Monday, May 13
IM Bill Paschall – Best Games from the 2019 Euro Championship, Part 4 | Opening, Strategy
In part four of this series we see a terrific matchup of veteran versus up and coming talent. Boris Gelfand, who has played over 3000 games as a professional faces one of the most promising young players in Andrey Esipenko. Esipenko essays the opening choice of Caruana with 7.Nd5 against the Sveshnikov, with which the American challenger would bend but not break the World Champion in the Sveshnikov. Gelfand has lately abandoned the Najdorf in favor of the Sveshnikov or Accelerated Dragon. In this game his preparation seems reasonable, but Black falters with the classic positional mistake 22…f4. Esipenko is better after an exchange of light bishops and the young GM’s endgame technique looks flawless.
Tuesday, May 14
FM Dennis Monokroussos – Even Magnus Carlsen Was Impressed! | Opening, Strategy
We all know who Vachier-Lagrave is, but who is Karthikeyan? He is an up-and-coming 20-year-old Indian GM who took clear second in the 2019 Gibraltar (super-) Open, coming ahead of many super-GMs including his opponent, whom he defeated in the last round. (Note that “Karthikeyan” begins with “Kar”, which is a sure mark of quality in the chess world!) He took MVL on in the latter’s beloved Najdorf, and completely outplayed him in what looked like a master vs. amateur game. It’s a very impressive performance, and a warning to those who play the line Vachier-Lagrave chose in the game. He missed the critical moment early on, and was soon condemned to suffer. Tune in to see what he should have done!
Wednesday, May 15 GM Leonid Kritz – Pawns Never Move Backwards! | Tactics
The root of all the problems that Anna experienced in this game was due to an early pawn move, 8….a5. The square b5 got weak, and Black suffered for the rest of the game because of weak light squares. White destroyed Black’s idea of preventing the b4-a4 plan and showed one more time that you should pay attention when moving your pawns – they do not go back and the squares that get weak are weak forever!
Thursday, May 16 GM Nadya Kosintseva – Facing the Maroczy Bind in the Accelerated Dragon, Part 1 | Strategy
“Bishop Trading.” In this lecture, we start learning the Maroczy Bind system from Black’s point of view as it arises after the following moves: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4. As for me, it can be White’s best reaction to the Accelerated move order in the Dragon variation. White prefers a minimal positional pressure in the middle of the board to a more aggressive castling queen side followed by a pawn storm on the king side. As a result, White gets more space from the beginning. Black in his turn will try to simplify the position to reduce the number of pieces on the board and so get more room for the rest of his forces. Specifically, the first lecture will cover the lines when Black exchanges a pair of the knights as well as the dark-squared bishops. As a result, Black gets more available squares on the queen side and better control over the center of the board that he tries to emphasize transferring the pieces around the board.
Friday, May 17 GM Robert Hungaski – A Classical Repertoire vs 1.e4: Facing the Scotch Game, Part 3 | Strategy
In our third installment of the Scotch, we will be covering one of White’s most aggressive (and most forcing) options, 5.Nb3. The idea is quite simple, which is why it’s so appealing! White intends to castle and pressure Black both on the kingside and along the d-file.
My recommendation will be to develop the knight to f6, castle and then start jabbing at the b3-knight as soon as possible by means of …a7-a5-a4. This is particularly strong when White develops the bishop to g5. Moreover, should White place the bishop on e3 instead, then preparing the central break …d7-d5 is very effective.