The Chess Mind

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.