The Chess Mind

Every so often ChessVideos viewers will submit games or questions for discussion, and the resulting shows are often especially valuable. It's important to see master and grandmaster play - to see chess at its best - but as often as not looking at what happens in amateur play is even more instructive. Sometimes the play is at a high level (there are examples in this week's show), and when there are mistakes they are often common enough that discussing them will benefit a wide-ranging audience.

This may include some of my readers, so you might have a look here and see for yourself. The show is free (though free registration is required), and available on-demand for the next month or so.

There is a thread where viewers can post games on the ChessVideos.tv website, and from time to time I present a show looking at the best games and most interesting moments from the selection. This week's show is one of those times, and as usual the games and highlights are diverse - you'll find opening commentary, some neat middlegame tactics and endgame instruction. Something for everyone, as they say.

The show (available here) is free (free registration required) and will be available on-demand for the next month or so.

This week I conclude my look back at the State Championship with my last round win. After a very successful opening, I lost the thread for a moment or two and had to start pretty much from scratch. In this case, it involved going all out for an attack, and as you'll see there were some incredible variations involved - for both sides. If you like nice, placid, clear strategic battles, this is not the game for you. Instead, prepare to have your head explode.

The show is here, and is available for free and on-demand for the next month or so.

Last week we looked at my first round game from the Indiana State Championship, a battle against the "Matrix". This week the opening is more conventional, but the conclusion was anything but. After achieving a good position in the opening, I managed to confuse myself into blundering a pawn and had to suffer for a long, long time. Eventually I survived with a combination of hard defense and a little luck, and you can see for yourself how it all worked out. The video is free, available on-demand for the next month or so, and perversely entertaining.

Last week, I became the Indiana State (co-)champ, and most of my games were very interesting, despite some occasional errors. In round 1, I faced 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5, and while this might be a fearsome weapon in Nakamura's hands, that's because they are Nakamura's hands and not any intrinsic quality enjoyed by the opening. Lower down the food chain, it's a lot less wonderful, and you can see here. White was much worse by move 8, lost by move 16, and resigned - tardily - after my 25th move. If this opening has bothered you, watch the video (it's free and will be available on-demand for a month or so) and you'll be cured.

Here's an adventure of mine from last weekend. I won the game, but all three results were possible. It started with the tricky von Hennig-Schara Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 cxd4!?) and never calmed down. Have a look at it, but prepare to exercise your tactics muscles - it's crazy. Make sure you have some time to spend calculating the various positions; if you do, it will be worth your while.

As always, note that the show is free and will be available on-demand for the next month or so. (Free registration required.)

Last week, I presented an old loss of mine to Adam Lief in a Pirc Defense, and gave the impression that it was a very clear, clean, straightforward win. All that went wrong was my omission of a4, to prevent ...b5, and everything went to heck in a handbasket after that. This was not only my impression, but that of strong analysts like Jack Peters and Robert Byrne.

We were all wrong! Lief did play a nice game, but things were much more complicated than last week's superficial look would suggest. To see how much more complicated, have a look here. It's worth it not only for truth's sake, but because the truth happens to be very interesting as well, and even useful. See for yourself - it's very entertaining!

This week's show is based on an old loss of mine in a Classical Pirc. I omitted one little move, and had to pay the price for it. (And worse still, seemingly the whole world got to see it!) On the other hand, my opponent - the then-talented, now retired Adam Lief - won a very nice game.

So have a look here - the show is free and available on-demand for the next month or so - for an attractive and instructive game. And stay tuned for next week's show, when we'll see that the game is even more interesting and instructive than we might have imagined!

We continue our look at some highlights from the career of the late great David Bronstein (1924-2006). Last week, we looked at some quick, clean tactical kills, but this time our examples are deeper and rely more on judgment and intuition than calculation. They are not any less entertaining for this, and in fact they offer more scope for investigation - and there are several places in our presentation this week where that would be appropriate. (Indeed, there is one moment where I explicitly recommend it.)

So have a look (links should be available here and/or here); the show is free and will be available on-demand for the next month or so.

At one point a ChessVideos viewer expressed an interest in a David Bronstein "Best-Of" show, and that seemed like a good idea. So good an idea, in fact, that we'll have two: one this week and one next week. Bronstein was one of the greatest and most creative players in the middle third of the 20th century, and every generation of chess players ought to rediscover this legend of the game for themselves.

To help in that regards, I've compiled a number of his tactical "greatest hits", iconic combinations which will impress themselves in your memory for the rest of your chess career. I think you'll be begging for more after the show, but don't take my word for it - see for yourself! (Links to the show should be available here or here.)

In contrast to last week's show, wherein we delved pretty deeply into one of the games, this time around we'll look at a few more games in a somewhat more selective fashion. While the current crop isn't as tactically rich, it enjoys other significant assets that offer full compensation.

This time around, some mental aspects come into play. In two of the games, the players submitting their games were a pawn up, but both had a tough time converting the extra material and even went on to lose. What did they do wrong? The answer, I believe, has both an objective "chess" answer and a mental one as well.

What is that answer? Tune in and see! The show is free, available on-demand for the next month or so, and should be accessible via links either here or here. (If it's not up yet, be patient - the CV admins should have it up soon.)

Over on the ChessVideos website, we've long had a thread where viewers could submit their games, and I'd pick some - often most or all of them - to cover in the occasional presentation. It is time once more, in fact we will look at viewer games not only this week but next week as well.

We only look at two games this time around, but the second one especially was so tactically rich that it was worth the narrower focus. Try to solve all the tactical puzzles along the way, and even if you don't succeed the exercise will do you good, plus you'll find it most entertaining.

The show is free and available on-demand for the next month or so. There should be a direct link to it on either this page or that one, though if the CV admins are behind schedule it might appear a little later.

Right here. This week's presentation includes a discussion of allocating time for training, a little bit of opening zombieism in the Caro-Kann, and takes a look at a double-rook ending (with some discussion of how double-rook endings differ from those with only one rook apiece).

The show is free, as always, and available on-demand for the next month.

We continue our new series on avoiding "zombie chess" (see last week's blurb introducing the topic) with a look at Sicilian variations where Black plays a quick ...e5, creating a hole on d5. Sometimes White plays Nb3, sometimes Nf3, and the differences are important enough that they demand careful attention! Detail, when it seems purely arbitrary, can be rather dull and difficult to memorize, but when you see the whys and wherefores it becomes fascinating.

But see for yourself. The show is free and available on-demand for the next month or so.

What is a zombie chess player? It's not an "undead" chess player escaped from a horror movie, but one who makes moves without really thinking about them. The behavior makes it look like the person is a chess player, but mentally, at the time of the move, there's no one there. Unfortunately, this is all of us - at least some of the time - but there is a cure. (And it won't even need a telethon or a stimulus package.)

To give some idea of what I mean, complete with various examples of zombie chess in the openings and tips for fixing the problem, have a look at this video. (It's free and available on-demand for the next month.) Later installments covering other aspects of the game will appear in subsequent weeks.

And not just any opposite-colored bishop ending, but the one I presented as an analysis project on the blog about a month ago. There are undoubtedly many ways for White to proceed, but the key is to grasp the right methods and principles. Once one understands them, the job becomes a lot easier, so I've structured my presentation along those lines. It is my hope that once you've finished watching this video, you'll have a good grasp of several key elements of opposite-colored bishop endings, which you will be able to successfully apply in your own games.

Have a look, here, and let me know what you conclude. The video is free (free registration is required), and will be available to you on-demand for about the next month or so.

One of the most common imbalances in chess is that of bishop vs. knight. In the abstract, the pieces are of approximately equal value, but when we look at real positions it's often the case that one piece or the other confers a real advantage to its owner. It's probably true that bishops are more often advantageous, but again, specifics rule here. As all of you have surely noticed, there are many times when the knight is the better piece, and in this week's ChessVideos show you'll see two such cases.

In both, there's a situation where the side with the bishop has all its pawns on the same color square as the bishop, and gets dominated on the opposite color complex. The knight has all the fun there, but turning it into a win often takes some doing. The value of this week's presentation is that it will help us figure out how to win such positions, and there's the further benefit that once one grasps some of the main ideas, they will work in a great many cases. So invest a little time (but no money) now, and enjoy the dividends later!

The show is here, free (but registration is required), and available on demand for about the next month or so.

Here I look at an interesting fragment from a recent game. The long-term advantages are mine, but in the meanwhile my opponent has some dangerous attacking possibilities. If I survive I'll have excellent winning chances, but there are some hurdles to clear along the way. Have a look for yourself and see how you would have fared.

It's just what it sounds like. ChessVideos viewers submit games here, and every so often I pick a number of games to cover in a video. The latest batch can be found here.

The show is free (registration is required), requires no special software, and is available on-demand, at least for the next month or so.

For those of you waiting for my announcements to check them out, you get a two-fer. Last week's show was posted after I had decided to take the week off from blogging, and now that I've resumed the new show is up as well. So:

(1) Last week's show: Part 6 on the Super-Fast Najdorf. This marks the end of the series (I can hear both the cheers and boos), and covers the variations starting with 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.0-0-0 Nbd7 10.g4. This includes some of the sharpest chess known to mankind, and unless you're already thoroughly familiar with the B99 systems I highly recommend checking it out. Even if you never play them, you'll find the analysis most entertaining.

(2) This week's show: Viewer Questions, Episode 8. As usual with the viewer question shows, it's a bit of a grab bag, with some chess and some training advice. You might not find everything interesting, but since you'll probably find something you can use it's worth a look.

This is especially the case given that the shows are free (though you will need to register [also for free]) to watch, at least for the next month or so. (After that they go to the archives, where they can be accessed, along with the other two years' worth of my shows, with a premium membership.)