Monday, September 28
IM Bill Paschall – Capablanca-Lasker: 1921 World Championship Match Highlights – Part 1 | Openings
Capablanca finally gets a match with Lasker, something which happens ironically only after Lasker relinquishes the title. Lasker, therefore, playing as a challenger, begins the match soldily, but after four uneventful draws, blood is finally drawn in game five. Lasker plays actively and sacrifices an exchange, maintaining the balance as Black with the initiative. Unfortunately, Black has only enough compensation to draw, but he in fact blunders in time pressure with the first decisive game going to Capablanca.
Tuesday, September 29
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Another Battle of World Champions: Smyslov-Tal, 1959 | Openings, Strategy, Endgame
How do the titans of chess withstand the test of time? GM Perelshteyn shows you an amazing positional masterpiece from the 1959 Candidates Tournament, Smyslov vs Tal. All of White’s moves are approved by today’s modern Neural Network Engines, Stockfish and Leela. This once again shows us how important it is to study the classics. The ideas from this game can still be applied today!
Wednesday, September 30
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Against Tal, There’s Only Safety in Good Moves | Tactics
When playing a tactical genius like Mikhail Tal, it’s natural to aim for safe positions, if possible. (Someone should have told me that when I played him in a simul years ago!) GM Vladimirov seemed to have this in mind when he went for a symmetrical Benoni with 10.exd5 instead of a favorable Modern Benoni with 10.cxd5. Perhaps he was similarly motivated when he played 15.Bh6, but whether he played this out of a concern for safety (exchange off the opponent’s good pieces) or with attacking ambitions, it was a mistake. In what looks like a quiet position, Tal found a proverbial bolt from the blue, and White was almost immediately lost. Tal finished in style, demonstrating that tactics are everywhere in chess, and a player’s only safety is in good moves.
Thursday, October 1
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Two Queen Sacrifices in the Opening | Tactics
Many of us, who have studied classic games of the former world chess champions and other top players of the past and the present, are amazed by famous queen sacrifices from their games. Many of us have dreamed of playing an immortal queen sacrifice at least once in a lifetime but rarely have a chance to make this dream come true. In this lecture I will introduce to you two games in which White sacrificed the queen almost at the start of battle in theoretically known positions to make outcome less predictable. So, if you are looking for a chance to sacrifice your queen, you might think about including the same variations in your repertoire.
Friday, October 2
GM Robert Hungaski – Good Things About the Bad Bishops | Strategy
We all know to avoid bad bishops. But even bad bishops can have their redeeming qualities. Let’s take a look.