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
This week all the attention should, of course, be given to my friend Jorden van Foreest who shocked the chess community by clinching tournament victory in the Tata Steel Masters.
We will have a look at his Black repertoire against 1.e4, as he came up with some amazingly interesting new ideas in The Ruy Lopez. The Ruy Lopez with 4...Bc5 followed by 5...Nge7 is a very rare hybrid system of the Neo-Archangelsk (Bc5) and Cozio Variation (Nge7) but worked out very well for Jorden: he won against Aryan Tari in dynamical style and drew with Anish Giri in the tiebreak.
But we will also briefly examine Jorden's amazing preparation (14...Bh3!) against "MVL" in another modern line of the Neo-Archangelsk.
But first a warm-up: Curiously, by a different move-order we came across an old game between Alexander Alekhine and Efim Bogolyubov that is relevant for Jorden's idea. White wanted to consolidate his position with his last move 21.Qg5, but what did he overlook?
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.
Many more Fast and Furious episodes are available in ChessBase Videos
