Monday, June 20 GM Nadya Kosintseva An Introduction to the Isolated Queen Pawn (strategy)
Isolated pawns: are they a weakness or a strength? In this lecture, we will discuss different strategies for the side that has the isolated pawn as well as for the side that plays against the isolated pawn. You will see some typical examples how to develop an initiative, transferring the static weakness of the isolated pawn into a dynamic strength. On another side, you will learn how to reduce the dynamic elements and what exchanges are favorable or unfavorable for both sides.
Tuesday, June 21 IM Bill Paschall Young Guns at the Polish Championship 2016, Part 3 (middlegame, tactics)
White plays the popular Short variation of the advance Caro-Kann. Black uses a slow and weakening plan on the kingside with 7..h6 and 8…g5. The black king is not entirely safe despite the bishop on g7 and White exploits the situation with the logical plan 10.Ne1 and the thematic pawn break 12.f4 . White is able to migrate his pieces to the kingside and a combinational breakthrough is executed in short order. It seems that this game casts serious doubt on Black’s unusual setup. Perhaps an early c5 for Black, recently played by Navara, is still Black’s most thematic and best chance.
Wednesday, June 22 FM Dennis Monokroussos A ‘Rauzing’ Success in the d3 Ruy (openings, tactics)
White is playing d3 in all sorts of Ruy Lopez variations nowadays, typically to avoid the Berlin endgame (4.d3 vs. 3…Nf6) and the Marshall Gambit (with d3 being played on move 6, or sometimes on move 5 to avoid the Open Ruy as well). But this is not a modern invention; players have been using this more restrained system for many years, going all the way back to at least Wilhelm Steinitz. In today’s game, we’ll see it used as an anti-Breyer weapon by the late great Leonid Stein, one of the strongest (and unluckiest) chess players of the 1960s and ’70s. Oddly, his opponent, Larry Evans, turns the game into a Chigorin, and then odder still played …d5 and …dxe4, which meant that he in effect executed the Rauzer plan against himself! (The Rauzer plan occurs when White plays dxc5 – or dxe5 – in a traditional Closed Ruy structure with pawns on c3, d4, and e4 vs. pawns on c5, d6, and e5. The idea is to create a permanent hole on d5, in the hopes of exploiting it with a well-timed Nd5.) Of course White isn’t just winning by virtue of enacting the Rauzer plan, but it can be dangerous for Black – as we’ll see in this game. Stein wins in style, finishing with some nice sacs and tactical tricks.
Thursday, June 23 IM Valeri Lilov Piece Activity Domination (strategy, middlegame)
Everyone knows that piece activity means to have your pieces more advanced and controlling. Unfortunately, achieving that can prove much more difficult. The best way to learn how piece activity works is to study the great grandmaster games and their unique approach to dominating with their pieces. Follow IM Lilov’s lecture to learn more about piece activity and power play!
Friday, June 24 GM Bryan Smith A Repetoire Against the Modern With 4.Be3, Part1 (openings)
The Pirc and Modern are cousins. In this series (related to “A Repertoire Against the Pirc with 4.Be3”), GM Bryan Smith shows how the same system can be used against the Modern Defense. In this first part, we will see how to meet the fashionable but quite risky 4…a6.