Monday, January 9 IM Valeri Lilov Petrosian’s Method of Attack (middlegame, strategy)
The world champion Tigran Petrosian was one of the greatest strategicians and positional players of all time. His rivals used to call him the “Iron Tigran” due to his solid approach and bulletproof strategies. The effectiveness of his play was mainly due to his ability to follow simple rules that helped him to build up very solid both defensive and attacking type of positions. Learn his method in IM Lilov’s new video!
Tuesday, January 10, IM Bill Paschall Lessons From My Recent Games, Part 2 (opening, strategy)
Black plays the risky Kavalek or Soltis variation of the King;s Indian Defense; a highly hypermodern treatment against White’s solid fianchetto system. In this game, Black seeks complications with 8…Bg4 instead of the more solid 8..e5 as is more common theoretically. White goes down the main line , but is unaware of the idea of 12. Rb1 ! , an improvement played against Paschall years ago by GM Alek Wojtkiewicz. Paschall later finds the key idea of 15…Bh6 seeking dynamic counter-play, as unbeknownst to him was also played by GM Soltis years ago. Black keeps the initiative and , despite mutual time pressure, finds a piece sacrifice to decisively break the White king’s defenses.
Wednesday, January 11 FM Dennis Mnokroussos Remembering Taimanov (endgame)
The late Mark Taimanov (1926-2016) was one of the world’s best players from the 1950s through the early 1970s, a great player deserving to be known for more than the variation of the Sicilian that bears his name and his 6-0 loss to Bobby Fischer in their 1971 Candidates match. Here, for instance, we see him defeat then world-champion Anatoly Karpov – with the black pieces – in a very impressive game culminating in a beautiful combination.
Thursday, January 12 GM Leonid Kritz An Important Idea in the Najdorf (opening)
This is an interesting game from the opening perspective. White sacrifices a pawn, but gets very good compensation and eventually ends up in a better position. Then we see a demonstration of how to play positions with small, stable advantage.
Friday, January 13 GM Bryan Smith Carauana’s Queen Sacrifice in London (tactics)
In the sixth round of the 2016 London Chess Classic, Fabiano Caruana won a beautiful game with a positional queen sacrifice. Here GM Bryan Smith explains this unusual game.