Monday, May 6
IM Bill Paschall – Best Games from the 2019 Euro Championship, Part 3 | Opening, Tactics
Grandmaster Vladislav Artemiev is becoming a serious force to be reckoned with. This Russian GM is now solidly over 2700 after dominating play in the 2019 European Championship. In this game against the Czech Hracek, Artemiev shows a clear understanding of both strategy and tactics in the Tarrasch, while Black seems listless, even undeveloping his pieces at one point without any plan! The final attack by White is pure wizardry! Artemiev clearly deserves the title of European champion as this was just one of a number of amazing games in the event.
Tuesday, May 7
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Bishops and Breakthroughs | Tactics
No series on Vladimir Kramnik would be complete without a look at the 4.Qc2 Nimzo-Indian and his adept handling of the bishop pair. Sergey Tiviakov is a great player, who had been a Candidate and went on to even greater achievements in the ‘00s. Nevertheless, he was comprehensively outplayed in this game in classical style: White took the bishop pair, restricted Black’s minor pieces, prepared a central breakthrough and then won with his better pieces once the center opened up. Your mileage may vary, but we can learn from Kramnik’s template and use it in our own games.
Wednesday, May 8
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – A Fresh Idea from the Youngster: Carissa Yip Crushes the French Defense | Opening, Endgame
What can we learn from the young Carissa Yip at the recent US Women’s Championship? A cool new opening idea in the French Tarrasch variation with an early queen lift! Watch out all the French Players!
Thursday, May 9
GM Leonid Kritz – Pawns Never Move Backwards! | Tactics
Pawns Never Move Backwards!
The root of all the problems that Anna experienced in this game was due to an early pawn move, 8….a5. The square b5 got weak, and Black suffered for the rest of the game because of weak light squares. White destroyed Black’s idea of preventing the b4-a4 plan and showed one more time that you should pay attention when moving your pawns – they do not go back and the squares that get weak are weak forever!
Friday, May 10
GM Robert Hungaski – A Classical Repertoire vs 1.e4: Facing the Scotch Game, Part 2 | Opening
Now we will examine the “old” main line 5.Nxc6. The was the line that first caught the attention of elite players, most notably Kasparov. White will try to argue that his better pawn structure and prospects of pushing his e-pawn forward will secure him a small but lasting advantage.
I propose the humble 5…bxc6, which has always been overshadowed by the flashy 5…Qxf6. The idea is simple: instead of placing the queen on f6, we will seek for a more active post on h4. From here we will put pressure on the kingside, as well as on e4. Moreover, since the f6 square is not available, we will be able to develop the knight there and perhaps strike in the center with a timely …d7-d5!