Monday, August 31
IM Bill Paschall – World Chess Championship 1910: The Controversial Lasker-Schlechter Match
– Part 2 | Opening, Endgame
Lasker came very close to winning this fourth game, but it is debatable whether he actually achieved a winning position. Schlechter shows great skill in defense. The game is also notable for Lasker’s use of the early 8.a4, an almost forgotten line , against the Open Spanish. Certainly a fighting draw by both sides in this contest.
Tuesday, September 1
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Chucky Demonstrates The Power of The Half-Open File! | Opening, Strategy, Endgame
It’s not often that you see a top GM completely outplayed positionally. Yet, this is exactly what Vasily Ivanchuk does to a very strong Romanian GM. Black played a solid opening, traded into a seemingly equal endgame – however, he gave White a half-open file and in the hands of the Ukrainian genius, this is more than enough! Chucky gives a masterclass of endgame technique akin to the best games of Rubinstein and Ulf Andersson.
Wednesday, September 2
FM Dennis Monokroussos – A Drop of Poison in the 4.Bd2 Nimzo-Indian | Tactics
For a very long time 4.Bd2 was considered a harmless way of facing the Nimzo-Indian – if it was considered at all. Recently, however, this move has caught the attention of even elite players, and it turns out that Black cannot just “do anything” and equalize. This game is an excellent illustration. Abrahamyan makes all sensible-looking moves against Artemiev, and yet she found herself clearly worse after her 11th move and was lost by move 16. There are some important lessons for us, regardless of which side of this sort of position we’re likely to play – have a look.
Thursday, September 3
GM Leonid Kritz – Strategic Brilliance Ends with Tactical Disaster | Strategy, Tactics
In this game Black demonstrated a very solid strategic understanding and completely outplayed her opponent. A series of smart decisions led to a position that was clearly better after 21…f5. Unfortunately, Black then made a typical mistake – she decided to force the game instead of continuing to play slowly, and so after 22…f4 everything turned upside-down and eventually White took over the initiative and won.
Friday, September 4
GM Robert Hungaski – Lowenthal: The Original …e5 Sicilian! Part 2 | Openings, Strategy
In the second installment of the series we will be moving on to what I consider, theoretically speaking, the critical test. I am referring to 7.Qd1. I always like to make the distinction between an opening’s theoretical and practical value. I believe this is the most challenging theoretical line, but not the most practical one. In all the blitz games I’ve played, I’ve found that it’s very easy for White to lose his way since a lot of counter-intuitive computer moves need to be made for White to achieve an advantage. In this video I will introduce you the basic ideas at play after 7.Qd1, White’s sidelines within it and all of Black’s historical attempts at achieving equality that have proven insufficient thus far.