays an unusual variation with White in the Falkbeer Counter Gambit. White gains a space advantage in the opening and displays his characteristic high level positional play! Bronstein displays again his universal strengths as both a master of strategic play and tactics.