This Week's ChessVideos Show: Jakovenko-Gelfand, European Club Cup 2011

As I mentioned yesterday, one of the game that impressed me in round 4 of the ongoing 2011 European Club Cup was Dmitrij Jakovenko's victory over Boris Gelfand. Jakovenko came up with a novelty on move 37(!) that quickly resulted in a complicated rook ending. Objectively, Black should have held it, but theory is one thing and practice another. One highly unobvious mistake was enough to lose the game, thanks to a well-calculated sequence by Jakovenko.

The finish was exciting, and the ending was highly instructive as well. Standard endgame themes like the priority of mobilizing passed pawns and of activating the king were on display, and the need for calculation and to take king safety into account played a large role as well. So whether you watch the show as a training exercise, for instruction or even for the game's entertainment value alone, you're likely to be satisfied with what you'll see. (I hope so, anyway!)

The show is here, and it's free as always (free registration required for newbies) and will be available for on-demand viewing for the next month or so.

This Week's ChessVideos Show: More Viewer Games, and Viewer Questions

Only two games, but they're nice: one features a sound two-knight sacrifice, while in the second a simulee achieved a winning position against Nigel Short (before tragedy struck). In the questions department, pride of place goes to a fascinating rook ending. One side was two pawns up, but had a very difficult time dealing with the opponent's outside passer. The ending is instructive and entertaining, and the viewer's intro to that ending is priceless.

You can watch the show here, free (free registration required), available on-demand for the next month or so. Enjoy!

This Week's ChessVideos Show: Viewer Games

Every so often I take a look at games presented by ChessVideos viewers, and this week's show examines the latest batch. Sometimes there are a lot of attacking games full of tactics, but this time around the emphasis is on the endgame - rook endings in particular feature prominently. Whole games are covered, so you'll find middlegames and openings (the Berlin is revisited with some depth) as well - it's not just rook endings in the show.

But see for yourself. The show is free (free registration required) and available on-demand for the next month or so.

Navara Presents His Game vs. Wojtaszek

The game David Navara vs. Radowslaw Wojtaszek may be from the B Group of Wijk aan Zee, but this is a very high-class game with both players over 2700. Players of this level obviously prepare deeply and calculate extremely well, but there's more to their ability than that. Watch these videos of Navara presenting the game, especially the endgame phase, and I think you'll also be impressed by their ability to think schematically as well. Navara may be a bit clumsy with the pieces, but the elegance of his thinking is remarkable.

HT: ChessVibes

This Week's ChessVideos Show: Viewer Questions

Topics include the anti-Benko/Benoni with 3.e3, material imbalances, the psychology of blunders, the isolated d-pawn and rook endings. There's something for everyone, at least if "everyone" is limited to the sort of crowd likely to watch chess videos. And since this chess video is free (free registration required) and will be available on-demand for the next month or so, "everyone" should be happy.

This Week's ChessVideos Show: The "Umbrella" in Rook Endings

Rook endings, it is often said, are the most important in chess. If that's so, then the better we understand them conceptually, the better off we'll be as practical players. So in this week's ChessVideos show, I take a look at the "umbrella" idea in rook endings. The basic idea is this: the defender can often bother an aggressive king by checking it from behind. (This is how the Philidor drawing defense works.) Imagine, for instance, that White has a pawn on e6, a rook on h7 and a king on f6; Black has a king on e8. Black can draw in such a position by playing ...Rf1+ and harrassing the White king until it leaves its pawn.

But what if Black had a pawn on f5? Then Black would simply be lost, because his "extra" pawn (compared to the first case) would get in his own way. It's an "umbrella" for White, protecting his king from the enemy rook's raining down checks upon his head.

That's the basic concept, and the presentation, which you can watch here, elaborates it with two classical examples and one that's very recent. The show is free (free registration is required), and the show will be available on-demand for the next month or so.

This Week's ChessVideos Show: More Viewer Games & Questions

Another week, another ChessVideos show. This time around I look at three viewer games and address a viewer question. Two of the games feature attacks (one is really spectacular) and two of the games (yes, I know there are three total games!) and the question involve endgames, so it's a well-balanced meal for the viewer.

The show is free (free registration required) and available on-demand for the next month, here.

A Nice Rook Ending: Can You Win It? Solution Time

In the previous post, I offered the following rook ending for your solving pleasure:

It's Black to move, and if White can take the h3 pawn with impunity, he draws. So how does Black achieve more? The answer is here.

This Week's ChessLecture Show: A "Boring" Rook Ending and the Danger of Assumptions

Over at ChessLecture.com, they've posted my second video for them, entitled "A "Boring" Rook Ending; The Danger of Assumptions". As you might gather from the title and the scare quotes, the subject is a rook ending that looks very simple and uninteresting, but proves surprisingly deep and beautiful. To uncover the truth and really understand what's going on, we need to overcome several assumptions - and there's a kicker at the end.