Mastering Pattern Recognition in the Opening
Pattern recognition is an important tool in modern chess, as it helps you to understand better the characteristics of a position. Particularly when you have been confronted with a surprise opening system played by your opponent, it helps when you can just
The 6th of September 1955 in Gothenburg will be remembered in chess history as the day when three Soviet players (Keres, Spassky and Geller) played against three Argentinian players (Najdorf, Pilnik and Panno) and reached exactly the same variation of the Sicilian Najdorf with 6.Bg5!
After the moves 6...e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Qf3 h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.fxg5 Nfd7, Black didn't get the chance to gain a positional grip on the dark squares as in all three games White went for the spectacular double piece sacrifice 11.Nxe6 fxe6 12.Qh5 Kf8 13.Bb5!?. The Soviet players won their mini-match convincingly by a 3-0 score, but three years later Bobby Fischer improved Black's play with 13...Rh7! We will investigate the current state of this variation and show you some fascinating new ideas for both sides which have been discovered ever since!
Warming up exercise: This position was reached simultaneously in Spassky-Pilnik & Keres-Najdorf, Gothenburg 1955. How should White continue his attack?
You can move the pieces on the live diagram!
Master Class Vol.10: Mikhail Botvinnik
Our experts show, using the games of Botvinnik, how to employ specific openings successfully, which model strategies are present in specific structures, how to find tactical solutions and rules for how to bring endings to a successful conclusion
Robert is on air every other Thursday at 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET / 16:00 EST)
Special attention will be paid to Intermediate Moves, Quiet Moves, Sacrifices on Empty Squares, Mating Patterns, Ignoring Opponents Threat, Calculation in Defence and Method of Comparison. Plus 50 interactive examples to test your knowledge.
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