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IM Kiewra is back this month to continue his series on the Fighting Dragon! He reviews a game in the Chinese Dragon between GMs Zhigalko and Bu Xiangzhi. As to be expected with Keaton, he does a great job highlighting the patterns of each position, the tactical motifs that repeat themselves consistently, and he provides insight into what the top Dragon players think about each idea / position. | Watch video
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Today Grandmaster Finegold provides insights into his own high level preparation, sheds light on the psychology of dealing with your opponent's refutations, and everything else that rhymes in between! In reviewing his sharp, Botvinnik-Slav battle from the 2010 SPICE Cup against the young FM Yang, Ben analyzes all the details of his amazing, and perhaps last, win against Darwin. | Watch video
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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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Here Melik provides interesting positions that require a need for what he likes to call "Combinational Vision". He provides multiple example puzzles, and emphasizes how solving them, learning "what to look for", and recognizing the repeating patterns within those types of positions can help you in real game situations. Try to solve each position as you go and improve your game along the way! | 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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IM Rensch breaks down this well-known, theoretically driven opening (The Sicilian Dragon) not by focusing on all the complex variations available, but rather, explaining the evolution of those lines by revealing the patterns and repeating ideas within the pawn structure. Danny reviews the "stem game" Karpov-Kortchnoi, Moscow 1974 and he shows how Karpov changed white's approach in the Yugoslav forever, which inevitably led to black's modern approach (The Chinese Dragon)... | 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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As mentioned in the multiple Yugoslav Attack and Dragon videos being featured this month, the topical 9.g4 is exciting, tricky, and a must know for black players who intend of playing the Dragon as a regular part of their repertoire. IM Kiewra focuses black's three main options, including the controversial piece sacrifice on g4. Check out the related links for more on the topic! | 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