Monday, December 12 IM Valeri Lilov How to Punish a Bad Opening (openings)
How to punish your opponent if he plays badly in the opening? IM Lilov tries to provide some good suggestions on how you can acquire the important qualities you need to get an advantage if the opponent makes the wrong opening moves.
Tuesday, December 13 IM Bill Paschall European Club Cup 2016 Part 1 – The London Strikes Again (strategy, tactics)
Grandmaster Romanov gives a powerful display of positional chess in the London System. Black makes several positional mistakes in the opening, including an early exchange on d4, releasing the tension too early, and later playing the weakening 16…g5, loosening his light squares. White breaks through via a sacrificial attack on move 24. This game features good play by white both strategically and later exploiting his advantage by tactical means.
Wednesday, December 14 FM Dennis Monokroussos The Not-So-Safe London System (openings, tactics)
In a way, this was one of the strangest games of the year. In late 2015 Sergey Karjakin showed how to handle the London System with Black, and in our main game, played at the start of 2016, he played the London with White, and was crushed by the same system he used in the earlier game! Of course Karjakin varied from the earlier game, but the change wasn’t for the better, and he was crushed. In this video I try to offer an overview of some of the most important ideas in one of the main Anti-London Systems, so that you can play either side of the opening with some degree of confidence.
Thursday, December 15 IM David Vigorito Going to the Well Once Too Often (opening, middlegame)
Facing my nemesis Alexander Ivanov for the sixty-something time, I go for a solid-looking line of the Najdorf that I had previous success with. The middlegame that arises was considered to be equal or just a sliver better for White, but this latest game shows that White has a bigger advantage than theory had considered.
Friday, December 16 GM Bryan Smith A Sharp Answer to the 4.Qc2 Nimzo-Indian, Part2 (tactics)
In this video, GM Smith shows one of his games where he met the 4.Qc2 Nimzo-Indian, and used the sharp but classical response 4…d5. This game will focus on White’s move 5.a3.