Original subtitles

hi everyone

this is Grandmaster Eugene Perelman and first of all

I would like to wish everyone at chess lecture.com

happy holidays

I hope you're gonna enjoy this holiday season

and perhaps play some exciting chess

or learn some fun lectures

and continue with your chess strengthening

uh playing in the next New Year

so in this lecture

I wanna do something for the holidays

and this is very instructive Grandmaster miniatures

which I found

by searching through hundreds and hundreds of database

games and I hope you're gonna enjoy it

notice that this is gonna be

by grandmasters who are relatively famous

in the first game and in the second game

you're gonna see grandmasters who are very famous

as a matter of fact super grandmasters alright

so let's start the first game

e 4 e 5

this is between

white is playing Grandmaster Svetushkin

he is about 2588 and black

not a well known grandmaster

but still at 25 about 20:506

Grandmaster Haslinger I believe from England

so let's see knight of three

knight of 6 and remember these are miniatures

so we're gonna see one of the sides

really crumble down fast

so let's see who is gonna be bishop C4

Bishop Sifa

so we have ourselves Gioacchino or the Italian game

and now white plays c 3

knight of 6

and at the top level d 4 is pretty much not popular

after E takes d c d there should be 4 check and after

for example Bishop d 2

Black is doing really well

Bishop takes knight takes d 5

so

that's why pretty much all top grandmasters

prefer the slow setup which is the move d 3

so White's main idea is actually quite simple

to play night B d 2 knight f 1

knight g 3 or castles followed by rookie one knight f 1

knight g 3 and the bishop from c 4 usually goes to B 3

and even to c 2 so kind of a very slow

not aggressive approach to the opening

so let's see what Grandmaster Haslinger decides to do

here he plays this quiet looking move a 6

which is actually a very popular setup our days castles

and now simple bishop a 7

he is not playing castles yet

he just wants to prevent from white from playing d 4

so now Rook e one

preparing the 92 knight of one maneuver

castles

and now this quiet looking move h 3

so is this the way to play for advantage square wide

well let's see what happens next

black plays d 6

so far all well known

and now bishop to B 3

so notice why it's idea after bishop to e 6

he wants to play Bishop c two

this is kinda interesting plan

he wants to avoid trading light square bishops

so that he can play d four and threaten d 5 in one go

so this is very important

white wants to play d 4 and d 5

so black has to act fast and I think he plays a really

really powerful move here

d 5

immediately trying to seize the center

and now let's look at this position

white played

e 4 and after 10 moves in the opening

it is black who is fighting for the center

black is completely finished his development

whereas white still has to develop his knight on b 1

and bishop on c 1 is this the way to play chess

and I was actually surprised that

very strong grandmasters play this line

as white and it really puzzles me why they did so

because I don't see way for white to fight

for advantage

so Svitoshen plays

night b d 2 trying to keep control over the center

which is not as popular as E t x d

the reason why E t x

d is perhaps more popular

is because black has to take with the queen

and the Queen could get actually

into some crossfire from different sides

but actually this is not a problem at all

as the following game showed

for example bishop g 5

trying to ruin Black's pawn structure

after bishop takes knight

and now there is this very simple move

knight to d seven

and it turns out that the queen on d 5 can go to d 6

if attacked by the bishop

and really there is no way why can get advantage here

and this is actually a game from

2007 where white played by almassy

very strong Hungarian Grandmaster

and black is our favourite Armenian super Grandmaster

Aronian

and after night B d two

abromian simply played rook F e 8

he's not afraid of bishop b 3 at all and now bishop e 3

the bishop on a 7 is really really strong

Bishop takes

rook takes and h 6 just a simple prophylactic move

Aronian solved all his opening problems

and this is just a game

but let's see what happened in this svitoshen game

after night b d 2

I think Castle chose the right plan

he immediately exchanged on e 4

and now

notice that the bishop on a 7 is playing a key role

x raying x raying the whole the diagonal

particularly the pawn on f 2 is now pinned

so this is gonna be very important

but now my question to you is

how does black follow up his attack

so all of his pieces are perfectly placed

he can of course play h 6

perhaps even queen d 7 rook d 8

but what if black really wants to eye the king side

instead

and the really strong move is knight h 5 exclamation

this is it called a multipurpose move

No. 1 you wanna take control of the f 4 square

No. 2 queen is going to f 6

help you with attack and this is really really good

so let's see what happens now

now white played night to H2

probably what I did to bring his queen out to F3

and at the same time attacking the knight on h 5

and the knight from h 2 of course

can go to g 4 and participate in the attack

but there is a big problem

that it's actually black who starts the attack first

but before we go and look at that move

let's actually take a look what happens after

night takes E5

if knight takes e 5 Queen takes h 5

and it seems as though

black doesn't have sufficient compensation for the pawn

but instead of taking on E5

I think black has a very strong move

which gives black a very big advantage queen to h four

it's not so easy to defend f 2 now

because knight is hanging on e 5

so you have to play knight d 3

and now look at these pieces

the knights and the bishops

the rook on a 1 is completely out of the game

and after knight d three

we can follow up with rook 8 to d 8

simply threatening Rook takes d 3

and the attack is just way too strong

I don't really see how white can defend here

so after night h 5 night h 2

all black moves are quite simple queen to h four

attacking f 2

now white plays queen f 3

here white actually thinks

wow I defended everything

that should be fine

but this move g six really shows that white

still has to fight for Equality

why well

F5 is a possible way to open up the f file

and there is no easy defense

and this is where our game is called miniature

because with the next move

white allows black to finish the game in style

and I G4 is a blunder of course in a bad position

and this is over very quickly

let's see if you can find how the game finished

here the game lasted only two more moves

so night g 4 Bishop takes g 4

if queen takes g 4 then taken on f 2 wins h 6 g 4

and here Smith is probably thinking

wow I'm doing really good

Knight has to go to f 4

and I can play knight f 1 and just regroup

but the next move is a killer knight to g 3

and

there is no defense against mate on h 1

and again take a look at that

a 7 bishop

remember I mentioned that this is the key diagonal

the bishop I n f 2 square

well this is exactly how the game ended

and after an IG 3 white resign

this is a 2588 grandmaster

who just fell to this very powerful opening ID

okay now let me go back

and the next game

you're gonna actually know at least one of the players

white is being white is a grandmaster

a Russian grandmaster named Timofeev he's about 2670

and black is of course the famous super Grandmaster

Peter Svidler his rating is about 2727 in this game

so let's see how the top gun Svidler fell

in a miniature of only 19 moves

so this is quite interesting to watch so c 6

d 4 d 5

so Timofeev decides to play the botvinik variation

usually result results in isolated pawn for white

knight of 6 knight c 3

e 6

so far all well known theory

night f 3

Bishop d 4

Bishop d 3 so you see

white is not really afraid of the isolated pawn

d takes C Bishop takes c 4

castles castles

so far all well known theory

and now Svidler plays B6

so Black's plan is actually quite simple

he wants to play bishop d 7

Knight b d 7

exchange the bishop on c 3 in the right moment

play rook c 8 and really play against the weak c 3

d 4 point

also notice the light squares

the a 8 h 1 diagonal is really

really powerful

so what does white do here

well white has to play simply powerful moves

just developing

and yet putting threads such as bishop g 5

pinning the knight

bishop b 7

rook e 1 again

all of white moves are part of a big plan

now e 6 is a little bit weak

9 v d 7 and rook to c 1

so the rooks are placed on the best squares

swindler plays rook to c 8

attacking the bishop

and now to my fave plays queen to B 3

forcing the exchange by the way

if black doesn't take on c 3

just being curious here let's take a look at this move

Bishop e 7

is there a way that white can punish this move

well the first thing that comes into my mind is a piece

sacrifice on e six right

what happens after Bishop takes e six

well there is a problem

one takes queen takes

there is a problem that after rook have seven

it's hard to put more pressure

it seems though

there is too many things like the rook is pinned

the bishop on c 7 is weak but there is just not

no more moves left for white to put pressure on black

so this sacrifice doesn't work

so let's try to figure out

what else is possible in this position

well perhaps there is no urgency here to rush with

taken on E6

right let's see if maybe we can play something like

night g 5 one possible move

because now if night takes

pawn takes we got rid of our isolated pawn

and now if night d five

we can simply take on d 5

now if Bishop takes d five

after Bishop takes e 7 Queen takes e 7

Knight takes d 5 pawn takes

queen takes

white is simply awful pawn

so black has to be extremely careful

after Bishop takes D5

what do you do

so after Bishop takes e 7

now Queen takes e 7 I prefer white here

I can just simply play Rook C to d one

and the d 5 pawn is really weak

and of course I can also play knight takes d five

and wife is doing good here

because if we get exactly the same thing

if Bishop takes Queen takes

so black has to be careful here

maybe queen e 6 or something like that

but again this shows you that bishop e seven is really

not that good of a move

because there's really no point behind it

but I know swindler plays

I think it good move Bishop takes

rook takes

and now notice that white didn't take with the pawn

this is really good the rook from the

from the c 3 square can now participate in the attack

for example if knight e 5

rook g 3 rook h 3

all of these possibilities are now open

and here swindler makes I think

a novelty with this move rooks to 7

which is a very dubious move

it doesn't really do anything

but his main idea is to play queen a 8

I think instead h 6

immediately try to solve the problem of the spin

I think is best now Bishop h 4

and perhaps

perhaps here something like a 6 with idea b 5

and try to fight for the d 5 square or even some games

black played queen e eight

and the main idea of course is to break the pin

and now the knight is free to go to c 4

to e 4 for example or d 5

and it's unclear that white is better

for example knight e five

night takes e 5 pawn takes e 5

and here just some night move

for example night e 4

a very active move and this is still a game

white has a bishop pair

but black has a very powerful bishop on b 7

the knight on e 4 is really dangerous

and bishop on h 4 is a little bit cut off

but this novelty by Svidler

turns out to be dubious novelty

see my fave plays energetically Night E5

of course taken on E5 loses

and then Svidler falls up by another bad move

queen king h 8

what's the point of this move

it's hard for me to understand

it's kind of invites and white to play Rook to h three

notice how night e 5 rook h 3 are part of the plan

whereas rook c 7 king h 8 are hard to explain

and by the way

this game played in the Super Championship of Russia

and now swindler plays queen to a

alright so now black finally created once Thread

Bishop takes G2 but he just one move too late

with the next mini combination to my fave

puts Fiddler out of his misery

Knight takes g 7

as a matter of fact I think besides Knight takes g 7

it's worth noting this quiet move queen g three

notice the X ray on the rook on c seven

and after 94 which seems like reasonable move

black is in big trouble by force

this beautiful move night g 6

check

night sacrifice pawn takes

now we follow with the rook sacrifice king takes

queen h 4

bishop e 6 and now we get all of our material back

and queen f 4

queen c seven

and this is over

black is just totally falling apart

so this is a need need

a need combination

that could have finished the game on the spot

but the way to my faith played is actually strong to 96

d seven

here swindler had one move

that doesn't lose the game right away night takes

but even after night takes

let's see if you can find the best move here

why just I think falls up with a simple Queen's d three

g 6 right

this is the only move if h 6

this is kind of suicidal

I can just simply take

so g 6 and now the dark squares are really really weak

and wife has several ways to play one

we can just simply play a three

we're not in a rush then we can build up the attack

but I think the move that's really strong here is

immediate double up on the h 5

rook h 6 and now if Bishop takes g two

we have a really really strong move

d 5 x clamp so if bishop takes d 5

then after queen h 3 game's over

so the whole point after d 5 is that bishop on g 2

doesn't have anyone to defend him

and if E takes d

we simply follow with bishop d five

notice that we have so many threats now

that there is simply not enough defense

so Bishop is hanging on on g 2 Bishop e 4

then again we win with queen h 3

and the position is just totally lost

so

after Queens d 3 g 6 Rook h 6

it's clear that black is gonna probably lose this game

but Speedler played Rook takes this one

which allows a very beautiful mating attack by Timofeev

and it's all forced actually

let's see if you can find this combination

so Bishop takes knight

pawn takes and let me give you some time to figure out

the whole combination

and the key here is actually very cinematic

is opening the files

next to the king with the rook sacrifice

Rook takes king takes queen h 3 and swindler resign

there's just simply no defense from rook

coming to e three and h 3 mate

so with king g 7 queen check king h 8

rook e 3 and it's over

really beautiful game by Timofeev

and poor performance by Speedler but you know

even super grandmasters can lose in

what is it 19 and 20 moves

very instructive game

so

I hope these two games gave you something to realize

that even grandmasters lose on miniatures

and hope you Learned a few opening lessons

and how to talk with all of your pieces

in both of the games

it was important that from the very first moves

whether it was the Haslinger game

black played very strong and decisively

and continued his attack and the team of a game

Speedler made a few inaccuracy in the opening

and then from that point on

why just played strong and powerful moves

and black really had no defense

thank you so much and happy holidays see you next time