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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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World Champion Viswanathan Anand provided the world with a special treat in Round 4 of Tata Steel's Super Chess Tournament, being held in Wijk aan Zee, when he smashed the world #3 Levon Aronian with the black pieces! The game itself was beautiful, creative, and most importantly for this video lecture, proof that liberating black's pieces with the c5-break in the Caro-Slav Structure can lead to wonderful things. Enjoy Danny's replay of this brilliant performance! | Watch video
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To follow up on his first installment in the Soltis (...h5) Variation, IM Kiewra reviews a game between two of the best players in the world! He highlights critical move order differences for the advanced player's, and then, along with the rest of us, he enjoys the amazingly sharp, tactical and brilliant show that Magnus Carlsen puts on with the black pieces. | Watch video
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Today GM Khachiyan provides another extremely complex, critical moment, in which the wrong path was chosen by not calculating accurately. He talks about the practical factors that go into choosing which tricky variation to follow through with, and he provides a very useful piece on advice on how/when to first establish equality (a draw) before committing to a dangerous line that might offer winning chances. | Watch video
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Revenge is best served... with checkmate! When two of the world's strongest players claimed the young Cuban had no right to take part in the San Sebastian Super Tournament of 1911, Capablanca did not take their words in stride! Rather, he made a mental note to play as precisely as he could to crush these two foes. The first victim? Ossip Bernstein. Enjoy this old school Spanish Game, with our guide, GM Bojkov, at the helm. | Watch video
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With his latest video lecture targeted towards beginner level players, FM Lilov reviews the common traps and tricks white might play for against the "Achilles Heel" of black's position. He reviews the Scholar's Mate (Four Move Checkmate) as well as other early tries to exploit the f7-square. He points out the importance of beginners being prepared for these ideas, as they are not normally given "official attention" in chess books. Beginners, enjoy! | Watch video
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Today Roman reviews more Symmetrical English, focuses on black's other options outside of the immediate 5...d5 push in the center. He highlights white's interesting idea of giving up the fianchettoed bishop along the h1-a8 diagonal in exchange for positional targets, the potential transpositions to Maroczy Bind structures, and much more! | 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
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Just when you needed it most, especially after IM Rensch's review of "white's perspective" yesterday, IM Kiewra is here to show just how the Dragon breathes fire! He displays the critical lines of the Soltis (...h5) Variation, focusing mainly on white's direct idea of 16.Bh6. The theory is deep and complex, with "nerves of steel" required, but Keaton's clear explanations of the common patterns with the Dragon are brilliant. Enjoy! | Watch video
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IM Rensch provides the introduction to what is considered white's most dangerous, accurate, and potentially universal approach to the Open Sicilians. As with each video in this series, he breaks it down the perspective of "the little guys", highlights the positional features more than the "opening theory" and tries to provide a preview as to what will be discussed over the course of the next few videos... | Watch video