dpruess's Blog

dpruess's Blog

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The Dangers of Chess

The Dangers of Chess

IM dpruess
| Jan 21, 2024

I’ve recorded thousands of chess videos if one counts all the live streams. Last month while I was at a chess tournament in Sitges, I recorded the most important one, which had been on my mind for quite a long time, and so I wanted to share ...

Trying to follow opening principles

Trying to follow opening principles

IM dpruess
| Mar 2, 2022

I saw this question pop up on twitter, and as someone who loves the opening phase in chess and the person posting the question, I thought I'd just shoot them a quick word of advice about the game. Opened up the game, and saw it was an interesting ...

OotW: Some Bc5 Defense to the Ruy Lopez

OotW: Some Bc5 Defense to the Ruy Lopez

IM dpruess
| Apr 13, 2021

This week's opening is a defense to the Ruy Lopez, which I today learned is called the Modern Arkhangelsk. In today's video, we talked about the meaning behind the moves leading up to the characteristic Bc5 move by black, and then played a bunch o...

Dojo Fundraising

Dojo Fundraising

IM dpruess
| Mar 16, 2021

In order to expand the excitement level of some of the special events and shows that the Dojo is putting together, we are starting to raise money for prize funds to attract star guests. When you watch shows in the near future, you are likely to ...

OotW: Kan Sicilian

OotW: Kan Sicilian

IM dpruess
| Mar 16, 2021

Yesterday, I recorded an introduction to the Kan Sicilian, with some general comments, but mostly looking through 6 top-level games from Kasparov, Carlsen, Anand, Ivanchuk, Caruana, Karjakin, Nakamura, etc. Here you can watch the video: And...

Beautiful Opposite Colored Bishop Breakthrough

Beautiful Opposite Colored Bishop Breakthrough

IM dpruess
| Mar 8, 2021

Here's a thing of beauty from this past week's Dojo Endgame tournament. (In the endgame tournaments, every game starts from the same endgame position, which none of the players know in advance. Through several rounds of playing it from both sides,...

February MEGARAPID Prizes

February MEGARAPID Prizes

IM dpruess
| Mar 5, 2021

After a couple weeks with the kids home from school, I finally had time to review all the wonderful games from the ChessDojo February MEGARAPID Championship, which made for a truly delightful stream. Today I would like to announce and appreciate a...

OotW: Cambridge Springs

OotW: Cambridge Springs

IM dpruess
| Mar 2, 2021

This week's opening is the Cambridge Springs, a defense to the Queen's Gambit. Here are some top-level games with the opening to give you a few ideas to get started on this opening. Practice will be of great value as well, leading into Sunday's th...

Dojo February Rapid Championship

Dojo February Rapid Championship

IM dpruess
| Feb 15, 2021

It's coming up this week (Saturday at 10 am pacific), the next big Rapid Championship tournament organized by the Chess Dojo. Among other prizes, we have had this first place prize donated by Dojo'er sombrero: This is a Darwil, Swiss-made vin...

Ootw: Cochrane Gambit!

Ootw: Cochrane Gambit!

IM dpruess
| Feb 2, 2021

This week, chessdojo has its first official "Opening of the Week," an opening which we will practice and discuss throughout the week, until a thematic tournament on Sunday, where we can each show what we have learned over the course of the week. I...

MEGA Rapid Championship Results and Prizes

MEGA Rapid Championship Results and Prizes

IM dpruess
| Jan 18, 2021

On Friday, we organized a bigger, 8-round rapid tournament instead of the usual 4-round affairs. With more rounds, we also took the opportunity to run the tournament as a single section, allowing players to play much higher- or lower-rated opponen...

2021 Dojo Tournament Leaderboard

2021 Dojo Tournament Leaderboard

IM dpruess
| Jan 17, 2021

As an extra fun stat this year, we are going to keep a tally of tournament victories by players in Dojo-run events. The year is only two weeks old and already we have ten players with this distinction! Perhaps you could add your name to this list ...

Dojo Tournaments!

Dojo Tournaments!

IM dpruess
| Jan 11, 2021

Through ChessDojo, we have been running a steady stream of opportunities for people to practice playing chess, through casual tournaments. At least once per week, we have a rapid tournament, or match, and there have also been blitz tournaments and...

Beauty Prizes Wk of 10/12

Beauty Prizes Wk of 10/12

IM dpruess
| Oct 21, 2020

As I posted last week, I have started to award beauty/best game prizes in all Dojo-organized events that I do commentary for. Here are the past week's crop of prize winners; enjoy! The past two weeks I've filled in for Kostya on Sunday Night Fig...

Beauty Prizes!

Beauty Prizes!

IM dpruess
| Oct 13, 2020

I have always valued beauty in chess quite highly. I enjoy playing through the most brilliant or beautiful games of history, and when I ran a small chess club, I liked to include beauty or brilliancy prizes. Finally, reminded of this by some scint...

Classical Simuls!

Classical Simuls!

IM dpruess
| Oct 12, 2020

Last week's classical simul plus game review was a great experience for me, and I think for most or all of the participants, so I've decided to repeat it this week. Once again, it will be played on Friday at 10 am PST, at a time control of 90+30, ...

ChessDojo Streams Week of 10/12

ChessDojo Streams Week of 10/12

IM dpruess
| Oct 12, 2020

Here is the schedule of streams this week: Like last week, it's loaded towards the weekend, with longer days on Fri-Sat-Sun. Kostya is doing a bunch of coverage work for the St Louis Chess Club for the U.S. Championships, so he's pretty busy ...

Simul + Game Review

Simul + Game Review

IM dpruess
| Oct 6, 2020

This Friday I will be giving a classical time control simul, open to anyone. The simul will start at 10 am pacific time, and will be played at a time control of 90+30. I will be streaming throughout the simul on www.twitch.tv/chessdojolive . Not...

Announcements + Stream Schedule Week of 9/21

Announcements + Stream Schedule Week of 9/21

IM dpruess
| Sep 21, 2020

Hey folks, couple notes about upcoming shows on dojo: - Norm Hunter season 2 starts today (in 2 hours). This season, Kostya will be training... GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, who already has the highest norm-based title, GM, but is planning to work towar...

ChessDojo Streams Week of 8/17

ChessDojo Streams Week of 8/17

IM dpruess
| Aug 17, 2020

Better late than great! Here are our scheduled streams for this week, including one you already missed today! Note: I'm doing less training and lesson streams this week, because I have a whopping 36+ hours of Olympiad coverage on the weekend. YAY!...

Stream Schedule Week of 8/10

Stream Schedule Week of 8/10

IM dpruess
| Aug 11, 2020

Here is chessdojo's schedule for this week! We already had a very exciting first on-air clash of the three senseis in a double-round robin blitz tournament-- here if you missed it yesterday. Among other exciting upcoming events, there is a rar...

ChessDojo Schedule 7/27-8/2

ChessDojo Schedule 7/27-8/2

IM dpruess
| Jul 27, 2020

I have not written about it in my blog yet, but for nearly two months now, I've been working with two good friends, GM Kraai and IM Kavutskiy, on a chess project called ChessDojo. It's a content project including a team twitch stream, a team youtu...

Some Recent Highlights

Some Recent Highlights

IM dpruess
| Jul 14, 2020

It's been a real joy getting back into learning chess recently. And while blitz, puzzle rush, endgame practice, solitaire chess, and game analysis have all been fun, today was the first time in several months that I got to see top players play cla...

The PlayfulSquirrel is back!

The PlayfulSquirrel is back!

IM dpruess
| Mar 20, 2020

I am so excited to announce that I am finally going for it, and committing to bringing back my Chess TV show for kids! It's been about 7 years since the last episode of From Branch to Branch, and for almost all those years I have missed having t...

Help!! (Real easy)

Help!! (Real easy)

IM dpruess
| Oct 29, 2017

Hey Chess Friends! Little help here for my SF Mechanics: we just need you to vote for us in two online polls, so we can participate in the next year of the PRO Chess League. If we get in, you will get to watch exciting GMs Sam Shankland and Dani...

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