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New DVD of the week – Who Needs Openings?

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Who Needs Openings?

By IM Bill Paschall

Recommended for Intermediate – Advanced Players

Is opening theory out of control? IM Bill Paschall takes us through a series of games where he used sound chess principals but stayed outside conventional opening methods. This confused his opponents and took them outside of their game. See his examples and learn how once you know the rules, you can break them and win! More

Content: 1.25 hours of instruction and analysis in a series of 3 lectures.

Members of ChessLecture.com rated this series a 4.13 out of 5

Fans on Chesslecture.com said: Bill you keep this up and all those authors cranking out books on opening theories are going to go broke! Really enjoyed this positional struggle and learned a lot. Thanks!

IM Bill Paschall currently resides in Budapest, Hungary. Bill was the Boylston Chess Club Champion 2002, finished 1st at the Foxwoods Open 2002, three time New England Open Champion, and has defeated more than 20 IGM’s in tournament play. Bill has extensive experience training both adults and children privately and in the schools.

New Chess Videos for May 19 – May 23

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Monday, May 19 IM Valeri Lilov   Taking on Closed Positions (strategy, middlegame)
Many chess players like to play opened, highly tactical positions in which they can look for attacks and create most threats against the opponent. Nevertheless, there are some games in which the opponent chooses to avoid exchanging pawns in attempt to block and close the position. When that happens, we find ourselves in the so called closed positions. The ability to evaluate and correctly plan our pieces is all that matters in these kind of positions. Learn how to play them with IM Valeri Lilov!

Tuesday, May 20 GM Leonid Kritz   First Loss of New World Champion (opening, strategy)
An important game from the theoretical view point. Not because white managed to come up with anything new, but rather because black did show how you should not play this line. The most interesting aspect of the game is that Magnus Carlsen lost – it happens so rarely that any such game is worth looking at. Obviously, if black played normally with h5 and Bd8 instead of trying to bring his king to c8, his position would remain very solid. One more example to remind you how you should play to keep the position drawish.

Wednesday, May 21 FM Dennis Monokroussos  The Queen’s Gambit and Friends. Part 11: Sokolov’s Slimy Semi-Tarrasch (opening)
Many chessplayers are unaware of the Semi-Tarrasch, and those that know of it generally don’t know much about it. It is coming back into fashion, at least somewhat, so it’s worth taking a little time to know what’s going on. In this video I go through some of the moveorder issues with this variation, and then cover a razor-sharp gambit idea Ivan Sokolov employed to easily defeat an elite opponent. Beware, 1.d4 players!

Thursday, May 22 IM Bill Paschall  A Thematic Pawn Sacrifice Against the Sicilian May 22 (middlegame, tactics)
White essays an interesting pawn sacrifice against the Sicilian. Black’s queen is drawn out of position and the game becomes very sharp. Black sacrifices a piece, but loses his way in the complications. A fine practical idea by Motylev brings home the full point.

Friday, May 23, GM Eugene Perelshteyn In the Steps of Petrosian: Positional Exchange Sacrifice May 23 (tactics)
In a super-solid Queen’s Gambit Declined, White uncorks a typical exchange sacrifice a la Petrosian. Superior pawn structure and strong knight dominate the rooks. Just as it seems that Black is able to consolidate, White plays a powerful fork with Ng4-f6! winning back an exchange. The attack on the king decides the game.

New Chess Videos for May 5 – May 9

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Monday, May 5 IM Valeri Lilov Morphy’s Opening Initiative (Strategy, opening)
Paul Morphy was the first player ever to combine strong positional sense and fantastic tactical vision. One of Morphy’s greatest skills was to utilize opening initiative. In this lecture, IM Valeri Lilov presents the correct steps to help us get that initiative when our opponent chooses to break the rules.

Tuesday, May 6 IM David Vigorito Caught off Guard in the Opening (opening, tactics)
It is always unpleasant facing a player that one has worked with before. In this game my lackadaisical attitude on move 1 (!) allows my opponent to drag me into an opening I had not studied for years – the Modern Benoni.

Wednesday, May 7 FM Dennis Monokroussos The Queen’s Gambit and Friends. Part 9: Death by Double Blockade (opening)
When Black has an isolated pawn on d5, it’s very common to see White blockade with a piece on d4 (usually a knight). If Black’s b-pawn captures and moves to c6, then there’s a danger of a double blockade, on d4 _and_ c5. In this game we see how bad this can be, but also see that Black can put up a fight even when the double blockade is in place.

Thursday, May 8 IM Bill Paschall Candidates 2014: Aronian Crumbles(opening, endgame)
Aronian uses 2.g6 against the Trompowsky. Black manages to equalize after a strange sequence in the opening by both sides. Instead of forcing a drawn position by grabbing an exchange and defending, Aronian leaves white with an active queenside majority and his own bishop out of play. A masterful endgame, instructively played by the young Andreikin.

Friday, May 9 GM Eugene Perelshteyn The Principle of Two Weaknesses in Practice (middlegame, strategy)
In a seemingly equal position White finds a way to exploit slight weaknesses, first on the queenside and then on the kingside with a timely f5! break. Black sacrifices a pawn to get counterplay, however White continues the same strategy of distracting Black by giving up his extra pawn and breaking through on the kingside.

New Chess Videos for January 20 to January 24

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Monday Jan 20 IM Valeri Lilov Elements of Improvement (Intermediate, Strategy, Middlegame)
The most important elements of improvement have always been a difficult part for many chess players. This lecture introduces some very simple and yet, very valuable concepts about the successful improvement behind any plan we take on.

Tuesday Jan 21 IM Bill Paschall, Petrosian Turns the Tables on Spassky (Intermediate, Middlegame)
In a battle between two world champions, Petrosian masterfully transfers his queen knight to the kingside brilliantly in this game and practically instigates the aggressive Spassky into an incorrect sacrificial plan! A great example of Petrosians’ positional strength and defensive play. The black king ends up fatally exposed after advancing his kingside pawns in classic King’s Indian Defense fashion.

Wednesday Jan 22 FM Dennis Monokroussos, Black’s Blasting Bishops in the Symmetrical Tarrasch, Part 1 (Intermediate, Middlegame)
In this classic game we see that just a bit of carelessness by White can lead to a terrifying attack by Black, and from an opening position that might seem innocuous at first glance. If you ever wondered about the attacking power of the bishop pair in an open board, this game will be a revelation to you. And if you think games like this were only possible 100 years ago, stay tuned for part two…

Thursday Jan 23 GM Eugene Perelshteyn, Instructive Setup for Black against the Maroczy Bind (Intermediate, Openings, Strategy, Tactics)
Black uses a clever move order to force White into an unfavorable Maroczy Bind. Once White’s knight is misplayed on b3, Black plays a5-a4 plan to gain space on the queenside. White’s pieces are lacking good squares, and Black executes the following plan: Qa5,Nd7-c5,Be6. Seeking counterplay, White plays an untimely f4 and gets duly punished.

Friday Jan 24 GM Leonid Kritz: Suffer the Right Way Through the Stonewall. Part 1 (Intermediate, Openings, Strategy)
The Stonewall is an old opening that has reputation of being pretty solid, but very passive. This game deviates from the standard ways we understand the Stonewall and from the very beginning the game takes on a very unusual shape. It looks all the time that White should be winning, but it turns out that things are not as easy as they seem to be, a typical feature of the Stonewall.

New Chess Video Lectures for January 13 to January 17

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This Week’s Lectures

Monday Jan 13 IM Valeri Lilov Steps to a Positional Sacrifice (Intermediate, Strategy)

Tuesday Jan 14 IM Bill Paschall An Exciting Game from the London Chess Classic (Intermediate, Middlegame)
In this instructive game from the 2013 London Chess Classic, underdog GM Gawain Jones illustrates the importance of avoiding simplification when you hold a spacial advantage. GM Gelfand plays too routinely in a “harmless looking” position. Although the opening is not of any serious danger for black, it is always necessary to be careful with positions in which the opponent has a potential kingside attack. Jones whirls up an attack out of seemingly thin air.

Wednesday Jan 15 FM Dennis Monokroussos Capablanca the Prodigy (Intermediate, Middlegame)
Nowadays child chess prodigies are relatively common. There are lots of trainers, and between powerful chess engines and the internet even players from improbable geographical locations have access to great information and the chance to develop quickly. This is a relatively recent phenomenon, however, and that makes the prodigies of the past, like Cuban great Jose Raul Capablanca, all the more amazing. He became the Cuban champion when he was just 13 years of age, and seeing his play in this game against his strong and experienced opponent shows that he had real skill; it wasn’t a case of being a one-eyed king in the land of the blind. The game isn’t just impressive, though; it’s entertaining and of theoretical interest as well, even 112 years later!

Thursday Jan 16 IM Bryan Smith My Final GM Norm, Part 3 (Intermediate, Openings, Tactics, Middlegame)
In the Michigan Fall Festival, Chesslecture video author Bryan Smith got his final norm for the grandmaster title. In this series he shows some of the games from that tournament – part 3 covers his wild draw with GM Anton Kovalyov from the seventh round.

Friday Jan 17 IM David Vigorito Opening Trends: Anti-Grunfeld, Part 2 (Intermediate, Openings, Strategy)

New Chess Video Lectures for January 6 to January 10

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This Week’s Lectures

Monday Jan 6 IM Valeri Lilov Outplaying the Opponent’s Attack (Intermediate, Middlegame)

Tuesday Jan 7 GM Eugene Perelshteyn How a London System Transposes to Benoni! (Intermediate, Opening)
A curious way to transpose to a Benoni from a London System allows White to build up a strong center and big space advantage.  With instructive play White breaks through in the center with a timely e5! push and blows Black off the board.

Wednesday Jan 8 FM Dennis Monokroussos Battle of the Generations (Intermediate, Middlegame)
It’s a pity Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen only played at the very beginning of the latter’s career, but even then their first rapid game proved quite exciting. Carlsen played the opening very well, obtained an advantage, and had Kasparov in huge trouble before the latter showed better technique and drew the game. (A double role-reversal! Carlsen played better than Kasparov in the opening, and Kasparov played better in the late middlegame and ending.) Carlsen’s ability and fearlessness proved a portent of things to come.

Thursday Jan 9 GM Leonid Kritz How to Avoid Najdorf (Intermediate, Openings, Strategy)
Najdorf Variation of Sicilian Defense is one of the most popular and at the same time one of the largest openings with regard to the volume of theory you need to learn in order to play against it. Most of the players simply do not have enough time to study just one opening. This is why pretty often it makes sense to avoid the main lines and play a variation that is rare and does not promise an opening advantage, but one you were able to prepare and understand at home. Knowing ideas is more important than knowing exact moves sometimes. This lecture covers one such possibility of how to avoid Najdorf main line.

Friday Jan 10 IM David Vigorito Opening Trends: Anti-Grunfeld, Part 1 (Intermediate, Openings, Strategy)

AllThingsChess, the ChessLecture.com blog

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The next time you visit ChessLecture.com, you’ll see our new home page with several new features, including a feed from our new blog, AllThingsChess, and a site tour for visitors and new users. We will be posting regularly, along with guests, so I invite you to engage with us in the comments section on those posts.

Our blog is part of an expanded mobile site we will be launching later this month in order to better support our mobile users and new visitors seeing us for the first time. We are busy expanding our outreach to inform more chess enthusiasts and players about what ChessLecture.com has to offer. If you have thoughts or suggestions to share, visit our Facebook Page, our blog or email me any time at dawn.novarina@chesslecture.com.