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Today the active King dominates a queen using highly interesting piece geometry and pawn cover! If the first exercise isn't practical enough for you, then buckle up for game examples by Fischer, Petrosian, Smyslov, and one from the European Championships in 2010. Grandmaster Dejan Bojkov serves as our guide today, and hopefully his commentary is able to "drive the point home": The King can fight! | Watch video
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In the open board, Bishops are much too fast for a King to catch, but throw some pawns in their way... and the King will walk all over them! GM Dejan Bojkov explains as much in today's video, first providing a couple creative "Opposite Colored" Bishop examples, and eventually ending with an amazing practical game designed to show the true power of a King and his passed pawns. There's a reason why the King has the best seat in the house, and the bishops are always by his side! | Watch video
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Today Khachiyan divulges several brilliant insights into the thought process of a Grandmaster in the Endgame. When he sat down to play IM Amanov at the American Open last November, Melik expected a draw after the very "equal Opening choice" by his opponent. However, after a slight mistake, Melik began "thinking from the end" and played like a prophylactic genius to take home the full point! | Watch video
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Calling all beginners! Have you ever heard of a novelty... in the Endgame? Well, just as theory develops in the Opening stage of the game at a rapid pace nowadays, Endgame knowledge was once evolving rapidly as well. A big contributor to modern day ending theory is the man behind the curtain in this game: Akiba Rubenstein. Watch as he shocks the world by turning a drawn ending, into a forced win. Beware of King and Pawn endings! | Watch video
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Today GM Dzindzi reviews a game in which his opponent was, well, squeezed to death! His victim, GM Ljubomir Ljubojević, found himself slightly worse in a position that seemed simple, with very little "bite". However, after one small misstep (trading rooks and heading into the endgame), black found himself with no useful moves on the board... The only thing left to do was watch the Dzindzinator apply the squeeze! | Watch video
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Fasten your seat belts! This weekend we get to see a great game from the personal library of GM Melik Khachiyan! Here we review a "complete" battle in every sense of the description: Starting with white's active development and anticipation of black's threats; transitioning into a middlegame where white gets the most out of his space advantage; and finally we see a "bishop pair dominated" endgame with flawless technique my GM Khachiyan. Enjoy! | Watch video
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In the climax to his five part video series on advanced Rook Endings, and the typical mistakes made therein, Grandmaster Melik Khachiyan gives us two examples of how to lose against the "theoretically drawn" Rook and Bishop pawns. He then however offers the much more important guide to using the fundamental, thematic and easy-to-understand drawing technique. Enjoy this lecture, and draw your Rook Endings! | Watch video
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Today GM Roman Dzindzichashvili begins a new video series: The display and personal review of his own best games. With every post-mortem analysis, you can expect to hear a story of chess as only Dzindzi can tell it. Here we see his famous battle against the late Grandmaster Karen Ashotovich Grigorian -- where Roman makes "winning with a slight positional advantage" (a pawn minority on the queenside) look as simple to convert as a basic checkmate. | Watch video
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In his fourth installment of this video series, Grandmaster Khachiyan brings us a two part lesson: The first being a "blunder fest" between GMs Fischer and Gligoric; and the second being one of the more advanced defensive methods when dealing with an enemy corner pawn. The "Vancura Defense" describes a technique in which the rook can defend by checking laterally -- a very awkward yet effective defensive maneuver. Enjoy! | Watch video
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Today IM Sam Shankland continues his display of how to win a Queen vs Rook ending. Here we see a "practical follow up" to the "technical Philidor position" covered in the first video. Reviewed is the infamous 3rd Rank Defense -- known for stumping some of the strongest Grandmasters --, several practice sessions with Shanky vs the computer, and finally a breakdown of the correct and efficient method required to win... | Watch video