Monday, January 20
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Gelfand Gives a Lesson on Endgame Pawn Weaknesses | Strategy, Endgame
It’s not often that you see a SuperGM lose in such an instructive game. Yet, this is exactly how Chucky (Ivanchuk) gets schooled by Gelfand. Gelfand induces a tiny pawn weakness, which looks insignificant at first. Yet, with every trade we get to see his deep strategic idea come alive – the winning K+N endame! Who does he credit with this deep understanding of the game? Of couse, the classical games of Rubinstein! The lesson is quite clear: study your classics kids!
Tuesday, January 21
IM Bill Paschall – Paul Keres Hidden Gems, Part 2 | Middlegame, Endgame
Paul Keres is a chess icon for many reasons. He was famously one of the greatest players of all time not to become World Champion. His ability to attack was legendary, and his versatility playing with White particularly 1.e4 1.d4 and even 1.c4 made him difficult for even the strongest players to deal with. It seems that perhaps his greatest asset was his “universal” style. In this game we see not so much his menacing tactics, but a more or less perfect positional game from beginning to endgame. This game could have been played just as well by Rubinstein or Petrosian. Clearly Keres was not just a great tactician.
Wednesday, January 22
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Brilliancy Everywhere – Tactics
I had never heard of Vitaly Bernadskiy, and I’m guessing you probably hadn’t either, but wow! After this game, that should change. His opponent, fellow grandmaster Marc Narciso Dublan, didn’t seem to do anything too terribly wrong when he played 18.Nh1, aimed against the plan of …h4-h3, but with a series of spectacular sacrifices Dublan – and all of us – learned that this was not the case. Watch, and enjoy the ride.
Thursday, January 23
GM Leonid Kritz – Pawns Don’t Move Backwards, Part 3 – Strategy
A typical example of how moving forwards with the pawns and trying to capture short-term initiative can cost in the long-term because the squares that are being weakened by the pawn moves will remain weak for the rest of the game. In this game it was the square c5 that played the crucial role. Great demonstration of how to use strategic weaknesses in your opponent’s position.
Friday, January 24
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Meet the English with 1…e5 – Part 2 | Strategy
This is the second of two lectures in which we consider a pretty popular variation of the English system that arises after 1.c4 e5. Choosing this move order White, on one hand, avoids some classical variations that Black could play in the case of 1.d4 but, on the other hand, allows Black to take the center sooner. We will consider two different set-ups: one when White brings his light-squared bishop to the long diagonal playing g3 and another one when White keeps his bishop on the f1-a6 diagonal playing e3. Depending on White’s development, Black picks his plan: he either pushes one more pawn to the middle, playing d5 (which is typical for g3-Bg2 lines), or instead postpones pawn play and first brings his dark-squared bishop to b4 to attack White’s c3-knight. In many cases the positions that arise in this variation resemble the Sicilian pawn structures where White plays as though Black and vice versa. The game can be pretty dynamic compared to the closed positions with 1.d4 but not so concrete as we can see in the 1.e4 openings. As for me, 1.c4 e5 is the best move order from Black’s point of view to allow him to fight for the initiative from the beginning of the game.