Monday, May 7
IM Bill Paschall Bombastic Battles in Batumi, Part 3 | Strategy, Opening
This final installment of the series on the European Individual Championship features a matchup of two stars. McShane won 7 games in this event, but had to face a tough customer in this 9th round encounter. The a6 Slav is a confusing and difficult opening , but Korobov handles it here as White in very solid fashion. McShane slowly drifts into a passive position with less space and Korobov finds an impressive tactical sequence to convert his positional edge.
Tuesday, May 8
IM David Vigorito Double Exchange Sacrifice in the Boring Catalan | Opening, Tactics
I take a deeper look at an obscure but important game in a topical Catalan line. After the well-known game So-Nakamura, this unusual line became popular. Here Jakovenko comes up with a clever way of giving up two exchanges, essentially at once! Wojtaszek is taken a back and it looks like he will struggle to hold when he finds an amazing idea to force a draw.
Wednesday, May 9
FM Dennis Monokroussos Caruana Wins Another Tournament with the Petroff | Opening
The Petroff was instrumental in Fabiano Caruana’s victory in the Berlin Candidates, and now he has won a second straight tournament with a last-round victory as Black in a Petroff. Caruana entered the last round half a point ahead of his opponent, Nikita Vitiugov, which made the Petroff an especially reasonable choice. But there was nothing dull or drawish about the game, which saw Caruana achieve a position with lots of play, and he convincingly defeated his previously unbeaten opponent. It wasn’t because Vitiugov did anything crazy, either. It’s simply a good opening that can be played for a win, not just in hopes of a draw.
Thursday, May 10
GM Eugene Perelshteyn A Big Grunfeld fight against 2600+ GM! | Opening
GM Perelshteyn is fresh off his 4th place finish at the prestigious Reykjavik Open 2018. In this game he shows a real GM vs GM battle where good chess, a will to fight, and nice tactics play a major role. Sit back and be entertained by some amazing chess!
Friday, May 11
GM Bryan Smith A See-Saw Battle in Berlin | Tactics
A fascinating battle of attack and defense played out in the seventh round of the Berlin candidates tournament between Aronian and Caruana. In this instance, it was the defense which emerged triumphant.