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.
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.
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.
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.
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!