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Sam brings his review of the games from the Pan-American Team Championships to a close today by providing in-depth analysis of his second encounter against GM Suarez. Sam takes you through his goals of the game, first to equalize and then to succeed with an attack on the queenside. Ultimately, his team's strong position may have caused him to "let up" slightly in the end, but his analysis proves that his strong play could have led to much more... | Watch video
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GM Shankland continues to review his games from the recent Pan-American Team Championship! Here he reviews an extremely sharp, Open Sicilian Najdorf that has the "flavor" of an English Attack, but not quite the "theory". The game eventually becomes a back and forth affair when "mature GM Shankland" decides to become "overly aggressive Shanky"... | Watch video
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Today GM Shankland kicks off a new series, reviewing his recent games from the Pan-American Team Championship! Shanky does an excellent job of explaining the basic and general themes of the modern Najdorf, before he launches into the theoretical review of a very topical line in the 8.h3 "Neo-English Attack". The sharp game that ensues is highly instructive... | Watch video
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In the exciting conclusion of this monumentally important game for the young Sam Shankland's career, we get to see white slowly work his way back from a slightly worse ending, to one of equality, to an endgame where his opponent is fighting for a draw, to eventually, well, you'll have to watch to see! Take notes on Sam's excellent defensive technique, and his "practical poise" in seizing the moment to go for it! | Watch video
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In perhaps the defining moment of his career (or at least one of them) a young Sam Shankland took down one of the world's top talents to claim a tie for first at the 2008 World Youth Chess Championships. Here he reveals all that was in a sharp, 9.0-0-0 Yugoslav Attack Dragon Sicilian. He highlights the in-depth variations both he and his opponent calculated, and instructs on the basic ideas of the line for players of all levels. Enjoy! | Watch video
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It's on! Apparently what happens in Vegas, doesn't always stay there! In this exciting battle between two good friends and training partners, GM Shankland vs GM Hammer, we witness a sharp struggle full of interesting attacking ideas, met by creative defensive maneuvers. We learn how to say "fork" in French, and that you owe it to your friends to always try your hardest to beat them. Enjoy Sam's witty and honest review of this fun game! | Watch video
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To conclude this interesting game between Shankland and Ivanov, 2007 - Sam dives deeply into the complications of the ensuing Rook vs Two Minors endgame. He displays several complex variations that should have led to his opponent's demise, but more importantly, he talks about the psychology of playing against a Grandmaster, and the common pitfalls to avoid in your thought processes... | Watch video
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As Sam explains, a common approach by Grandmasters against their young, usually well prepared opponents, is to take them out of theory early. GM Ivanov consistently agrees with this philosophy with his choice in the Modern; however, when a young Shanky takes a creative, aggressive approach, black finds himself on the ropes despite the Bishop Pair. This leads us to an extremely complex, but highly interesting endgame for Part 2! | Watch video
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With his next contribution, GM Shankland reviews one of the biggest wins of his career, and a game that catapulted him towards earning his first IM Norm. When he was faced with the choice of either simplifying the position and striving for equality as black, or castling long to "mix it up", a young Shanky made the predictable, aggressive decision. We're happy he did, as the fireworks that ensued were definitely worth it! | Watch video
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With his next installment, Shanky reviews a sharp struggle full of potential pitfalls for both he and his opponent throughout. Sam talks about the importance of the game (as far as the standings of that tournament were concerned), his psychology both before and during the game, and he talks honestly of his short comings both on and off the chess board at the time in his career. Oh, the game is full of excitement too! | Watch video