Category Archives: Lectures

Caro formation Openings: Primary: Caro-Kann. Other: French, Scandinavian, QGD. Character: Slow-paced game. Themes for White: Outpost on e5, kingside space advantage, d4-d5 break, possibility of queenside majority in the endgame (typically after the exchange of White's d pawn for Black's c pawn). Themes for Black: Weakness of the d4 pawn,

Read more...

If I recall rightly, there are 28 basic pawn structures from openings, all fluid and changing to at least some degree during the course of a game... Here's a link to the formations print-out Can you say 'ouch'? Sure, I knew you could. And then there are basic ideas like

Read more...

I sometimes hear from club players that 'so and so plays like a boa constrictor! I feel like I don't have any moves!' And it's true! The technique is no secret, but it is not easy to learn - which is why we won't talk about it much. Often people

Read more...

Anyone can screw up. Anyone. Kasparov's most enormous blunder, caught on film ===> The example below shows the 'machine' Capablanca - known for his effortless and flawless play - making a horrible blunder and losing. How could such a thing happen??? Sex, of course. Capa was apparently having an

Read more...

The theme this week continues to be 'attack!' and this week we'll look at several aspects of attack (and thus our title), both specifically with patterns and in general terms. So, for our weekly dose of humor; how can a fried brain be romantic??? The answer is, of course, at

Read more...

Time to look at lessons from historical figures: We'll start with an 'unofficial' world champion, Paul Morphy. 'The Pride and Sorrow of Chess' was Morphy's nickname. He stopped playing at the peak of his fame, leaving chess fans wanting more even now. (Put 'morphy' into Google and see!) 'Finding the Crush':

Read more...

Tactical patterns, distractions and - who took my fork? Beginning to see tactical patterns and Holt - Nakamura, US Championship 2015, 0-1 Again, two themes for our evening. This time we'll look at some tactical patterns and a 'bold attack' that relies on stacking threats one on top of another.

Read more...

Our first Tuesday night lesson was taken from Fabiano Caruana versus Magnus Carlsen, from the 2015 Gashimov Memorial which just concluded at the end of April in Azerbaijan. The opening was the Stonewall Dutch Defense. This game illustrated some excellent ideas for our club players: the Stonewall formation of pawns

Read more...