Monday, January 29 IM Valeri Lilov The Simple Advantage (strategy,middlegame)
The most common advantage in chess is space advantage. Often many players get to a position where they have a lot of space and control of their pieces, but they don’t know how to use them. In this lecture, IM Valeri Lilov provides some strong guidelines on how to plan once we get that kind of advantage.
Tuesday, January 30 IM Bill Paschall Ginsu Bishops! (openings, middlegame)
In this game we encounter a really new idea in Black’s 3..Na6 !? This variation has only appeared since 2015. Black gives up 2 bishops for two knights in the opening in an attempt to better control the center. Vallejo plays impatiently though, and allows the position to open up profitably for Harikrishna’s two bishops and the fact that the two sides are castled on opposite wings increases the dynamics. The result is a strong attack featuring the White bishops functioning like razor sharp knives.
Wednesday, January 31 FM Dennis Monokroussos Attacking From Every Angle (opening, tactics)
When it comes to all-out tactical play in the fight for the initiative, few if any players surpassed the 8th world chess champion, Mikhail Tal. While Tal produced brilliancies of this sort on what seemed like a daily basis in his youth, the mature Tal was still capable of unleashing such masterpieces as well. In this 1982 game with Dutch GM John van der Wiel, Tal sacs a pawn in the opening for a ferocious initiative that his opponent never managed to put out. It is remarkable that Tal was able to use the entire board so effectively: he has attacking units from all four quadrants of the board, all coordinating beautiful in the hunt for the black king.
Thursday, February 1 GM Eugene Perelshteyn How to Attack Like 12-Year-Old Kasparov! (attack, opening)
You don’t often see a modern chess engine confused, yet the twelve year old Garry Kasparov proves his intuition is superior! Watch how he executes the attack with brilliant sacrifices. The raw talent is simply unbelievable. Enjoy!
Friday, February 2 GM Bryan Smith Carlsen in the Open, Part 5 (tactics)
In the final part of the series on Magnus Carlsen’s participation in the Isle of Man Open, we see his critical win as Black against Fabiano Caruana – the game which clinched the tournament for him.”