The Chess Mind

In a way, this was more like one of my ChessBase shows than a ChessVideos show, but with a twist. When I'm preparing the former, the notes are typically a mix of my own thoughts, others' analyses and investigations with Mr. Chips (i.e. the computer). On ChessVideos, there's a tradition of members posting live analysis - they record shows as they're playing games, explaining their thoughts as they go along. It seemed interesting to me, therefore, to produce an analysis on the fly, as I watched a Carlsen-Radjabov battle from the Cap D'Agde rapid tournament. Unfortunately, I didn't have the equipment set up to do it live - thus the "quasi" in the title - but what I recorded was a fairly accurate reconstruction of my original thoughts.

The game was an interesting and extended battle, as the games between those two extremely strong GMs usually are, and I hope my analysis, despite the mistakes hidden therein, will help illumine the game. (That there are some errors was confirmed in a post-recording check with the computer, but it's not too bad overall. A fun and hopefully somewhat challenging exercise might be to take the time and try to figure out where the errors are, without using your own software engines, of course.)

You can watch the show here; as always, it's free, requires no special software, and is available on demand.

The Stonewall is a pretty rare guest in master play, but in club play it, along with the Colle (also addressed in the video, but more briefly), is fairly popular. After all, it's easy to learn and it comes with a simple middlegame plan as well: pile up on the kingside and pray for mate. Of course, if it were that simple, then grandmasters would play this opening, but they don't.

How should Black meet this opening? As a public service to those who don't know what to do or are just sick of facing this opening, I offer some ideas in this video. After offering some fine points about the most accurate move orders, I present game in which Black first neutralizes White's Ne5 jump, succeeds in achieving his own knight leap with e4, and then utilizes his extra space on the queenside to win. It's a nice game I think you'll enjoy, and hopefully all Stonewallphobes will feel that their long nightmare is now over.

The video is available here, free and on-demand.

Last week we took a look at (parts of) five viewers' games; this week, we look at one fragment and two full games. And what games they are! The endgame of the first one falls more under the heading of "instructive", but the second contest and especially the third are unbelievably entertaining. I dare you to watch the last game without smiling, cracking up or being amazed! To that dare, click here. You can have your money back if you think I'm wrong. In fact, make it DOUBLE your money back!

P.S. The show is free.

In what I hope will be a regular feature of my ChessVideos presentations, I take a look this week at several games submitted by viewers. Some of the games were instructive for what the players did right, some for what they did wrong; while still other games were presented for their aesthetic value. Hopefully the blend will prove a success - but we'll see! Have a look for yourself; the show is free and available on demand.

The title was supplied by the ChessVideos powers-that-be, by the way, not me. I'd only use that if I were the victim! The game is short, it's true, and may give anti-Dragoneers an extra arrow in their quiver. In the video, I also try to make a case for the value of correspondence chess and offer an important tip when it comes to searching for moves in better positions. What is that tip? You'll have to watch and see. (The show is free, after all, available on demand and requires no special software. So why not?)

A couple of reminders regarding other recent ChessVideos announcements. First, if you'd like to have me analyze a game of yours for an upcoming show, go here and follow the directions in the first comment - you never know! Second, last week's show may have been slightly under-advertised, as the post was quickly superseded by its successors. So here's the link to that post, and to the show itself.