Monday, May 8 IM Valeri Lilov Punishing Bad Development (middlegame)
We have all had moments where we see the opponent delaying his development and yet, we are not certain how to exploit it. Punishing bad development is a matter of crafting the best strategies and knowing the right principles to do so. Let IM Valeri Lilov teach you more in this lecture.
Tuesday, May 9 IM Bill Paschall The Young Nimzovich, Part 1 (middlegame, strategy)
The young Nimzovich shows both talent and inexperience in this early game. He draws from great creativity, playing in modern style in the opening and with original maneuvers in the middlegame. Despite showing some signs of immaturity at this stage, a win against Schlechter at age 21 is truly impressive.
Wednesday, May 10 FM Dennis Monokroussos A Wild Najdorf in the PRO League Quarterfinals (tactics)
Black doesn’t go allow the English Attack against the Najdorf/Scheveningen Sicilian very often in recent years, and it’s games like this that illustrate why. While it was ostensibly Yaroslav Zherebukh who was better prepared, playing something new on move 16, it was Ray Robson who wound up with the advantage. Robson made a couple of inaccuracies along the way, but his powerful and imaginative attacking play still overwhelmed poor Zherebukh, who may have forgotten that it’s easier to attack in chess than to defend. Defensive technique has gotten much better over the generations, but in a game/15 event like this one simply doesn’t have the time to put out all the fires, and Robson won convincingly. It’s a very fine win for White, especially given the time control!
Thursday, May 11 GM Leonid Kritz Important Ideas In A Popular Theoretical Position (strategy)
The position after move 10 has been played many times at the highest level, and still Black finds new ways how not to equalize. This game has certain theoretical importance, and besides it is very interesting from the strategic point of view and shows the strength of a passed pawn in the center.
Friday, May 12 GM Nadya Kosintseva How To Avoid A Long Theoretical Discussion In The French Winawer (openings)
In this lecture, I introduce to you the positional system that can be used for the white side to reduce the burden of memorization in one of the most principled variations of the French Defense while keeping a tough, interesting game. The Winawer variation, that starts with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4, is a very sharp opening that requires a bunch of theoretical knowledge and precise analyses if it goes to the mail line of 4.e5 c5 5.a3. At the same time, if you are looking for repertoire options to avoid learning lots of theory and going into a competition of computer’s moves, you may be interested to practice a lesser known path of 5.Bd2, that sufficiently reduces the amount of theory needed and focuses on understanding ideas and principles of chess.