Monday, November 14 IM Valeri Lilov Carlsen’s Ruy Lopez (openings)
Magnus Carlsen is one of the history’s most brilliant positional players. His ability to handle the opening structure and prepare a powerful piece domination have inspired many. Study IM Lilov’s new lecture to learn how to world reigning champion tackles the oldest chess opening with finesse!
Tuesday, November 15 IM Bill Paschall Bluffing Like Tal (opening, strategy)
The legendary World Champion Mikhail Tal was knows for his ability to bluff opponents with sacrifices nearly too complicated to calculate. His tradition has been carried on by fellow Latvian GM Alexei Shirov. In the following game, Shirov borrows the element of bluff , so typical of Tal’s style. On 2 occasions white offers the sacrifice of his c-pawn and then invites black to gain a tempo and space with his provocative move 17.Nh4, practically inviting the logical move 17..g5 from black. Shirov’s opponent, Harika, declines all 3 offers from Shirov and plays in an extremely passive and meek style. Harika should have accepted the first pawn sacrifice, and she even missed a miraculous chance to draw the game by force near the end. Perhaps the idea of active play was never on Black’s mind, who was intimidated by the aggressive style of Shirov.
Wednesday, November 16 FM Dennis Monokroussos The Makings of the Man: The Early Karjakin (opening, endgame)
With the World Championship upon us it makes sense to have a look at the participants in action. In this video we take a look at an impressive victory by a young (17-year-old) Karjakin over Alexander Grischuk, and even in this game from nine and a half years ago we see some of the virtues that have propelled him to a world championship match. His opening preparation was remarkably deep, and ability to fight and persevere was also noteworthy. In this game we don’t yet see him put his best foot forward in the endgame: some parts of it were played very well, but there were some inaccuracies and errors as well. But in the end he kept at it, and the final phase was handed magnificently.
Thursday, November 17 GM Bryan Smith Coffeehouse Chess, Part 2 (opening, tactics)
In part two of his series “Coffeehouse Chess”, GM Smith shows a creative, exciting, but also flawed encounter between two unique players from Georgia: Baduur Jobava and Tamas Gelashvili.
Friday, November 18 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Instructive Way To Meet Early Bb5+ in the Nf3,c3 Setup vs the Accelerated Dragon (opening, middlegame, endgame)
Pay attention to White’s opening play after the Bb5+! While …Nc6 is more popular Eugene believes that …Nd7! is better as it prevents White from damaging Black’s pawn structure with Bxc6 later on. Black was better prepared in the opening and could have won material with a nice tactic early on. Can you find it?