4/29/2024 – After the little excursion to plenty of Anti-Sicilians, and how Chris Ward suggested countering them, we got back on track with a real Dragon game. Real? Well, this time, the British GM chose a very positional game, and points out, that it doesn't always have to be a tactical back and forth in this opening. Uncomplicated, straightforward chess is possible!| Photo: John Upham
2/13/2024 – Month by month, we learn how to master, and tame the powerful Dragon, with Dragon expert Chris Ward. But do you know what's really annoying? When nobody wants to accept the Dragon against you! Chris heard all of your cries for help, and made a special episode of the basics, ideas, plans, traps, and more for plenty of Anti-Sicilians, and other openings, which try to dodge our beloved Sicilian Dragon. A "Must Watch" episode for everyone, who experienced something similar. (And we know, you have ...) | Photo: John Upham
1/17/2024 – As everybody knows by now, d5 is perhaps one of the best continuations for Black in the main variation of the Yugoslav attack. But more and more players accept the variation and try to swap off queens on d4 differently, by playing the knight to a4! Finally, a trendy move for White is now to move the g-pawn forward one square!? How to deal with this as a Dragon lover? Chris Ward knows the answer, and it leads to spectacular, beautiful outcomes, of course. | Photo: John Upham
12/4/2023 – In today's episode, the Sicilian Dragon advances to a nail-biting endgame! But not without diving deeper into some other variations, options, plans and ideas. For example, a setup with two rooks, and two bishops, vs. queen, rook and bishop!| Photo: John Upham
11/8/2023 – Chris Ward couldn't resist showing us a wonderful game of Arjun Erigaisi, defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi with the Dragon. Apparently, Erigaisi is watching the Monthly Dragon, since he used the advice by Chris, of last month's episode! But the Indian GM used a quite interesting path to keep the game going, which is normally used by club players.| Photo: John Upham
9/27/2023 – The Dragon Master is back with a new episode! We already reviewed the possibility of trapping the white queen in an earlier show. In today's video, Chris points out how important this resource is to gain a strong advantage over White.| Photo: John Upham
8/30/2023 – In the last episode, Chris introduced the Hungarian Dragon. This time, the British GM will continue with some deviations of the popular variation. Beware, the following game is intense! It is definitely worth it to check out the full analysis. | Photo: John Upham
8/14/2023 – One opening variation in the Sicilian Dragon is getting more and more popular. The Hungarian Dragon! A somewhat "safer" Dragon than usual, with a twisty idea to push h5 forward very soon, and avoid all of White's pawn rushes better. Dragon tamer Chris Ward shows us a game, probably inspired by Richard Rapport, where our Dragon bishop causes some havoc on h3, instead of g2!| Photo: John Upham
7/8/2023 – Magnus Carlsen likes to play with, and against the Dragon. Chris Ward found two recent games of the Norwegian GM, and shows us which variation the former World Champion chose to defeat the Sicilian, and how to counter the variation better. Furthermore, we dive into the win of Magnus, and what mistakes his strong opponent made. Remember, all the variations are available on Ward's Fritztrainers! | Photo: John Upham
5/31/2023 – On our last show, we checked out a very popular Dragon line in the Yugoslav Attack. And just a couple of days later, Chris had a similar game on the board. So, now the British GM had the choice to carry on with his suggested idea, or use a more active move. Well, you might have already guessed what Chris did, right? This game turned into a typical Dragon beauty, full of tactics, and surprising ideas. | Photo: John Upham
4/27/2023 – Grandmaster Chris Ward found an interesting Sicilian Dragon game, in which the recent strategy of castling queenside early on is used. This variation is actually old, but due to recent popularity, it is considered a modern line. How to defeat the white pieces now? Chris shows us how, and gives us plenty of helpful tips!| Photo: John Upham
3/28/2023 – The "Ginger GM" Simon Williams enjoys playing the Dragon a lot, but is an even bigger fan of the Dragadorf. But, what happens if the opponent plays the interesting 6.f4 Levenfish variation for White? Simon Williams knew the answer and dominated his opponent. Chris Ward analysed the game closely, and found some interesting options for Black and White to take care of!| Photo: John Upham
2/23/2023 – Chris Ward is showing us into an interesting endgame, which occurred between two strong US chess players a couple of weeks ago. The dragon variation, which we look at, leads us to an endgame with 7 pawns vs. 1 pawn, but with a full rook less! Which side would you rather be? At this point, the engine says = 0.00 equal position. Chris had a very similar game against Karsten Mueller once, which we also dive into, when both Grandmasters played in the German Bundesliga. | Photo: John Upham
1/24/2023 – The first Monthly Dragon in 2023 is ready, and our Dragon aficionado GM Chris Ward found some interesting games in the Yugoslav attack for us. This month we take a look at 9. 0-0-0 d5 where White ignores the central pawn tension and instead immediately swaps knights on c6 and then seeks to trade off the Dragon bishop via Bh6.
This ultra-direct approach with a swift h-file assault in mind has been around for decades but has recently come back into fashion. Needless to say it’s far from one-way traffic though as Black certainly has his own attacking aspirations in another no-holds-barred encounter of thrills and spills! | Photo: John Upham
1/17/2023 – Last month World Chess, the company that ran the World Chess Championships, announced its plans to float on the main London Stock Exchange in November, inviting institutional and retail investors to subscribe for eight million Euro shares. This comes at the heels of planned 483 million takeover of PlayMagnus by the giant Chess.com. What this all means is discussed by Peter O’Brien in the latest issue of The British Chess Magazine.
12/17/2022 – The Dragon grandmaster is back with an interesting game for all you Sicilian lovers. Two U16 talents battled it out in the last European Youth Chess Championship 2022. But before this game is thoroughly presented by Chris Ward, first, we take a closer look at a recent game between Arjun Erigaisi and Fabiano Caruana. Nonetheless, in the second game, the Topalov Variation is on the board, and the British GM shows us some very interesting lines, plans, and ideas with this system. | Photo: John Upham
11/19/2022 – We have a new show on ChessBase with Grandmaster Chris Ward. The Sicilian Dragon aficionado is back on-screen, and presents us games, news, moves, tactics, ideas, and much more about his "go to" opening each month. In the first episode, Chris is presenting us one of his own, rare dragon games, which he played quite recently. The English Grandmaster had a couple of options to continue with his dragon, but chose the good ol' move 11. .. Qa5, which caused several mate threats a little later. | Photo: John Upham
10/18/2022 – Following on from ‘Part 1: Understanding The Dragon’ where important themes and concepts were explained, now it’s time to delve into the theory that has shaped this exciting opening over the years. From reasons why once popular variations are no more (but with revival suggestions!) to coverage of the more modern systems currently deployed by the World’s elite, this two-parter has it all!
10/1/2021 – Ratings are full of mysteries and by no means coherent. Sometimes, you suspect an inflation of ratings, sometimes a deflation. In some countries ratings are distorted by too many young players - or not enough adult players. And how did the lack of tournaments in the Covid era affect the Elo ratings? Walter Wolf has gathered a lot of statistics and tries to draw conclusions.
2/25/2011 – He's made a DVD about the King’s Indian Attack, as well as one on 1.g3. So it was nice for GM Nigel Davies to see his fellow DVD presenter Andrew Martin transpose into the latter using the former! In a recent game Black was forced to play …c6-c5 and contract serious weaknesses. After this Martin trussed him up like a chicken and executed him on the kingside. Instructive video lesson.
7/18/2007 – Did Tsar Nicholas II award the ‘grandmaster’ title to the five finalists of St Petersburg, 1914? What connection exists between the Morphy family and Murphy beer? Can the full score of one of Pillsbury’s most famous brilliancies be found? Did a 1940s game repeat a position composed 1,000 years previously? Edward Winter, the Editor of Chess
Notes, presents new mysteries for us to solve.
Anyone who seriously deals with openings cannot avoid the opening encyclopaedia. Whether beginner or grandmaster. The Opening Encyclopaedia is by far the most comprehensive chess theory work: over 1,463(!) theory articles offer a huge fund of ideas!
€149.90
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