Monday, January 1 IM Valeri Lilov The Subtleties of Pawn Structure (strategy)
Acquiring a solid pawn structure isn’t an easy job. In many games, the pawn formations for both players are rather equal. It takes some precise planning and evaluation to setup a more beneficial pawn structure and make your opponent’s less beneficial.
Tuesday, January 2 IM Bill Paschall Fighting Chess at the Russian Superfinal 2017, Part 1 (opening, tactics)
Grunfeld expert Peter Svidler faces the classic Russian variation against his favorite 1.d4 defense. Svidler is now the highest ranking player to add the rare 6…Be6 to his repertoire. This variation is new and trending , although it was played against Euwe in 1938 and again by GM Tony Miles in an early game in 1973. White must find the right path here and Volkov did not even manage to maintain an equal position.
Wednesday, January 3 FM Dennis Monokroussos The Game of the Year 2017 (tactics)
Universally recognized as an instant classic, Ding Liren’s spectacular win over his fellow Chinese grandmaster Jinshi Bai would make any of the game’s legendary attackers proud. In fact, the number of quiet moves in the attack elevates this masterpiece over many of the classics of yesteryear; it’s relatively easy to calculate a series of forcing variations, but when the attack relies on moves that don’t force the defender’s hand it’s much more difficult and impressive. This is a must-see game!
Thursday, January 4 IM David Vigorito Tricky Line vs the Grunfeld (opening, tactics)
In this game I present a relatively simple line against the Grunfeld that dodges a lot of the big theory. I witness this game in person and it made a strong impression on me. The Belgium Grandmaster builds up a nice advantage based on White’s imposing center – the main danger for Black in the Grunfeld.
Friday, January 5 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Instructive Game in the King’s Indian: Dark Square Domination (strategy)
In an Averbakh variation, White makes a slight inaccuracy and gets duly punished with a standard Nh5-Nf4 pawn sacrifice to pry open the h8-a1 diagonal. White’s extra pawn is totally useless against Black’s attack on the dark squares. The rest is very instructive!