Monday, August 24
IM Bill Paschall – World Chess Championship 1910: The Controversial Lasker-Schlechter Match – Part 1 | Openings, Endgame
Lasker accepted Schlechter’s challenge to a match but after initial negotiations for a thirty game match, it was announced that a shorter match of ten games would be played. Lasker and his opponent played hard fought games through the event, but the short nature of the match meant that every game counted immensely. In game one Lasker seems to equalize comfortably, but becomes overly ambitious and very nearly loses to start the match!
Tuesday, August 25
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Winning with the Scandinavian: When Two Knights are Better than Two Bishops | Openings, Strategy
Are you tired of learning long theoretical lines? Do you want a simple opening to get a solid game? Wait no more as GM Perelshteyn shows you a simple plan in the Scandinavian Defense with Qa5. Black simply gets a Caro-Kann structure with easy play. White often obtains a bishop pair, but as you will see they are inferior to the knights! It’s instructive how Black undermines White’s pawn center and gets himself a nice outpost for the knight. Seeing that his position is deteriorating, White embarks on an unsound piece sac and gets promptly punished!
Wednesday, August 26
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Legends of Chess 2020: A Battle That Lives Up to the Hype | Strategy, Tactics
When world champions face off, we as spectators hope for something special. It doesn’t always happen, but this time it did. There were mistakes, as one would expect in a game as complicated as this one, played at a very short time control, but there were brilliant ideas as well. Both Anand and Kramnik showed great ingenuity, resilience, and imagination, even as the advantage swung back and forth throughout this titanic struggle. I’m not sure how instructive this game was, but it was so rich and entertaining that it doesn’t matter. Enjoy!
Thursday, August 27
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Play the Caro-Kann Defense – Part 8: Classical Main Lines for Black, Part 2 | Strategy
In our final pair of Caro-Kann lectures we will go over the classical system, when White moves the queenside knight out on the third move to protect the center. It allows him to maintain the tension in the middle of the board and at the same time keep the position open. After 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 White usually retreats the knight with a tempo with 5.Ng3 and after 5…Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Black has to decide in what direction he is willing to castle. In these lectures, I will offer a plan with a castling queen side that leads to a solid but slightly passive position. To get room for the pieces Black will either prepare and play c5 or occasionally e5. At the same time, since the Black king can be open he needs to be accurate and prepare the pawn advance carefully. As another idea, Black may want to trade some minor pieces to get more space for the big army (queen and rooks). In general, you cannot expect a lot of counterplay playing the Caro-Kann for Black – at least in the beginning of the game – but if you like solid set-ups and are ready to wait it can be a good fit for you. Remember, White cannot break-through quickly and so can be provoked on active play that in fact just weakens his position and gives Black a chance to find his counterattacks. In the first lecture, we consider White’s plan of Qe2 and Ne5, and in the second, White’s plan of exchanging the g3 knight with Ne4.
Friday, August 28
GM Robert Hungaski – – Lowenthal: The Original …e5 Sicilian! Part 1 | Openings
Welcome to my series on the Lowenthal Sicilian. I first began looking into this unusual variation when it became clear that due to the COVID-19 epidemic we would have to be playing many more online, and especially blitz, tournaments. I believe this to be an incredibly practical choice. Moreover, my analysis has shown that it is not nearly as bad as its reputation. In this video we will begin by discussing one of the main lines, which I have come to see as completely harmless for Black. That is, 7.Qxf6. Believe it or not, the whole point of the Lowenthal is to play a typical “Sicilian Endgame.” One where White gets the bishop pair and Black gets better control over the center thanks to his e5-pawn.