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.

Frederick Dewhurst Yates
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Frederick Dewhurst Yates (January 16, 1884 –
November 10, 1932) was not one of the top players, but could be very dangerous,
as shown by his victories over Alexander Alekhine, Max Euwe, Akiba Rubinstein,
and Milan Vidmar, against whom, it must be mentioned, he had minus scores:
Alekhine |
+2, –10, =3 |
Rubinstein |
+2, –8, =5 |
Euwe |
+2, –5, =1 |
Vidmar |
+1, –4, =1 |
Positional players such as José Raúl Capablanca (+8 –0
=2) and Géza Maróczy (+8 –0 =1) gave him little chance.
Yates died through an asphyxiation accident as he slept. Although some
have suggested that this was suicide, a friend testified that he saw Yates
the night before and that he was in good spirits.
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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
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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! |
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