OPENINGS (AND RELATED SESSIONS)
1 2 King's Indian Defense (KID) — Opening Ideas
Speaker: GM Susan Polgar (half day)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1800
This class is useful for anyone who wants to learn a reliable defense against White's Queen Pawn (1.d4) start. The KID is a flexible opening choice which also can be used against a 1.c4 or 1.Nf3 start. In this session, you will learn about:
- What are White's main options facing the KID
- What are the key positions in today's theory in the KID
- How different move orders can make a big difference
- Traps and pitfalls to avoid in the KID
1 2 Typical Middlegames in the King's Indian Defense
Speaker: GM Susan Polgar (1 hour)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1800
In this session, you will learn about the typical tactical and strategical ideas of the King's Indian defense. If you play the KID with either color, this class is a must. If you don't, it is still essential to improve your general middlegame knowledge. You will learn about:
- Black's magical Bishop (g7)
- Which are the "good" and "bad" Bishops in different positions
- The positional offense on the Queenside versus the attack against the King
1 2 Typical Endgames in the King's Indian Defense
Speaker: GM Susan Polgar (1 hour)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1800
In this class, you will learn which endgames you should try to acquire and which to avoid when playing the King's Indian Defense. This is a perfect class for anyone feeling somewhat uncertain in the endgame. It is valuable regardless if you play the KID as Black or White.
This class will focus on the most typical pawn structures resulting from this opening.
1 2 Dutch "Stonewall"
Speaker: GM Alex Onischuk (half day)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1800
Learn from an expert about The Dutch Stonewall (starting with 1.d4 f5). If you are a 1.d4 player, you need to know how to face it. If you are not sure what to play as Black against 1.d4, perhaps the Stonewall is a good option for you. This class will cover all main important opening and middlegame ideas of this opening.
1 2 Sicilian Defense — Opening Ideas
Speaker: FM Paul Truong (half day)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1400
In this class you will learn about interesting opening ideas in the Sicilian Najdorf and Scheveningen variations. This was Kasparov's response as Black to 1.e4 during most of his impressive career. You will learn about various sound structures, positions, and variations.
1 2 Typical Middlegames in the Sicilian Defense
Speaker: GM Alex Onischuk (1 hour)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1400
In this class you will learn about the most important tactical and strategical ideas in the most popular opening of our day: the Sicilian. Strategies will be discussed for the Dragon, Scheveningen, and the Najdorf variations of the Sicilian. Some examples will include:
1 2 Queen's Gambit Declined (QGD) — Opening Ideas
Speaker: FM Paul Truong (1 hour)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1800
The Queen's Gambit is perhaps the most solid and sound responses to 1.d4. In this class, you will get a general overview of what White's choices are against it as well as several options for Black in the QGD.
1 2 Typical Middlegames and Endgames in the Queen's Gambit
Speaker: FM Paul Truong (1 hour)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1800
There are several different Pawn formations that can arise from the Queen's Gambit declined. In this class you will learn ideas that are typical in the Middlegames — and Endgames that follow the opening moves in the QGD. One of them is the Carlsbad structure where the "minority attack" is a common theme.
TACTICS, ENDGAMES, AND OTHER FUN STUFF
1 2 Tactics, Tactics, Tactics (Level I)
Speaker: GM Susan Polgar (1 hour)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1400
The famous saying by S. Tarrasch goes "Chess is 99% tactics". That maybe an exaggeration but it certainly is one of the most crucial parts of the game. All combinations will be 1-3 moves and even some 4 movers. We shall see numerous examples of:
1 2 Tactics, Tactics, Tactics (Level II)
Speaker: GM Susan Polgar (1 hour)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1800
This class on tactics is for the more advanced player. You shall practice your calculation skills in two ways: To calculate long (3-8 moves), straight forward variations, as well as short (2-5 moves) but complicated ones. We shall see examples of combinations with:
1 2 Understand Positional Play!
Speaker: GM Alex Stripunsky (half day)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1800
While tactics are very important all throughout a chess game, when there are no fireworks in the position, one has to try to slowly gain and accumulate small advantages. Positional play requires (among other things) patience, long-term planning, maneuvering, improving our own piece's positions, and trying to limit our opponent's pieces as much as possible.
1 2 Practical Rook Endgame Hints
Speaker: GM Alex Onischuk (half day)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1400
It is known that Rook endgames are the most common out of all endgames. Therefore, it is very useful to know as much as possible about them. In this class, you will learn important winning and saving techniques which are typical in Rook endgames.
1 2 Practical Pawn Endgame Hints
Speaker: GM Alex Stripunsky (1 hour)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1400
The basic of all endgames are the Pawn endgames. Potentially all endgames may end up being Pawn endgames. Therefore, it is a must for anybody wanting to improve their endgame knowledge to start with these basic endgames. Although as you will find out in this class, in Pawn endgames, things are not always as simple as they seem even when there is only minimal material left on the board.
1 2 Making a Chess Plan
Speaker: GM Alex Onischuk (1 hour)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1800
One of the most difficult tasks in chess is to make a plan. To pick the right plan is even harder. In chess, there are short and long term plans. This class will give you the knowledge of what hints to look for in different types of positions based on the Pawn structure and other variables.
1 2 Forming Endgame Strategies
Speaker: GM Alex Onischuk (1 hour)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1800
One of the main differences between professional chess players and amateurs is that they have more long range view of an opening and understanding of the potential endgames which can arise. In this class, which will rely on the Sicilian Defense for its examples, you will get a peek into a Grandmaster's mind on how that works.
1 2 Chess Brilliancies
Speaker: GM Susan Polgar (1 hour)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1400
This class is for anyone who likes all the beautiful and fun things in chess. GM Susan Polgar will share with you her all-time favorite jewels of chess history. This class is certainly enjoyable for all levels.
1 2 The New World Champion: Veselin Topalov
Speaker: FM Paul Truong (half day)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1800
There was a lot of excitement at the 2005 World Championship in San Luis, Argentina. This spectacular event crowned a new world champion, the Bulgarian super-grandmaster Veselin Topalov. In this fun class, you shall see some of his games from the past year as examples of his fearless fighting spirit. You'll see
- How he defeated Garry Kasparov
- How he dominated the 2005 World Championship and M-Tel super tournament
1 2 Pattern Recognition in Chess
Speaker: FM Paul Truong (1 hour)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1400
Pattern recognition is one of the most important skills in chess. This class will show you, how you can use certain ideas in totally different positions.
1 2 How to Avoid Blunders in Chess
Speaker: FM Paul Truong (1 hour)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1400
One of the big problems for many club players is how to avoid blunders. It is impossible for anyone to avoid them completely but anyone can certainly reduce the quantity and frequency of blunders. This class will give you a guideline and what to look out for to avoid falling into traps.
1 2 The Art of Attack
Speaker: GM Alex Stripunsky (half day)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1800
This class is geared toward intermediate players who wish to sharpen their attacking skills and increase their understanding of tactics. In this class, we will go over two different types of attacking methods:
1 2 Exploiting Endgame Advantages
Speaker: GM Alex Stripunsky (half day)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1800
This class will discuss two types of endgames: technical and tactical. In the first part of this session, you will see practical examples of how to convert material or positional advantage to a win. In the second part, you will find out that even in the endgame there are many tactical opportunities. We shall learn about:
1 2 Winning Won Games
Speaker: GM Alex Stripunsky (1 hour)
Audience: Player Rating — up to 1400
Getting to a "winning position" is a big achievement, but it is just as important to know how to end the game. This class is designed to show you ways how to minimize counter chances of your opponent when you already almost "have the game". Learning this skill is essential for the complete chess player.
- Hints to recognize where the danger is coming from
- How to decide whether: to try win in style or the "sure way".
