7/4/2023 – Svitlana recently played in the Canadian Transnational Tournament, where almost every opponent had a couple of hundred rating points more than her. Awonder Liang, Lazaro Bruzon, and Alexandr Lenderman were among the players in the tournament. The WIM was still able to show some smart moves, and even beat an IM with the Jobava-London. And due to this opening choice, Svitlana started a nice attack, which had some beautiful tactics.

6/14/2023 – Everybody knows one of the most famous chess games ever played, right? Interestingly, Svitlana just recently discovered Anderssen's Immortal game against Kiseritzky! Looking at this game is similar to reading a great book, or watching a fantastic movie over and over again. It never gets old, it is extraordinary, and it is entertaining! But if you also belong to those who never heard of this game before, this is a big treat for you.

6/7/2023 – You probably have discovered the good news already - Svitlana made a new Fritztrainer: The Leningrad Dutch Defence! The Dutch Defence is a stable counter to the common opening moves 1.d4, c4 or Nf3. The Leningrad variation is particularly fun to play. Svitlana knows the opening by heart, as she played it herself for many years, and recently was close to a win against an IM (who is about to reach 2500) with this very opening.

6/1/2023 – From her weekly video series "Svitlana's Smart Moves" we already know what a good teacher Svitlana Demchenko is. She is well prepared, can give clear and understandable instructions, which makes it easier for her students to understand and learn from her, and she is excellent at explaining complex chess concepts in an understandable way, which makes the learning process more enjoyable! Her latest Fritztrainer consists of a whopping 10 hours of great instructional advice on how to play the Leningrad Dutch Defence!

5/30/2023 – The modern defence is another systematically easy to learn hypermodern opening, giving the king a safe place, and implementing a hidden centre attack, as the game continues. Svitlana shows us the basic plans, and gives us the right moves to play. In the game example, we can see how powerful the move 1. .. g6 can be!

5/14/2023 – In this video, Svitlana puts you to the test by dissecting three splendid game examples. So, sharpen your strategic thinking and prepare to dive into the world of clever tactics and mind-bending manoeuvres because it is all about creativity! Let the games begin!

4/29/2023 – Svitlana is finally back, and brought us one of her games of the Canadian Women's Closed, which she won! In the example, she played against the Giuoco Piano with Black, and presents us plenty of opening ideas, plans, and strategies, on how to win against this opening with the Black pieces. You need to watch to the end because the last tactic which decided the game is brilliant!

3/17/2023 – Svitlana shows us the basics of the open and closed Catalan. This opening is often played by some world class players, like Magnus Carlsen, or Vladimir Kramnik. It can either get sharp, or super positional. The model game was played by Alekhine, and the most powerful weapon of the Catalan, the bishop on g2, is exchanged rather quickly. But there are more threats, than only the bishop!

3/10/2023 – World Women's day was on 8th of March, and Svitlana took the opportunity to show us three incredible games by the Polgar sisters. Sofia, Susan, and Judit are the greatest influencers of Svitlana's love for chess, and The Canadian WIM was lucky enough to meet Susan Polgar in 2018, as we can see in the pictures of this article.

3/4/2023 – The last time Svitlana played chess, was summer 2022. The Canadian club championship of Svitlana's chess club was another chance to finally move the pieces on the board again. The Canadian WIM is studying most of her time now, but this doesn't mean that she got worse in chess. It seems, the opposite was the case, and Svitlana won a round before the tournament ended! We take a look at two of her games.

2/25/2023 – In the year 2023, names like Praggnanandhaa, Keymer, Abdusattarov, and Esipenko are common to every chess fan. A couple of years ago, only the chess specialists knew them from the top 100 junior FIDE list. Svitlana's prepared some nice analysis for us of the WR Chess Masters Tournament, with unexpected twists and tactical turns!

2/10/2023 – After a long time, Svitlana was finally able to play some chess again in the Canadian University Chess Championship 2023. With 4 out of 5, she had a great tournament. We take a look at two of her games, where we specifically analyse her two opening choices. Especially the move 3. .. h6 in the Queen's Gambit, is often unpleasant for White, and Svitlana pulls off a great victory with loads of tactical patterns. In the second game, the London system does the job, and the game is pretty much over after less than 20 moves.

1/28/2023 – In an earlier episode, Svitlana taught us the King's Indian Defence. Today, we will learn all the basics about the King's Indian Attack, which is a universal setup, similar to the London System. This also means that the attack can be easily played against standard openings, like the Sicilian, the French, or the Caro-Kann. Svitlana explains, using a Bobby Fischer game, how to win against the French Defence with this interesting opening.

1/18/2023 – Gaining the initiative in chess is one of the most effective tools to decide a game in your favour. It always depends on what kind of player you are of course, and for some it seems easier, others struggle a lot more to make initiative moves. Anish Giri is momentarily storming towards the Tata Steel chess title, with his spectacular playing style. Svitlana presents us his victory against Gukesh D., where he took over the game with a few moves for the win. The same applies to Max Wamerdam's game against Jergus Pechac, and it contains a valuable lesson.

1/12/2023 – Luckily, we will probably never run out of good games played! With the new ChessBase 17 function to find beautiful games, it is even easier than ever, to find some tremendous tactics. Svitlana reviews a couple of games, and lets us guess the right move. If you remember the games, you will have an easier time finding them. Wesley So's game, was surely the most spectacular game, against Hrant Melkumyan. But also the often overseen game between Can and Maghsoodloo was quite phenomenal.

12/30/2022 – Magnus Carlsen not only won the Rapid Championship 2022, but also the Blitz Championship. The GOAT of chess, played some remarkable games, and Svitlana takes a closer look at two of them. Funnily enough, in one of the games, Bobby Fischer had a very similar position against Ulf Andersson. Perhaps Carlsen remembered the particular attacking move, and used it for his own victory. But this episode begins with the masterful tactic of Daniil Dubov against Nihal Sarin. What a stunner!

12/10/2022 – The Italian game was probably one of the very first openings you learned. The reasons are clear: The center is dominated, the minor pieces are active, the king is safe. The Giouco Piano is played by almost every top player in the world. Svitlana is teaching us the "slow" variation, the so-called Giuoco Pianissimo Variation in this episode. The move d3 is giving White the choice to prepare their attack with a bit more time. In a game between Sven Magnus Carlsen, and Christopher Hikaru Nakamura, Svitlana presents us the White plans, and Black's counter ideas.

11/13/2022 – Akiba Rubinstein was one of Polands greatest chess players. Svitlana is showing us two of his incredible games. In the first game, Rubinstein achieved a small tempo advantage with the Black pieces, and quickly unleashes a beautiful, tactical combination to crush his opponent. Furthermore, in the second game, his endgame skills shine, and we can learn a lot about pawn endgames in general.

11/3/2022 – In the 1980s Vasyl "Chucky" Ivanchuk became one of the world's top 100 players and he will probably remain one for another ten years, or longer. Svitlana shows us how the Ukrainian GM plays the Sicilian - in two wonderful games we see how Ivanchuk defeats Kasparov and Vallejo Pons with White, and then we see how he plays the Sicilian with Black to smash Anand.

10/28/2022 – The world champion Svitlana is talking about today, is one of the world's best chess players, since the late 80s. The five-time world chess champion has played some gorgeous games, and we will take a look at two of them. Anand beat Aronian with the Black pieces in 2013, and it is one of Svitlana's favourite games used for teaching. The second game is from 1997 against Joel Lautier, and Anand managed to trap the opponent's bishop for the whole game, without ever having the need to capture it.

10/11/2022 – The Magician of Riga has made many incredibly smart moves in his career. Svitlana shows us in a couple of examples, what Mikhail Tal's secret for successful attacking is. Maybe you can use the tips to your advantage in a dominating position against your opponent.

10/6/2022 – If you ever asked yourself what Svitlana's favourite "Smart Moves" theme is, we have a clear answer - fantastic, unexpected moves. And you can try to guess them in this video. In our 50th show, Svitlana has surprising examples from real games with Le Quang Liem, Pavel Eljanov, Jonathan Levitt, Mikhail Tal, and Arshak Petrosian (No, not the world champion Petrosian). Many of you might know the famous games already, but for those who don't know them, you are in for a treat.

10/1/2022 – Wesley So, Levon Aronian, Leinier Dominguez and Sam Shankland all have something in common. They play for the US national team, and they are all Libra. Although many Libra grandmasters play excellent chess, none have won a world championship title, except for Ruslan Ponomariov, who won the FIDE title in 2002. Even legends like Ossip Bernstein, Viacheslav Ragozin and New York-born Reuben Fine were close, but not close enough. Maybe it's because Libras bring too much lightness to the game? | Photo: Pixabay

9/26/2022 – Today, Svitlana takes her "smart moves" very literal, and presents to us an opening, which you might not have heard of yet. The two knights tango is not a Gambit, but a quite solid offbeat opening, focusing on the power of very early knight development, and asking the opponent to push the pawns forward too hasty. If the opponent commits to pawn moves, the tango knights can dance around the board, and cause some havoc. A fine opening for Black. Other names for this opening are: Black Knights' Tango, Mexican Defence or Kevitz–Trajkovic Defence