Understanding Middlegame Strategies Vol.1-6 by Ivan Sokolov

Understanding Middlegame Strategies Vol.1-6 by Ivan Sokolov

In this 6 Fritztrainer pack, we deal with different dynamic decisions involving pawns. The aim of this DVD is to arm club/tournament players with fresh ideas which they can use in their own practice.

Understanding Middlegame Strategies Vol.1 - Dynamic Pawns

I hope my selected material will inspire the viewer to take similar decisions in his/her own games. I have structured this DVD into 4 chapters: 1. Minor Sacrifices 2. Rolling Pawns 3. Allowing pawn islands 4. Dynamic ideas with g- and h-pawns Every chapter consists of model games displaying different aspects of the theme. The variety of games should give you enough insights to spot these strategies in your own practice.

• Video running time: 4 hours 50 Minutes (English)
• With interactive training including video feedback
• Extra: Database with more examples

Understanding Middlegame Strategies Vol.2 - Practical Play

Practical Play In this DVD, I have selected the material aiming to improve the viewer’s middlegame decision making process and broaden his/her middlegame understanding in general.

I have structured this DVD into 4 chapters: 1. What to trade, what to keep 2. The king on f8 defends himself 3. Open file 4. Creating crises Every chapter consists of model games displaying different aspects of the theme. The variety of games should give you enough insights to spot these strategies in your own practice.

• Video running time: 4 hours (English)
• With interactive training including video feedback
• Extra: Database with more examples

Understanding Middlegame Strategies Vol.3 - The Hedgehog

The complexity of those positions is best illustrated in a Kasparov-Kramnik game – with both players allowing seemingly “obvious” mistakes. Charbonneau-Anand is another good example – a player of Anand’s stature landing in a terrible position, then missing his good attacking prospects. The game result was one of the biggest upsets of 2006 Chess Olympiad. There are different types of Hedgehog positions - many of them coming from the English opening where the White bishop is fianchettoed. In this video course I consider the “basic Hedgehog” pawn structure; like the one coming from the Kan Sicilian for example. Choosing the right plan at the right time is the key here - the ensuing positions are full of dynamic possibilities. I endeavour to show the most common (and a few less common!) plans for both sides and try to pinpoint typical mistakes and motifs. The basic aim of this video is to improve understanding of these complex positions and to help tournament players score better!

• Video running time: 4 hours (English)
• Extra: Training with ChessBase apps - Play key pawn structures against Fritz on various levels

Understanding Middlegame Strategies Vol.4 - Dynamic pawn structures

Isolated pawn structures can obviously come from many different openings. In this video course I have picked up isolated pawn structures coming from the classical Tarrasch defence D34; for which a considerable part was inspired by the games of Garry Kasparov. I believe studying the classical Tarrasch isolated pawn structures (and related pawn structures) to be an excellent way to improve understanding of those types of positions. Choosing my games selection, I wanted to show typical plans for both sides based on high level instructive games. Hanging pawns in the centre can come from different (though usually 1.d4 systems) openings. “Hanging pawns in the centre” structures are difficult to master because a good feeling for the “transformation timing” is needed! Sometimes those “transformations” are pawn-break related, unleashing dynamic power; while sometimes they are related to taking space and not being bothered about surrendering central squares. I have tried to show typical plans aiming to improve the viewer’s knowledge, and also practical play level. Sicilian Rauzer double f-pawn structures are fashionable nowadays and are seen at all levels. Dynamic timing is everything! Most of the time, temporary pawn sacrifices are an essential part of this “dynamic timing”. While it is difficult to give exact set of rules here, typical ideas do repeat themselves and I have tried to show these in this video course.

• Video running time: 5 hours 30 minutes (English)
• Extra: Training with ChessBase apps - Play key pawn structures against Fritz on various levels

Understanding Middlegame Strategies Vol.5 - Sicilian Rossolimo and Maroczy Structures

The Rossolimo gained popularity recently as it avoids Open Sicilian theory such as the Sveshnikov or Kalashnikov. In essence, we reach an English opening with colours reversed (1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 (or 2…Bb4) 3.g3 Bb4) being a tempo up. As with most colour reversed systems, now we have (as White) a comfortable position (the extra tempo counts after all!), but our aim also changes (as we are no longer happy with a ‘comfortable position’ but are aiming for an advantage). None other than Magnus Carlsen is playing this opening to a great extent, which is a key component of the selection on this video course. We mostly analyse plans after 3…g6 (followed by Bxc6 with both …bxc6 or …dxc6 recaptures) or 3… e6 4.Bxc6 bxc6. At first glance White has an ‘obvious advantage‘ in the Marcozy Bind: White has more space with Black not having clear counterplay. Danish chess legend Bent Larsen liked to play against the Maroczy Bind with Black and came up with many ideas that are still viable today. In this video course, my material is based on the Classical main-line Maroczy bind, I have pointed out the main ideas/positions both sides are aiming for and show surprising strategic mistakes (committed even in top-level games!).

• Video running time: 7 hours 20 Minutes (English)
• With interactive training including video feedback
• Extra: Model games database & Training with ChessBase apps - Play key positions against Fritz on various levels

Understanding Middlegame Strategies Vol.6 - Ruy Lopez StructuresVol 6

Anatoly Karpov once said: ‘Understanding the Ruy Lopez is crucial to middlegame improvement in chess’. On this video course I opted for ‘Karpov Ruy Lopez understanding type lines’, the massive majority of the material coming from Chigorin, Breyer and Zaitsev variations. I have tried to give viewers a ‘crash course’ on typical middlegame plans, typical material imbalance ideas (and dynamics), types of positions White or Black should be happy about (or try to avoid!), while combining it (when I saw fit) with useful opening advice (advice based on my forty years’ experience playing and researching those positions). The course aims to improve the understanding of these types of positions to help the viewer to play better and to get better results.

• Video running time: 6 hours 25 minutes (English)
• With interactive training including video feedback
• Extra: Model games database & Training with ChessBase apps - Play key positions against Fritz on various levels

Sample video

1. Vol 1
2. Introduction
3. What to trade what to keep
4. Game 1: Botvinnik-Donner
5. Game 2: Kasparov-Karpov
6. Game 3: Volokitin-Mamedyarov
7. Game 4: Ganguly-Nguyen
8. Game 5: Kasparov-Timman
9. Game 6: Carlsen-So
10. Game 7: Carlsen-Dreev
11. King on f8 defends itself
12. Game 1: Fischer-Hook
13. Game 2: Caruana-Naroditsky
14. Game 3: Van Foreest-Van der Lende
15. Game 4: Kasparov-Timman
16. Open file
17. Game 1: Kasimdzhanov-Li Chao
18. Game 2: Korchnoi-Bronstein
19. Game 3: Karjakin-Gelfand
20. Creating crises
21. Game 1: Galkin-Kramnik
22. Game 2: Korchnoi-Timman
23. Game 3: Swinkels-Sokolov
24. Game 4: Gurevich-Sokolov
25. Exercises
26. Exercise 1
27. Exercise 2
28. Exercise 3
29. Exercise 4
30. Exercise 5
31. Exercise 6
32. Exercise 7
33. Vol 2
34. Introduction
35. What to trade what to keep
36. Game 1: Botvinnik-Donner
37. Game 2: Kasparov-Karpov
38. Game 3: Volokitin-Mamedyarov
39. Game 4: Ganguly-Nguyen
40. Game 5: Kasparov-Timman
41. Game 6: Carlsen-So
42. Game 7: Carlsen-Dreev
43. King on f8 defends itself
44. Game 1: Fischer-Hook
45. Game 2: Caruana-Naroditsky
46. Game 3: Van Foreest-Van der Lende
47. Game 4: Kasparov-Timman
48. Open file
49. Game 1: Kasimdzhanov-Li Chao
50. Game 2: Korchnoi-Bronstein
51. Game 3: Karjakin-Gelfand
52. Creating crises
53. Description
54. Game 1: Galkin-Kramnik
55. Game 2: Korchnoi-Timman
56. Game 3: Swinkels-Sokolov
57. Game 4: Gurevich-Sokolov
58. Vol 3
59. Hedgehog - Part 1
60. Introduction and Fischer vs Andersson
61. Black pushes the g-pawn: Charbonneau vs Anand
62. Regrouping: Kasparov vs Kramnik
63. h-pawn push: Topalov vs Kasimdzhanov
64. White fights the h-pawn push: Radjabov vs Kamsky
65. Aggressive ideas for White
66. White castles kingside and pushes the g-pawn: J. Van Foreest vs Bilguun
67. Kingside pawn roll: Cramling vs Gruenfeld
68. Hedgehog - Part 2
69. Dark square control: Tal vs Polugaevsky
70. White pushes the a-pawn: Agrest vs Nisipeanu
71. White pushes the a-pawn 2: Firouzja vs Vachier-Lagrave
72. Doubled-pawns: Acs vs Polgar
73. Doubled-pawns 2: Eljanov vs Kudrin
74. White castles queenside
75. Diagonal domination: Romanishin vs Petrosian
76. Diagonal domination 2
77. Pawn structure change: Carlsen vs Wojtaszek
78. Exercises
79. Exercise 1
80. Exercise 2
81. Exercise 3
82. Exercise 4
83. Exercise 5
84. Exercise 6
85. Exercise 7
86. Vol 4
87. Hanging Pawns in the center
88. Hanging pawns in the center: Capablanca vs Alekhine
89. Hanging pawns in the center: Bok vs Grischuk
90. Hanging pawns in the center: Petrosian vs Spassky
91. Hanging pawns in the center: Sokolov vs Riazantsev
92. Hanging pawns in the center: Carlsen vs Hou Yifan
93. Hanging pawns in the center: Carlsen vs Aronian
94. Hanging pawns in the center: Kasparov vs Portisch
95. Hanging pawns in the center: Korchnoi vs Geller
96. Isolated Pawns
97. Active Play: Beliavsky vs Illescas Cordoba
98. Transformation: Petrosian vs Spassky
99. Transformation: Kasparov vs Illescas Cordoba
100. Transformation: Zueger vs Kasparov
101. Transformation: Smyslov vs Kasparov
102. Transformation: Larsen vs Kasparov
103. Transformation: Van Wely vs Grischuk
104. Rauzer structure
105. Pawn sacrifice: Klovans vs Tal
106. Pawn Sacrifice: Ragger vs Salgado Lopez
107. Pawn sacrifice: Gan-Erdene vs Maghsoodloo
108. Pawn sacrifice: Geller vs Larsen
109. Vol 5
110. Introduction
111. Rossolimo Structures
112. Rossolimo Structures: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5
113. Video 1: 3...g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.Re1 Nf6 6.e5 Nd5 7.Nc3 Nc7 8.Bxc6 dxc6 Rozentalis vs Carlsen
114. Video 2: 3...g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.Re1 e5 6.a3 Nge7 7.b4 and 6.c3 Nge7 7.a3 0-0 8.b4 Botvinnik vs Furman/Veresov
115. Video 3a: 3...Nf6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 and 4.e5 Nd5 5.0-0/Nc3
116. Video 3b: 3...Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Nc3 Nc7 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7.h3 g6 Adams vs Kramnik
117. Video 4a: 3...g6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.0-0 Bg7 6.Re1 Nf6/f6/e5
118. Video 4b: 3...g6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.d4 Vachier-Lagrave vs Carlsen
119. Video 5a: 3...g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Qc7 and 5...Bg7 6.h3 Nh6/e5
120. Video 5b: 3...g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Bg7 6.h3 Nf6 Caruana vs Carlsen
121. Video 5c: 3...g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Bg7 6.0-0 Caruana vs Carlsen
122. Video 6: 3...e6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.d3
123. Maroczy Structures
124. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nc3
125. Video 1a: 7...Ng4 8.Qxg4 Nxd4 9.Qd1 Ne6 10.Qd2 d6 11.Be2 Bd7 12.0-0 0-0 13.Rac1 Bc6 14.b4 Keres vs Petrosian
126. Video 1b: 7...Ng4 8.Qxg4 Nxd4 9.Qd1 Ne6 10.Qd2 d6 11.Be2 Bd7 12.0-0 0-0 13.Rac1 Bc6 14.Rfd1 Keres vs Petrosian
127. Video 2: 7...Ng4 8.Qxg4 Nxd4 9.Qd1 Ne6 10.Qd2 b6 and 10.Rc1 Qa5 11.Be2/Qd2
128. Video 3: 7...Ng4 8.Qxg4 Nxd4 9.Qd1 Nc6 10.Qd2 d6/Qa5
129. Video 4: 7...0-0 8.Be2 d6 9.0-0 Bd7 10.Qd2 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 Bc6 Carlsen vs Lie
130. Video 5: 6.Nc3 Nxd4 7.Qxd4 d6 8.Be2/Bg5 - a5 ideas
131. Video 6: 6.Nc3 d6 7.f3 Nxd4 8.Qxd4 Bg7 9.Be3 0-0 10.Qd2 a5 11.b3 Caruana vs Carlsen
132. Video 7: 6.Nc3 Nxd4 7.Qcd4 d6 8.f3 Bg7 9.Be3 0-0 10.Qd2 Be6 11.Rc1 Qa5 12.Nd5 Qxd2 13.Kxd2 Endgame and 12.b3 Rfc8 13.g4
133. Video 8: 7...Ng4 8.Qxg4 Nxd4 9.Qd1 Ne6 10.Qd2 d6 11.Be2 Bd7 12.0-0 0-0 13.Rad1 Bc6 Larsen vs Petrosian
134. Exercises
135. Exercise 1
136. Exercise 2
137. Exercise 3
138. Exercise 4
139. Exercise 5
140. Exercise 6
141. Exercise 7
142. Exercise 8
143. Exercise 9
144. Exercise 10
145. Exercise 11
146. Exercise 12
147. Exercise 13
148. Exercise 14
149. Exercise 15
150. Vol 6
151. Introduction
152. Ruy Lopez Structures
153. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3
154. Video 1: Zaitsev 9...Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.Ng5 Rf8 12.Nf3 Re8 13. a4 h6 14.Nbd2 Bf8 15.Bc2 Qd7 Shirov vs Sokolov
155. Video 2: Breyer 9...Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.Bc2 c5 13.Nf1 Re8 14.d5 g6 Svidler vs Sokolov
156. Video 3: Breyer 9...Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.Bc2 c5 13.d5 g6 14.Nf1 Qc7 Cheparinov vs Sokolov
157. Video 4: Chigorin 9...Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 Nc6 13.d5 Nd8 14.a4 Rb8 15.c4 b4 16.b3 Bogoljubow vs Rubinstein
158. Video 5: Chigorin 9...Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 Nc6 13.d5 Nd8 14.a4 Rb8 15.c4 Bd7 Stein vs Ivkov
159. Video 6: Chigorin 9...Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Nd7 12.d5 Nb6 13.g4 h5 Fischer vs Keres
160. Video 7: Chigorin 9...Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 Bd7 13.Nf1 Nc4 14.d5 Nb6 Kasparov vs Petrosian
161. Video 8: Chigorin 9...Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 Bd7 13.Nf1 Rfe8 14.d5 c4 Landa vs Nikolic
162. Video 9: Breyer 9...Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.Bc2 Re8 13.Nf1 Bf8 14.Ng3 g6 Vachier-Lagrave vs Amin
163. Video 10: Chigorin 9...Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 Bd7 13.Nf1 cxd4 14.cxd4 Rac8 15.Ne3 Rfe8 Spassky vs Keres
164. Video 11: Chigorin 9...Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 13.cxd4 Rd8 14.Nf1 exd4 15.Nxd4 d5 Grischuk vs Bologan
165. Video 12: Zaitsev 9...Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.a4 h6 13.Bc2 exe4 14.cxd4 Nb4 15.Bb1 c5 16.d5 Nd7 Kasparov vs Karpov
166. Video 13: Zaitsev type position 6.d3 d6 7.c3 0-0 8.Re1 Re8 9.Nbd2 Bf8 10.h3 b5 11.Bc2 Bb7 12.d4 g6 Carlsen vs Navara
167. Video 14: Chigorin 9...Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 Bb7 13.Nf1 cxd4 14.cxd4 Rac8 15.Bb1 Unzicker vs Keres
168. Video 15: Open Spanish 5...Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.c3 Bc5 10.Nbd2 0-0 11.Bc2 Nxf2 Short - Yussupow
169. Video 16: Chigorin 9...Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 Nc6 13.dxc5 dxc5 14.Nf1 Be6 Fischer - Kholmov
170. Exercises
171. Exercise 1
172. Exercise 2
173. Exercise 3
174. Exercise 4
175. Exercise 5
176. Exercise 6
177. Exercise 7
178. Exercise 8
179. Exercise 9
180. Exercise 10
181. Exercise 11
182. Exercise 12
183. Exercise 13
184. Exercise 14
185. Exercise 15