Playchess training with FM Dennis Monokroussos
On the eve of Magnus Carlsen's becoming the official #1 on the FIDE rating
list, it seems like a good moment to reflect on the first notable chess prodigy
of the modern game, Paul Morphy (1837-1884).
Western Europe was the center of chess activity, but Morphy, who grew up in
the relative chess wasteland of Louisiana, came to Europe as a 21-year-old and
destroyed all opposition. Or at least he tried to. While most of Europe's best
tried their hand, including the rusty but gallant Adolf Anderssen, another of
Europe's chess heroes did not.

Never met in direct over-the-board games: Howard Staunton, Paul Morphy
For a variety of reasons, Howard Staunton (1810-1874) did not play Morphy,
and a good deal of controversy has surrounded Staunton’s abstention to
the present day. However, while they did not play any one-on-one games, they
did play a couple of consultation games against each other. Morphy partnered
with Thomas Barnes, while Staunton teamed with John Owen. Barnes was a pretty
strong player in his own right, while Owen seems to have been outclassed by
the other three, but it’s likely that the added players were there as
much to keep the tensions down and allow the losing side to save face. Whatever
the case, Morphy’s side won both games, and Staunton never played Morphy
again, even in the context of a consultation game.
Of course, we’re going to take a look at one of these two games for
this week’s show. The game where Morphy and Barnes had White was especially
interesting, and did credit to both sides. While Morphy+ got an edge after Staunton+'s
bad opening, the defense stiffened. Rather than pursuing the advantage by positional
means, Morphy(+) went for a very deep but only intuitively calculated idea,
and the game turned into a race between White's attack and the speed at which
his center collapsed. Ultimately, White won, but there were some adventures
along the way.
We'll explore those adventures tonight - Wednesday night - at 9 p.m. ET (=
3 a.m. CET) on the Playchess server. Just log on at the given time, go to the
Broadcast Room, and look for Morphy-Staunton under the Games tab. Hope to see
you there, even if you're a Staunton fan!
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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