Monday, October 28
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Youth vs Experience, Attack vs Defense, Who Will Prevail? | Tactics
What happens when American superstar GM Seirawan faces a former World Champ, Vasily Smyslov. Well, a very exciting battle where Seirawan plays really creatively to sacrifice a piece, then a rook to try to take down the old dog. Who will prevail Youth or Experience? Watch the video and find out!
Tuesday, October 29
IM Bill Paschall – Ding Liren’s Quiet Masterpiece | Middlegame, Endgame
Modern chess features better opening preparation at all levels, and increasingly fast time controls. Magnus Carlsen specializes in practical play and consistently wins again top opposition from “equal” positions. In the following battle the emerging Ding Liren uses this style to defeat the ever tough Alexander Grischuk in a game from the World Cup. Pawn structure as well as constructive waiting moves play a key role here in this quiet but professional display.
Wednesday, October 30
GM Leonid Kritz – Strategic and Tactical Complications in an Exchange Grunfeld | Tactics
This is one of those games that are difficult to understand because obviously home preparation goes pretty far, but at the same time the moves seem confusing. Overall, White played a rare line against Grunfeld and outplayed Black in tactical complications. From the strategic perspective it is interesting to see how White was pushing f4-f5 etc. weakening squares behind the f-pawn, but believing in its strength.
Thursday, October 231
FM Dennis Monokroussos – The Minority Attack in the Carlsbad Structure – For the Wrong Side! | Tactics
Most of us are well-acquainted with the minority attack in the Carlsbad structure, where White plays b4-b5 (or Black plays …b5-b4, when it’s White who has the queenside majority) and aims to create a weakness in Black’s structure – either a backward pawn on c6 or an isolated d-pawn. That’s a staple of pawn structure chess. It’s much rarer that the side who is usually worrying about the opponent’s b-pawn advance gets his own minority attack on the kingside by ramming his f-pawn down the board, but that’s exactly what happened in the recent game between Safarli and Rodshtein. In what looked like a tepid position waiting for a quick draw, Safarli played 17.f4, aiming for f5. Black prevented it (for the moment) with 17…g6, but still got into all kinds of trouble in a hurry. Soon f4-f5 came anyway, and Black was demolished in impressive style. You’ll want to see this game and add the f-pawn push to your bag of tricks in the Carlsbad. It’s harder to achieve than the opponent’s b-pawn attack, but when it works it can *really* work.
Friday, November 1
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Play the Sozin Attack vs the Najdorf Sicilian, Part 3 | Strategy
In this lecture we will go over the lines that arise after Black pushes the b-pawn to drive the c3-knight away in his attempt to attack the e4-point. The white knight will temporarily go to the corner but plans to go back to the play after white’s c3/c4 moves. At first glance Black may take the central pawn without a lot of risk; however, White’s lead in development, as well as his more active pieces, provide him with a variety of tactical resources to attack in the middle of the board and/or king side.