Monday, August 1 IM Valeri Lilov Master Wild Positions! (strategy, middlegame)
Wild positions are not easy to play. We often find ourselves in a challenging situation with a limited number of moves and many weaknesses for both sides. Check IM Lilov’s important suggestions on handling this type of positions in chess.
Tuesday, August 2 IM Bill Paschall Elite Games from the Capablanca Memorial 2016 Part 2 (openings, endgame)
Ivanchuk uses a rare defense against the Spanish, attributed to the late Norwegian IM Svein Johannessen. This line follows a game the author of the video actually played with GM Nebosa Niksevic in 2001 and it seems that Ivanchuk is wise to play the improvement 15…Kf7! which was suggested by Niksevic in the post-mortem of our game. Interestingly, the whole game is based on a fantastic Spassky game against Taimanov from the 1955 USSR Championship , which was published and analyzed in the classic and (OUT OF PRINT!) Modern Chess Opening Theory by GM Alexey Suetin.
Wednesday, August 3 FM Dennis M. A Positional Masterpiece vs the Kan (tactics)
In 1972 Anatoly Karpov was a rapidly rising star while Mark Taimanov was still one of the best players in the world. The players were closely matched in terms of rating, but Karpov thoroughly outclassed him in their battle from the USSR Team Championship. Karpov was a great specialist on both sides of the Kan Sicilian, and although it was Taimanov who introduced the first new idea in the game it was Karpov who more clearly understood what was going on. While the computer shows that Taimanov’s position may not have been as bad as most commentators thought, at least not as early as they thought, he was still thoroughly outplayed in grand style. The game is very instructive, but further description will ruin the surprises. Have a look for yourself!
Thursday, August 4 GM Leonid Kritz The Dangerous Berlin
Another brilliant game by Vladimir Kramnik in his favorite opening – Berlin Wall. As so often, it looks like White plays without taking on much risk. However, the position of Black becomes better and better and all of a sudden White falls apart. A great combination of positional understanding and tactical ability demonstrated by Russia’s strongest
player.
Friday, August 5 GM Bryan Smith Exploring Rook Endgames, Part 4: Spielman- Rubinstein (endgame)
Every series on rook endings must include an example by their greatest master, Akiba Rubinstein. Here we see how Rubinstein turns his slightly more compact pawn structure into a win, despite the scant amount of material.