Playchess training with FM Dennis Monokroussos

For most of us, Frederick Dewhurst Yates is one of those background names in chess history. He wasn't a world champion or one of the great challengers, though his name featured in many of the great tournaments of the first third of the twentieth century. We see the name and see their games when they lose to one of those greats, but rarely seem them as players in their own right.

As I've suggested before, this is a pity – not only for the somewhat abstract reason that it's worthwhile to remember those who have come before us, but also because these players have produced some fantastic games which we can enjoy and benefit from. Yates, for instance, lost eleven times to Alekhine while defeating him but twice – but a player who could defeat Alekhine twice must have had something going for him. Indeed, over the course of his relatively short career (he died in 1932, at the age of 48) he managed to win six British Championships and to defeat all the great players of the day but Lasker and Capablanca – e.g. Euwe, Rubinstein, Nimzowitsch, Bogoljubow, Reti and plenty more.

Enough apologia. Yates' best games can speak for themselves, if people will "hear" them, and you're invited to be auditors this Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET (3 a.m. Thursday morning CET) on the Playchess server. Just log on, go to the Broadcast room and find Alekhine-Yates under the games tab. Once you're there, you'll see a game that's interesting from beginning to end: an early King's Indian that might be of interest to those seeking a theoretical byway, followed by a middlegame where Yates more successfully understood what was going on than his illustrious opponent, and was concluded by a very long and well-calculated combination that resulted in Alekhine's resignation 17 moves later.

It's a great game; hope to see you there!

Dennis Monokroussos' Radio ChessBase lectures begin on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST, which translates to 02:00h GMT, 03:00 Paris/Berlin, 13:00h Sydney (on Thursday). You can find the times for different locations in the world at World Time and Date, with exact times for most larger cities here. And you can watch older lectures by Dennis Monokroussos offline in the Chess Media System room of Playchess:

Enter the above archive room and click on "Games" to see the lectures.

Monokroussos in Mexico: World Championship 2007

Dennis Monokroussos is 43, lives in South Bend, IN, where he teaches chess and has worked as an adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and Indiana University-South Bend.

At one time he was one of the strongest juniors in the U.S. and has reached a peak rating of 2434 USCF, but several long breaks from tournament play have made him rusty. He is now resuming tournament chess in earnest, hoping to reach new heights.

Dennis has been working as a chess teacher for ten years now, giving lessons to adults and kids both in person and on the internet, worked for a number of years for New York’s Chess In The Schools program, where he was one of the coaches of the 1997-8 US K-8 championship team from the Bronx, and was very active in working with many of CITS’s most talented juniors.

When Dennis Monokroussos presents a game, there are usually two main areas of focus: the opening-to-middlegame transition and the key moments of the middlegame (or endgame, when applicable). With respect to the latter, he attempts to present some serious analysis culled from his best sources (both text and database), which he has checked with his own efforts and then double-checked with his chess software.

Playchess Training with IM Merijn van Delft

Everyone is invited to join this weekly training hour on Wednesday evening. Together we will have a look at the most recent grandmaster games. Recurring themes during our analyses and discussions are the latest opening developments and how to work on your own chess.

A word about myself: I was born (March 13, 1979) and raised in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. In 1995 I won the Dutch U16 Championship and played the European Championship in Poland and the World Championship in Brasil. In 1998 I moved to Amsterdam to study psychology and had a great time there. In 2003 I met my wife Evi Zickelbein and ever since we've been living together in Hamburg, Germany. In 2004 I made both master titles: one at the university and one in chess. Since 2005 I've been working fulltime in the chess world: training, coaching, writing, organizing and still actively playing myself. By now I have about fifteen years of experience as a chess trainer. Together with my dad I wrote a book about chess training (Schaaktalent Ontwikkelen), of which the Dutch version is already available and the English version will follow April 2010.

IM Merijn van Delft's lecture starts at 20:00h Central European Time (Berlin, Paris, Rome), which translates to 19:00h London. You can find the times for different locations in the world at World Time and Date. Exact times for most larger cities are here. The lecture is in the "Broadcast" room of Playchess. It is free for Premium Playchess members (50 Ducats for others).

Links The lectures are broadcast live on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!