Monday, August 14, IM David Vigorito A Slav-Grunfeld (opening, endgame)
Facing a student is never easy. In this game I face up to my opponent’s pet line which I always found to be annoying. An Anti-Slav ends up looking a bit like a Grunfeld and it is even classified by ECO as such. The resulting pawn structure is one that I like and it is instructive in understanding the battle of bishops vs. knight and the importance of pawn breaks.
Tuesday, August 15, IM Bill Paschall Petrosian on the King’s Indian Attack, Part 3 (opening, strategy)
Petrosian essays the KIA against the Sicilian Defense. In this lecture we see the importance of White’s strong point in the center at e4. Black creates many pawn weaknesses, which white is easily able to exploit in the endgame. Black’s play was disorganized and his pieces were uncoordinated throughout.
Wednesday, August 16, FM Dennis Monokroussos Attacking Improv by Magnus Carlsen (opening, tactics)
Here’s another remarkable blitz game by Magnus Carlsen from the Leuven tournament. His opening choice and some of the subsequent decisions were at least as crazy as they were good, but he made the most of the messy positions that resulted. His feeling for the initiative was fantastic, and while MVL managed to avoid coming under a fatal attack the result was just as bad. Carlsen achieved absolute domination on the board, such that when Black resigned on move 48 his two remaining pieces, excepting the king, were back on their original squares. Very impressive!
Thursday, August 17, GM Leonid Kritz A Crazy Caro-Kann (openings, strategy)
Given huge volumes of theory, today people start to look for “alternative risk premiums” in chess – absolutely irrational, rare lines that should not promise any serious advantage under normal circumstances, but with extensive computer preparation in the background, they can be very dangerous. Here we see one such attempt by Evgeny Najer, who surprises his opponent in the opening and gets a very nice position after some initial complications.
Friday, August 18, GM Eugene Perelshteyn How to Outplay Your Opponent from Equal Positions (openings, strategy),
Do you often find yourself struggling to find a plan in the balanced middlegame? Watch and learn from GM Perelshteyn how to apply tiny pressure on your opponent without weakening your own position. In this game, after playing well for a while, Black succumbs to pressure and opens up the game — but only to find her king in mating net!