Monday, July 28 IM Valeri Lilov The Advantage of Fast Development (strategy, openings)
Many chess players know that fast development is essential for a solid opening and good start for the middlegame. The question asked is just one: Why is it so important to develop fast? Answering that question is the key to unlocking the secrets of the successful opening play. Let us dig into this direction and improve your understanding of opening play.
Tuesday, July 29 IM Bill Paschall A Creative Nimzo by Karjakin (openings, tactics)
Karjakin gets creative with Black in a fairly rare line of the Nimzo. The move 8.b4 by GM Milov is uncommon in the Reshevsky variation , and Karjakin uses the classic Queen’s Gambit plan of b5 , and Nb6 to c4 to create a monster knight within the white position. Milov hesitates in the opening and is unable to achieve the classic plan of f3 and e4 with the central pawn majority. With White’s play stopped in its tracks, Karjakin turns the game into a King’s Indian, and with his dark squared bishop still on the board, conducts a decisive attack on the white king. Not your typical Nimzo-Indian !
Wednesday, July 30 FM Dennis Monokroussos How to Exploit Weak Squares (openings)
Most of us are familiar with ready-made holes, like the d5 square in the Najdorf Sicilian, but sometimes one must create such holes seemingly from scratch. That’s what Dutch great Jan Timman does in this game, and he offers a positional master class. First he creates the hole, then he makes sure his opponent can’t fill it, and then finally he occupies and uses it on the way to winning a positional masterpiece.
Thursday, July 31 IM David Vigorito The World Champion Falls to the King’s Indian (opening, strategy)
Carlsen plays his “customer” Radjabov and goes for a rather quiet line in the King’s Indian. It is Black, however, who has a better grasp of the King’s Indian’s subtleties. Carlsen gets a little too creative and Radjabov takes what he is given and finishes off the champ very efficiently.
Friday, August 1 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Grudge Match vs. Macieja in the Advanced Caro-Kann” (endgame)
White chooses the aggressive Short system to take revenge for the previous loss against Macieja (see previous lecture “Spectacular Queen Sac for Domination”). However, Black is up to the challenge and finds a way to simplify intro an instructive R+N vs R+B endgame. Clearly White’s bishop is better, but the tide turns and he finds himself defending. Watch and learn not to repeat the same mistakes!