Monday, July 17
IM Bill Paschall – World Chess Championship 1894: Lasker Takes the Crown – Part 1 | Opening, Endgame
The reign of World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz comes to end with his match with the young Emanuel Lasker in 1894. The match was decisive, with Lasker being the first to win ten games.
In this series we will highlight the most interesting battles from the event. Although Steinitz battles well in the beginning and end of the match, he simply cannot recover from a decisive stretch where Lasker wins five games in a row against the aging World Champ.
Tuesday, July 17
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – How to Play Drawish Symmetrical Openings for a Win! | Opening, Strategy, Endgame
How is it possible to win totally drawish symmetrical positions? Well, in this game our Russian hero, Vadim Zvyaginsev, shows us the way. One of famous Coach Dvoretsky’s students, he uses all the tools he learned from the great coach: prophylactic thinking, creating weaknesses, and positional exchange sacrifices. White builds up a powerful endgame position and executes his ideas in spectacular fashion. It’s unclear where Black went wrong in this game!
Wednesday, July 17
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Smashing the Petroff | Opening
It’s (almost) always interesting when players who specialize in the same opening face off in that opening. That’s what happened in this battle of Petroff experts, and Caruana got off the first surprise with the very rare 12.Bf4. Wang Hao’s first reply was correct, but he went wrong just one move later, and again the move after that. Caruana didn’t take advantage of an immediate opportunity, but Black’s position remained difficult and the American went on to a crushing victory.
Thursday, July 17
GM Leonid Kritz – Brilliant Strategic Sacrifice | Strategy
From the beginning Black chose a strategy to simplify the game and got into a passive, but solid position. However, the strategy blew up when Goryachkina played d5 and then e5 in the next move, sacrificing the pawn for initiative. Later on, she played very strongly, avoiding the queen exchange, and eventually getting the full deserved point.
Friday, July 17
GM Robert Hungaski – A Fascinating Positional Exchange Sac in the Sveshnikov | Strategy
I will use this opportunity to bring up the Sveshnikov Variation of the Sicilian. This opening has enjoyed a recent surge in popularity thanks to the efforts of World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who has been enjoying great success with it. This is perhaps the sharpest of all Sicilians, and the interplay of dynamic and strategic features makes it fertile ground for interesting discussions. In this video I will be focusing my attention on a sideline Black has been experimenting with, where there is a fascinating positional exchange sacrifice.