Dennis Monokroussos writes:
This week’s show will feature the spectacular game Rudolf Spielmann-Gösta
Stoltz, Stockholm (match, game 5) 1930.
Rudolf
Spielmann (left, 1883-1942), author of the classic The Art of Sacrifice
in Chess, was renowned as a brilliant player. But in this game he's on
the receiving end of an inspired sacrificial idea by Stoltz (1904-1963). A
sharp line of the French gets sharper still when each side offers material
in pursuit of the initiative, but it looks as though White's 13th move puts
him in control. Black had seen this coming, however, and unleashed a magnificent,
albeit speculative, idea. Sacrificing his queen for a piece or two and the
initiative, Stoltz demonstrated that it's not so much the abstract material
value of the pieces that counts, but what the pieces can actually do in the
given situation. Perhaps White could have defended somehow – we'll take
a closer look during the show – but his defensive task was no picnic.
So I hope you’ll join me this Monday as we look at this fantastic but
little-known game. Those interested in French Defense theory are likely to
find something of real interest, and I'll also spend some time philosophizing
on the preconditions for speculative sacrifices, itself a very important topic
deserving significant reflection. See you there!
Dennis Monokroussos'
Radio ChessBase
lectures begin on Mondays at 9 p.m. EDT, which translates to 02:00h GMT,
03:00 Paris/Berlin, 13:00h Sydney (on Tuesday). Other time zones can
be found at the bottom of this page. You can use Fritz or any Fritz-compatible
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Dennis
Monokroussos is 38, lives in South Bend, IN (the site of the University
of Notre Dame), and is writing a Ph.D. dissertation in philosophy (in the philosophy
of mind) while adjuncting at the University.
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.
Here are the exact times for different locations in the world