Monday, June 12 IM Valeri Lilov Anand’s Romantic Masterpiece (strategy)
The romantic era of chess is gone since the early 20th century, yet once in a while we can see its brilliant shades in the games of great players. One of the greatest chess players, Vishy Anand, showed this once again in his latest masterpiece against a strong Russian chess master.
Tuesday, June 13 IM Bill Paschall Highlights from the 2017 Russian Team Championship, Part 1 (openings, strategy)
Nepomniachtchi plays the creative b3 variation and is met by a very solid “Hedgehog” type defense from Black. After missing a fantastic sacrificial line, white’s knight is sidelined on a3. The problem piece played a key role in deciding the result. In the end , White’s king suffers due to his attempt to rescue the bad knight. As is often the case , White goes down in flames when his attack flounders in the Sicilian.
Wednesday, June 14 FM Dennis Monokroussos Winning Quickly With the Caro-Kann (openings, tactics)
The Caro-Kann is a very solid opening, but it can be played for a win. In the recent U.S. Championship Yaroslav Zherebukh tried surprising Hikaru Nakamura with a sideline. Had Nakamura responded in the way prescribed by “official” theory he’d have equalized, but in such a way as to have very few chances to play for a win. Doubtlessly well-prepared, he played more sharply, and forced Zherebukh to take some risks if he wanted any chance for an edge. Zherebukh tried to keep the game quiet, but didn’t manage at all. Everything went wrong for him, and Nakamura won in just 21 moves, with White resigning in a position where his choices were to lose his queen or get mated. The Caro-Kann is not an aggressive opening, but it can be played with ambition!
Thursday, June 15 GM Eugene Perelshteyn Big Upset at the 2017 US Chess Championship by Zherebukh (openings, middlegame, strategy)
Who would have thought that a wildcard, a student from SLU Yaro Zherebukh would be tied for first at the USChampionship after 7 rounds. How did he beat one of the top seeds GM Caruana, who’s over 2800? Watch and learn his understanding of Ruy Lopez Breyer variation proves superior to a Super-GM. Caruana never had a chance after an opening inaccuracy and Yaro makes it look easy!
Friday, June 16 GM Leonid Kritz New But Bad – How Not To Play The French Defense (openings)
In this game Pelletier tried to surprise Anand with a rare continuation in the opening. 7….b6 and the sequence Nc6-Nbd7 is as strange looking as it is suspicious. Anand shows very a simple way to play against such “novelties”. The main point to keep in mind here is that after 10 moves Black stayed with the bad bishop forever and the rest is history.