Monday, October 29
IM Bill Paschall – World Championship Warm-Up, Part 2 | Opening, Strategy
Magnus Carlsen owns a dominating record in Classical time controls against challenger Fabiano Caruana going into their 2018 World Championship. In the second part of our series we see Caruano manage to gain an advantage in a line of the Spanish that might very well come up in the match. However, Caruana seems to hesitate after gaining the advantage and proceeds to collapse. The reasons for this collapse could be a matter of psychology. Perhaps,like so many others, Caruana is somewhat intimidated by the World Champion. In any case, Caruana must gain advantages in the opening stage and he must realize said advantages to have any chance against the Champion.
Tuesday, October 30
GM Robert Hungaski – Queen’s Gambit Accepted: A Simple System for Black, Part 2 | Opening, Strategy, Tactics
We previously dealt with the move 3.e3, which is the modern attempt at avoiding the topical 4…Bg4 line. In this video we will be examining precisely what White is so concerned about.
Black’s idea after developing the bishop outside the pawn chain is fairly straight-forward: central pressure. He will continue by placing the queenside knight on c6 and dark-squared bishop on d6, preparing an eventual …e5. As we’ll see, White can take some measures to make Black’s life quite difficult (in fact, …e5 will be nearly impossible to carry out). However, this is no cause to despair!
I will show you White’s two main approaches: when the queenside knight is developed to d2-c4; and when the queenside knight is developed to c3-a4-c5. In both cases I will be proposing a new way of treating the position based on kingside play (rather than the aforementioned central pawn-break).
Wednesday, October 31
FM Dennis Monokroussos – A Brilliant Double-Edged Sword, or ‘Trapping’ Tal in a Simul | Strategy, Tactics
Mikhail Tal is one of the most brilliant players of all time, and his brilliance included an eye for spotting his opponents’ traps, “falling” for them, and then showing that his opponents had fallen into an even deeper trap. That’s just what happens here against a very game opponent in a simul. Miller may have been an untitled club player, but in this game he proved a worthy foe for an all-time great. He lost, but only because Tal came up with something extra-special.
Thursday, November 1
GM Eugene Perelshteyn – Instructive Setup for Black vs the Symmetrical English | Openings, Strategy, Endgame
Are you afraid of the Symmetrical English? Are you confused by the many setups Black can play? Well, not anymore! Watch GM Perelshteyn show you a universal approach to this opening as Black. The plan is simple: e6,b6,Bb7 and don’t be afraid of the b4-b5 pawn pawn. Black equalizes easily out of the opening and plays creative game to fight for the initiative. His efforts are rewarded as White errs with h3? allowing a beautiful endgame. Can you find the study-like checkmate at the end?
Friday, November 2
GM Nadya Kosintseva – Systems for White in the Spanish Game: Part 2 – Facing the Zaitsev | Openings
In part 2, we will go over the Zaitsev system – fast development of the light-squared bishop on the long h1-a8 diagonal as well as bringing the rook to the e-file. In doing so, Black can prevent White’s standard idea with Nd2-f1-g3, which is used to attack the black king. To reduce the tension on his center, White at some point pushes the d-pawn, blocking the Black’s bishop. To activate it, he should play c6 at some point. In this case, White should try to occupy the d5-square that he gets after capturing on c6. In White’s perfect scenario, he ends up with the knight on d5 versus the dark-squared bishop; however it can be not so easy to achieve.