Dennis Monokroussos writes:
It's a very old game, going back to 1872, but the remarkable contest between
Carl Hamppe and Philipp Meitner has not lost its power to amaze chess fans.
Almost immediately the game goes into full action mode as Meitner, with Black,
sacrifices a piece on move three (!!). That's just for starters, too. Black
throws more wood on the fire – a queen, a knight, and a bishop all offer
their lives for the sake of the attack. White chips in as well, giving up a
piece, but the main hero for White is the intrepid king. All alone, it ventures
as far as c6, and yet somehow it does not die. Astonishing!
Even more surprising is just how well this game holds up, 137 years later.
Analysts and their "assistants" have gone deeper, but almost every
move has stood the test of time. Computer have therefore given this game a double
benefit: a confirmation of its class, and, thanks to the wonderful variations
that have been discovered in recent times, the opportunity to increase fans'
enjoyment. You'll get to see some beautiful lines tonight, lines I hope will
inspire you to create your own masterpieces in the 19th century mode.
So you're invited to join me tonight on the Playchess.com server. We begin
at 9 p.m. ET (3 a.m. CET). The show is free for Playchess members; all you have
to do is go to the broadcast room at the starting time, click the games tab
and double-click on Hamppe-Meitner. See you there!
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.