Monday, July 27 GM Leonid Kritz Ambiguous Experiments in the Opening (openings, tactics)
Strange enough – Grischuk who has an excellent opening repertoire plays a line that is considered bad and… gets a bad, almost lost, position right after the opening. All Giri needed was to show certain degree of precision, which he partially did, but at some point Grischuk was able to get into complications and almost equalize. A very interesting game in a rare opening and with many tactical and strategic aspects.
Tuesday, July 28 IM Bill Paschall Classic Karpov, Part 2 (openings, tactics)
Karpov finds himself right at home in a line of the Catalan which he has played with both colors. His opponent, super-GM Beliavsky, makes a very audacious capture with the queen on d5 on black’s 13th move. Karpov uncorks a powerful novelty with the move 14. h4 !, which guards the bishop on g5 and leaves the black queen in great danger on d5. Black is never able to neutralize white’s pressure on the the h1-a8 diagonal in this classic Catalan encounter. Black, in desperate trouble, quickly goes astray, trying to solve his problems tactically but missing a classic Karpovian quiet move.
Wednesday, July 29 FM Dennis Monokroussos In Praise of Kieseritzky (tactics)
Lionel Kieseritzky is best known today as the loser of the “Immortal Game” and for the variation named for him in the King’s Gambit. But he was really a talented player in his own right, as we’ll see: a gifted attacker with a nice eye for sacrifices. (See especially the second game fragment in the video, which suggests that he was the first discoverer of a mating pattern named for someone who found it a generation later!)
Thursday, July 30 GM Eugene Perelshteyn How to Win 1st Place Outright Ahead of 7 GMs If You’re Only 14! (endgame, strategy)
Learn endgames from the best! Kamsky slowly outplays his younger opponent in what looks like a equal endgame. Where did White go wrong? Watch and learn how to think in terms of “schemes” and plans and how to attack in the endgame!
Friday, July 31, GM Bryan Smith A Repertoire for White in the Ruy Lopez: Part 1 (openings, strategy)
In this first part of his repertoire series, GM Bryan Smith looks at ways for White to meet the Classical Variation (3…Bc5) against the Spanish.