Monday, March 2
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Creative New Idea in the Saemisch King’s Indian for Black! | Opening
How do you combine the Benko Gambit and King’s Indian? The answer is given by SuperGM Alexander Grischuk in his game vs the Polish 2700 youngsters Duda. You start with KID and meet the slow Saemisch Nge2 plan with a quick …b5 pawn sacrifice. Then you blow up the center! But wait, there’s more fireworks if White castles queenside. Can you find the winning tactics?
Tuesday, March 2
IM Bill Paschall – The Genius of Leonid Stein, Part 3 | Middlegame
Leonid Stein was a relatively universal player with the White pieces, capable of playing 1.d4, and the English opening as well as everyone’s favorite attacking move 1.e4. In this game we see Stein playing a classical opening in the Ruy Lopez with White. This game features White fighting for domination of the center early with a focus on the key square d5. Stein’s attack is illustrative of how key this point (d5) is in the Spanish game and Sicilian defenses. Black collapses on the White squares; IM Paschall explains why this attack was so successful.
Wednesday, March 2
GM Leonid Kritz – A Strategic Diamond by Dubov | Strategy
A brilliant game that demonstrates two important strategic aspects. First, this is a great example how to apply the principle of two weaknesses. Second, the importance of possessing the open file, even if it does not look like it can be used, is clearly shown in this game. It is fascinating how a position that looks approximately equal falls apart just because White understands better the little nuances of chess.
Thursday, March 2
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Play the Exchange Variation of the Slav Defense | Strategy
In this lecture we will go over the variations of Exchange Slav that arise after the following moves: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5. As for me this system, in spite of the early trade of central pawns and the symmetric pawn structure, can be an interesting alternative to the main lines in which White keeps more tension in the center. One of the main ideas of this opening is to lock Black’s light-squared bishop behind the pawns, or if the bishop goes out, White gets a chance to start an early attack against the b7-point. If Black is not prepared, there are many ways for him to go wrong and end up in a worse position out of the opening.
Friday, March 2
GM Robert Hungaski – A Classical Repertoire vs 1.e4: Steinitz Defense vs the Ruy Lopez, Update #2 Strategy
In this video I revisit the Steinitz Variation of the Ruy Lopez. I got an opportunity to test this line in a crucial game, played in the last round of the 2020 Montevideo Open. My opponent was the strong Cuban GM (now representing Paraguay) Neuris Delgado. He chose the Duras System (placing pawns on e4 and c4), which had been briefly discussed in a previous video (although in a slightly different order). This is an underrated system, no worse than the main lines. Therefore, Black must have a clear idea of which piece trades benefit him, and especially which changes in the pawn structures work in his favor.