Dennis Monokroussos writes:
Roman Dzindzichashvili is best known nowadays for his opening books and videos,
and for his online play. But the American GM (by way of Georgia and Israel)
was once among the world’s strongest players. His victims include such
players as Botvinnik and Bronstein from his days in the USSR, Larsen and Timman
after he left, and Shabalov and Nakamura in his tenure here in the US.
GM Roman Dzindzichashvili, Georgia – Israel – USA
He hasn’t played all that much in the last few years, but it’s
worth taking the time to get acquainted with his style. This week we’ll
take a look at a tactical gem from 1973, played in a semi-final of the Soviet
Championship against Vitaly Tseshkovsky. The game started quietly enough, as
a sort of Reti/English hybrid, but the play sharpened considerably as “Dzindzi”
built up a kingside attack. His advantage grew consistently through move 26,
when the natural move would have given him a decisive advantage. Objectively,
his choice was an error, but it was the beginning of a fantastic conception
whose key idea was revealed several moves later. Objectively, I repeat, the
idea was inferior to the pedestrian 26.e4, but this was a clear case of a felix
culpa. Dzindzichashvili’s combination was sound, brilliant, and just about
impossible to handle in time pressure, and Tseshkovsky went down to defeat.
I think you’ll find the game entertaining, and opening connoisseurs will
enjoy seeing an opening that doesn’t get much coverage in our shows. Hope
to see you all tonight – Thursday at 9 pm ET!
Dennis Monokroussos'
Radio ChessBase
lectures begin on Thursdays at 9 p.m. EDT, which translates to 01:00h
GMT, 02:00 Paris/Berlin, 11:00h Sydney (on Friday). 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).
Dennis
Monokroussos is 40, lives in South Bend, IN, and is an adjunct professor
of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame.
He is fairly inactive as a player right now, spending most of his non-philosophy
time being a husband and teaching chess. At one time he was one of the strongest
juniors in the U.S., but quit for about eight years starting in his early 20s.
His highest rating was 2434 USCF, but he has now fallen to the low-mid 2300s
– "too much blitz, too little tournament chess", he says.
Dennis has been working as a chess teacher for seven 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.
