Monday, October 24 IM Valeri Lilov Attacking Chess – Open Lines (middlegame)
Some of the greatest players in history proved how important it is to open lines in order to strengthen your attack. Watch IM Lilov’s new lecture to see how Garry Kasparov himself utilizes this concept to punish Vishy Anand in a great style!
Tuesday, October 25 IM Bill Paschall Battles from Baku Part 2 (strategy, tactics)
Kramnik plays a technical and safe type of variation with White, avoiding any sharp complications against a weaker Grandmaster. In the past he had played 10.Nc3 but makes the strange and harmless deviation with 10.c4, which goes unexploited by Vocaturo, who plays rather routinely. Kramnik goes into somewhat interesting complications with the deep and complex move 17.Be7 !? At first Kramnik sacrifices two pieces for rook, and eventually a piece for several pawns to cause serious problems in Black’s coordination. It seems that with perfect play black could hold on, but this would take a superhuman effort and Vocaturo collapses under the strain.
Wednesday, October 26 FM Dennis Monokroussos Giri’s Olympic Adventures with the Najdorf (strategy)
It’s interesting to see when super-grandmasters play their rank-and-file counterparts, as it shows that even “ordinary” grandmasters can be outclassed by the world’s very greatest players. This game is a case in point. Every experienced player knows that the d5 hole is a potential issue for Black in the Najdorf Sicilian, and one would expect an experienced grandmaster like Yehuda Gruenfeld to avoid any
serious problems with it. (An aside: this is not the Gruenfeld of “Gruenfeld Defense” fame. That’s named for Ernst Gruenfeld.) That’s what one would expect, but against Giri it happened anyway, with predictable results. As a bonus, there’s a fair amount of general Najdorf theory included as well.
Thursday, October 27 GM Leonid Kritz The Game That Decided the Olympiad Winner (tactics)
A very interesting game in which Wesley So won and brought the US team the first place in the Chess Olympiad. However, at some point Black could not only equalize, but indeed get a decisive advantage and win this game. Very tough fight, typical for the last round.
Friday, October 28 GM Bryan Smith 5.c4 Against the Paulsen (openings, tactics)
The Paulsen/Kan is one of the trickiest variations of the Sicilian. Here we will see a positionally-sound method of establishing a large space advantage, limiting Black’s counterplay, and beginning an attack.