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Tigran Petrosian was not only a proponent of the Sicilian Defense, but many of the ideas arising in the dynamic middle-games were first pioneered by him! From sacrifices of the exchange to the long-term pressure of the Bishop Pair, Tigran understood many concepts much deeper than his opponent's. GM Melik Khachiyan explains this and much more about his beloved chess coach... | Watch video
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It's one of the hardest things to do as a chess player, and one of the last things a "child prodigy" learns. What's that? To defend a worse position, keeping a cool head and strong will, against tough opposition. That's exactly what GM Khachiyan's student, FM Kayden Troff, was able to do in this game against GM Sergey Kudrin. Enjoy Melik's recap and build your own defensive fortress! | Watch video
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Learn this highly useful theoretical draw, and rule the world! Well, maybe you won't rule the world, but at least you won't blunder away a drawn ending like this Grandmaster did! GM Melik Khachiyan continues his extremely practical series on commonly made mistakes in all types of endgames involving Rooks. Here we see black's "unbreakable" fortress broken by "self-destruction"... | Watch video
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A golden game by one of GM Khachiyan's "golden boys"! Today Melik reviews another great performance by one of his students. Here we watch as FM Steven Zierk takes down IM Amanov on the black side of a French Defense. After a brilliant shot on the kingside (g5), black's initiative takes over. Surprisingly, white never really has a chance to recover from not playing Qc1 at the right time. Zierk finishes the game off in style. | Watch video
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The 2011 US Chess League season is heating up, and what better way to start Chess.com's video lecture coverage of these games then with a win by our own GM Khachiyan over one of the world's best? Enjoy this spectacular feat by Melik, and pay special attention to his personal insights and descriptions of the thought process and "right state of mind" that led to this victory! | Watch video
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Grandmaster Khachiyan reviews a game of his own in the Schliemann Defense, and offers several instructive gems along the way. Starting with some "need to know" information about the Schliemann, Melik divulges his thought process and frustrations of the game. An interesting middlegame leads to a critical moment where Melik must make the right decision with his pawn structure and Bishop pair. Does he? | Watch video
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Grandmaster Khachiyan brings us another interesting game from his personal library today. Here we see an opening quickly convert into a "pawn up" endgame. Listen in on Melik's thought process as he explains more about "thinking from the end" and anticipating your opponent's threats. He "keeps it simple" and breaks down his opponent's queenside blockade with style! | Watch video
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For advanced players looking to further their endgame knowledge of ideas and technical positions, GM Melik Khachiyan's "Endgame Mistakes" video series continues to be solid gold! This video lecture on one highly interesting draw with Rook and Pawn vs Knight and Pawn, and then transitions into the famous "Reti Zugzwang" of Rook vs Pawn Endings... Enjoy! | Watch video
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Another game by the 9th World Champion, another brilliant positional exchange sacrifice! Today GM Khachiyan continues to bring us lessons from his first chess coach, highlighting Petrosian's long term positional understanding, his valuing of space and square control over "points" or material, and his first instinct of prophylactic thinking. Enjoy the e5 shot! | Watch video
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Grandmaster Melik Khachiyan brings us more from his days as a schoolboy, this time providing more insight into how his tutor -- former World Champion Tigran Petrosian -- viewed positional chess and sacrifices. watch as white correctly evaluates that the control over the light-squares, along with black's potentially weak King, would be more than enough to compensate for the sacrificed material...
| Watch video