Lecturers

Monday, June 15  IM Valeri Lilov Winning with the Moeller (openings, middlegame)
Playing the Ruy Lopez as black can be painful. One of the reasons is the passive and defensive position that black is getting. Here comes the Moeller system! This is an exciting new approach used by top GMs to counter white’s grip!

Tuesday, June 16  IM Bill Paschall Miles on Hypermodernism Part 1 (middlegame, tactics)
Employing a Reti Opening, GM Miles reaches a position from the Benoni in reverse. Black allows Miles to exchange the white “Benoni” bishop on the long diagonal,which normally would benefit black, but begins to suffer from weakened white squares , most notably f5, as a result. Geller’s counterplay on the queenside reaches a dead end as Miles establishes a space advantage and attacking chances on the kingside. Finally, in a difficult position, Geller grabs a poisoned pawn and the resulting attack is decisive. Black is unable to create a fortress in the ending with rook and knight versus queen.

Wednesday, June 17  FM Dennis M. Great Tragedies in Chess History, Part 2 (endgame)
In 1951 David Bronstein led his world championship match with Mikhail Botvinnik by one game with two games to go. As champion, Botvinnik had draw odds for the match, so Bronstein needed to maintain his lead. Botvinnik had White in game 23 (of 24), and this was essentially his last chance to equalize the scores. Bronstein had things under control for quite a while, but bit by bit, almost inexplicably, he succumbed to the pressure and lost the game, something that seemed to haunt him for the rest of his life, for more than 50 years. We’ll have a look at that game, and we’ll also see that he had an interesting chance in game 24 as well, when he  uncharacteristically played it safe rather than going for a very promising attacking option. Stress can overwhelm even the greatest of players, and that’s what happened to Bronstein, who finished with a drawn match and no champion’s title.

Thursday, June 18  GM Eugene P. Instructive game in the French Tarrasch: How to play vs the IQP (openings, strategy)
In a standard French Tarrasch Defense, White tries to exploit the IQP using the typical strategy of blockade and trade of the dark square bishops. However, the game quickly becomes sharp as White sacrifices a pawn for initiative. The ideas of domination and zugzwang are quite instructive!

Friday, June 19  GM Bryan Smith The Clear Play of Bobby Fischer, Part 5 (strategy)
In the midst of his magical 11-0 run in the 1963 U.S. Championship, Fischer routed his strong opponent, William Addison, with the black pieces, using some very instructive positional and strategic themes.

Monday, June 1  IM Valeri Lilov Pawn Structure Ideas
What are the key ideas concerning pawn structures? How and when do we choose to change it? Is it mandatory to attack upon pawn exchanges? All these and more questions come through every player’s mind all the time. See IM Lilov’s new video to learn more on this valuable topic!

Tuesday, June 2  IM Bill Paschall Black with Larsen – Part 5
Larsen employs his favorite Sicilian Dragon with black. Using an enterprising exchange variation, black forces a dangerous situation where his dark squared, “dragon” bishop is unopposed, and the white king’s pawn cover has been weakened. Ivkov fails to exploit some inaccuracies by Larsen in the middlegame and succumbs to a mating attack. An instructive and practical example of playing for a win with black at all cost.

Wednesday, June 3  FM Dennis Monokroussos Great Tragedies in Chess History, Part 1
No one likes to lose in chess, and it’s all the more painful when the loss comes in a big event. Even worse: a painful loss from a winning position! In this game, that’s just what happens to the player with the white pieces, Mikhail Chigorin, and it couldn’t happen at a worse time. If he wins the game, his match for the world championship against Wilhelm Steinitz is tied, and the next player to win a game would win the match. Instead, he lost, and with it lost the match. A painful day for Chigorin, and an important day for chess history as well. Let’s have a look.

Thursday, June 4  IM David Vigorito A Short Beginner’s Q and P Endgame Lesson (with Apologies to Nigel)
The endgame with one side having a Queen and the other having a passed pawn on the seventh rank is important to understand. Depending on the file of the pawn, the position can be a win or a draw. A recent game between Kasparov and Short showed that even strong Grandmasters can goof up this ending! We also look at a well-known trap where K+Q vs K+Q is a win for one side.

Friday, June 5  GM Bryan Smith The Clear Play of Bobby Fischer, Part 3
Bobby Fischer had a famous weak point in his handling of the French Defense. However, in this game against Klaus Darga, he shows no such weakness, as his attack flows smoothly on the dark squares after a pawn sacrifice. After one clear mistake by his opponent, several jiu-jitsu like moves allows him to rapidly break down the black position.

Monday, December 15  IM Valeri Lilov The Quiet Moves (strategy, middlegame)
Have you ever been carried along in the flow of an attack, relentlessly striking at your opponent, but then finding that you are missing just one little thing? Maybe you should stop and think about it, and you may find a quiet move in the position. Check out IM Lilov’s new video to learn more!

Tuesday, December 16  IM Bill Paschall The Dynamic Exchange Slav (opening , tactics)
Black falls behind in development after pawn grabbing in the exchange Slav. In the key moment , the defense could have maintained the balance, but one slip and GM Berczes wins in 28 moves.

Wednesday, December 17  FM Dennis Monokroussos A Fine Win for One of Magnus Carlsen’s Great Predecessors (middlegame, strategy)
Magnus Carlsen recently said that Reuben Fine was one of the players, along with Bobby Fischer and Anatoly Karpov, that he compared himself to. Very high praise! Fine was one of the very best in the world in the 1930s and 1940s, a technically great player who could brutally outplay even his peers at the top of world chess. Fine quit professional chess just before having the chance to fight for the world title, but during his career he produced masterpieces like this one. His opponent, Mikhail Botvinnik, was a future world champion and already at least in the top five in the world, maybe in the top three, but he crushes him like an amateur in this game.

Thursday, December 18  GM Bryan Smith The Creative Play of Baadur Jobava Middlegame (strategy)
In the last year, the Georgian GM Baadur Jobava has emerged as one of the top players in the world as well as a favorite of fans due to his unusual and creative play. Here we will look at his sixth round win over Jan Timman from their recent match, where Jobava shows some unique positional themes and a thematic exchange sacrifice.

Friday, December 19  GM Eugene Perelshteyn Carlsen’s Positional Maneuvering is an Art Form! (middlegame)
Watch and learn how young Carlsen weaves the positional net around Caruana’s solid Slav. Magnus has a remarkable gift to feel where to put each piece! Eventually Black runs out of moves and White executes the central breakthrough.

Monday, July 21 IM Valeri Lilov How to Beat a Grandmaster (strategy)
Fighting a grandmaster sounds like a tremendous task. How about winning against one? The secret to winning against highly rated and experienced players has everything to do with a good strategy. If a player follows the key rules for playing strong players, he has a chance of standing and even defeating very strong opponents.

Tuesday, July 22 IM Bill Paschall A Great Battle from Norway 2014 (middlegame, endgame)
GM Kariakin plays a theoretical line against the Grunfeld, where perhaps his opponent, Alexander Grischuk, was more well prepared. Kariakin is forced to give up the exchange and basically has to fight move to move to avoid being clearly worse. As the battle goes on , Grischuk misses his chances and fails to go for a bailout line basically ensuring a draw. The endgame is pure genius, where Kariakin instructively wins down the exchange with great central pawns and a super active king!

Wednesday, July 23 FM Dennis Monokroussos Sacrificing the Queen for Two Minor Pieces (tactics, middlegame)
Standard chess wisdom has it that if one wants to sacrifice a queen for a couple of minor pieces he should only do so if a couple of pawns are also thrown into the bargain. Assuming, obviously, that the sacrifice is somewhat speculative and not an immediate winner. As a general rule it makes sense, but as usual in chess there are plenty of exceptions. Today’s game offers a glorious exception, and serves as a bit of an opening trap to boot. Florian Handke came up with a new and interesting idea on the spot in a 6.Rg1 Najdorf, and his opponent’s principled play rapidly backfired as the then-future GM won an attractive miniature.

Thursday, July 24 GM Bryan Smith Fighting the Quiet D-Pawn Openings: The Colle System (openings)
In the third part of his series on battling the less-common d-pawn openings, GM Bryan Smith shows a system to combat the Colle, where Black uses the mysterious advantage of being the second player in a symmetrical position

Friday, July 25 Eugene Perelshteyn Simple Endgames Are Not Easy! (endgame)
In a GM vs GM battle, a seemingly simple position was reached after the opening. Yet, it wasn’t simple at all! After minor concessions by Black, White obtained an open file and pressure against the weakened Queenside pawns. White missed the only opportunity of the game with g5! and Ng4! idea to attack the king in the endgame. Instead, he chose a promising rook endgame that turned out to be an easy draw.