Happy Diwali and more photos from my trip to India

Once again, let me wish a very Happy Diwali to everyone who celebrates this festival! Let it bring you more inspiration and prosperity. Let it brighten your face with a smile and bring new positive feelings to you and yours!  
Also, let me remind you that the special 35% discount on the new mini-course, the “Nimzo-Indian Defense”, will expire very soon – on Friday, 13 November.

Evaluation of a position – Part-2

This is the second part of the lesson “How to evaluate a position in chess?” by GM Petr Velicka. To write this lesson, Velicka was inspired by his two games from the summer open tournament in Ikaria.
Both games have a common denominator: the position after the opening was equal, or even very nearly a draw, but the result of the game was a win for the stronger player. If you missed game-1 (the first part), then you can watch it here.

 

Now, let’s continue studying the lesson with the second game.

Prohaszka, Peter (2586) – Velicka, Petr (2397)

Aegean Open, Ikaria 2015

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Bg4 3.Bg2 c6

White to play

The main line is 3…Nd7 4.c4 e6 5.cxd5 exd5 6.0-0 c6 7.d3 Ngf6, etc. Something like I played against Peter in the last year.4.c4 e6 5.0-0 Nd7 6.Qb3 A jump by the queen to b3 – this is a speciality of Peter Prohaszka’s in this variation. 6…Qb6 7.d3 dxc4

New chess opening mini-course – Nimzo-Indian Defense

I’m very happy to announce that we have released a new mini-course. It is called the “Nimzo-Indian Defense” and was prepared by our guest coach, GM Levan Aroshidze.  As you may have already realized, this course is about the “Nimzo-Indian Defense” opening.
As I already informed you a few months ago, following your requests we’re splitting the course “GM’s Opening Laboratory – 2” into several openings, thereby making it possible for you to purchase any particular opening for a relatively small price.

We have already released one such course for you – it is the “Bogo-Indian Defense” by GM Aroshidze.

More importantly, we’re releasing the course, Nimzo-Indian Defense, in Udemy – the world’s online learning marketplace – and you can study it there. As I have observed in previous articles, we’re planning to move all our courses to Udemy.

How to evaluate a position in chess?

Today, I’d like to share with you a very interesting article on the topic “How to evaluate a position in chess?”. To be more precise, how does one say if a position is equal or a draw? Or are these terms the same? This lesson is prepared by GM Petr Velicka.

You can start reading the article now:

To write this lesson, I was inspired by my two games from the summer open tournament in Ikaria. Both games have a common denominator: the position after the opening was equal, or even very near a draw, but the result of the game was a win for the stronger player.

A 75-year-old chess teacher who fought off knife-wielding attacker during class

Today, I’d like to share with you an amazing story which involved a chess teacher. I just found it very emotional and inspirational, and I felt obliged to mention this honourable person who teaches our beloved game.

James Vernon, 75, an Army veteran, fought off a knife-wielding man who tried to attack a group of children in a library in Morton, Illinois, United States. Vernon was teaching chess to a group of 16 children at the Morton Public Library.

He’d finished his tutorial and was walking around the room to survey the children’s chess moves when a man wielding two knives burst into the room threatening to kill them. “He flung the door open and yelled, ‘I’m going to kill somebody,’” Vernon says.

Vernon put himself between the man and the door, and tried to diffuse the situation while the children escaped. Vernon says he was solely focused on saving the kids.

James Vernon

The children got out safely, but that’s when 19-year-old Dustin Brown came at Vernon with the knives.”I didn’t have any weapons except my hands, so I grabbed him and threw a knee at him and my weight pushed him back.” he says.