Dennis Monokroussos writes:
The Ukranian-German great Efim Bogoljubow will be the star of this Wednesday's
ChessBase show. One of the world's best player in the 1920s and 1930s, his name
is familiar to us; his chess, less so. So let's take a step towards remedying
this state of affairs by looking at some highlights of his career, at some games
that demonstrate his terrific feel for combinations and the attack.
We'll start with excerpts from two of his games. The first, against Jacques
Mieses, links "Bogo" with the past and present. The present, in that
his adept handling of an attack on all sides of the board demonstrates an ability
more common in today's chess; the past, in that the winning combination bears
a slight resemblance to a famous Morphy combination against Bird. The second
excerpt finds Bogoljubow making, and succeeding, with a speculative sacrifice
against none other than his future tormentor, Alexander Alekhine. The sac is
unsound, but it worked, and against a very strong opponent.
Finally, the main course is a brilliant win over Rudolf Spielmann. The other
games had their flaws, but this is a gem - Bogoljubow's "Immortal Game"
if anything is. Guaranteed to cheer you up, or your money back (offer good for
live audiences only)! Directions for watching the show, which starts at 9 p.m.
ET, are here.
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). Other time zones
can be found at the bottom of this page. You can use Fritz or any Fritz-compatible
program (Shredder, Junior, Tiger, Hiarcs) to follow the lectures, or download
a free trial client. |
You can find the exact times for different locations in the world at World
Time and Date. Exact times for most larger cities are 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.
The lectures, which can go for an hour or more, will cost you between one and
two ducats.
That is the equivalent of 10-20 Euro cents (14-28 US cents).
Monokroussos in Mexico: World Championship 2007
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Dennis Monokroussos is 41, lives in South Bend, IN, where
he teaches chess and occasionally works 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.
