The Complete Guide to Attacking Chess

Course Curriculum

Chapter 1: Introduction

Lecture 1: Why focus on Attacking the Opponent's King?

Lecture 2: Alexander Alekhine Quotation Selection

Lecture 3: Alekhine as combinational attacking player role model

Lecture 4: Text version:Alekhine as combinational attacking player role model

Lecture 5: Garry Kasparov Quotation Selection

Lecture 6: Interesting Chess Quotations on Attacks, Sacrifices and Combinations

Lecture 7: Text version – Interesting Chess Quotes on Attack, Sacrifices and Combinations

Lecture 8: Great attacking players and their roots

Lecture 9: Course index and conventions

Lecture 10: Importance of detailed and thematic game analysis

Lecture 11: Four Quadrant model – Attack Style vs Accuracy

Lecture 12: Four Quadrant model – Attacking Style vs Beauty

Lecture 13: Four Quadrant model – Accuracy vs Beauty

Lecture 14: Some sources and positive influences for attacking chess

Lecture 15: Course Layering considerations

Lecture 16: Accumulation of Advantages theory applied to King Attacking Chess

Lecture 17: Delayed Gratification concept e.g. not playing Qh5 in opening as extreme!

Lecture 18: Elements of position and how they trade-off against each other

Lecture 19: Kingscrusher's passion and drivers for attacking chess

Lecture 20: Bouncy roads of attack concept

Lecture 21: Amplification and Attacking Chess

Lecture 22: Teamwork and Attacking Chess

Lecture 23: The power of saying "No!" to opponent's threats and Attacking Chess

Lecture 24: Pawn Structure and Attacking Chess

Lecture 25: Central control and Attacking chess

Lecture 26: Stability and Balance and their impact for Attacking Chess

Lecture 27: Power of complementary resources and Attacking Chess

Lecture 28: Success in the combinational phase of attack

Lecture 29: What attacking players dream about and benefits of detailed analysis

Lecture 30: Preparing attacking opening variations for particular opponents

Lecture 31: Bias crushing – in search of objectivity

Lecture 32: Game selection criteria

Chapter 2: Attacks based on keeping the King in the center

Lecture 1: 142+ Cs – Keeping K in center when saying "no" to threat – Spielmann vs Flamberg

Lecture 2: 113+ C's – Pawn sacrifice leads to King being stuck in center – Euwe vs Alekhine

Lecture 3: 20+ C's – Powerful exchange sacrifice keeps king in center – Alekhine vs Junge

Lecture 4: 15 Cs- Power play to exploit King in center – Tolush vs Alatortsev

Chapter 3: Attacking when King in center

Lecture 1: 850+ Cs – "The Immortal game" – Material vs. King Safety and/or Position

Lecture 2: 675+ Cs- "The Evergreen game" -Exploiting King in center – Anderssen vs Dufresne

Lecture 3: 540+ C's – e1-h4 diagonal exploited using sacrifices- Larsen vs Spassky

Lecture 4: 1060+ Cs- "Game of the Century" – moving piece twice punished – Byrne vs Fischer

Lecture 5: 650+ Cs- Slow move punished with square vacate tactic – Steinitz vs Bardeleben

Lecture 6: 930 Cs- The classic Opera game reminds us of key ingredients – Morphy vs Allies

Lecture 7: 230 Cs – Bishop without counterpart leads to early disaster – Alekhine vs Vasic

Lecture 8: 204+ Cs- Dangerous Qa5 check creates huge K safety issues – Potemkin vs Alekhine

Lecture 9: 187+ Cs – Queen in Siberia and weak light squares – Rodzynski vs Alekhine

Lecture 10: 75+ Cs- Winning material via a skewer using square weaknesses – Euwe vs Alekhine

Lecture 11: 120+ C's – b4 move while King in center leads to difficulties – Alekhine vs Book

Lecture 12: 55+ C's- Opening up e-file with piece sacrifice – Alekhine vs Euwe (Blitz 1921)

Lecture 13: 50+ C's – The question of how to pressure d5 – e4 or Nc3 – Alekhine vs Kaufmann

Lecture 14: 170+ C's – Both King's in the center rich complex battle – Tal vs Botvinnik

Chapter 4: Attacking the weakened Castled King position

Lecture 1: 140+ C's Amazing team work potential created by weaker King – Molinari vs Cabral

Lecture 2: 80+ C's – Weakened King position increases piece values – Parr vs Wheatcroft

Lecture 3: 75+ C's – Giving up bishop for light square attack – Kasparov vs Gavrikov

Chapter 5: Attacking based on play on both sides of board

Lecture 1: 410 C's – Rooks make use of both sides of board – Lasker vs Capablanca

Lecture 2: 120+ Cs- Advantage on Q-side, thenprobing K-side for weakness -Alekhine vs Flohr

Chapter 6: Attacks based on "use best resources on squares around the Opponent's King"

Lecture 1: 430+C's -"The Polish Immortal"-Pieces around King dangers- Glucksberg vs Najdorf

Lecture 2: 450+C's – Logically, physically, resources around King – Levitsky vs Marshall

Lecture 3: "The Harem" Five Queens flight of fancy Alekhine combination utilising pins

Lecture 4: 220+ Cs – Knight on Rim left as bait for strong attack – Kasparov vs Karpov 1986

Lecture 5: 340+ C's – Numerical superiority of attack forces – Kasparov vs Karpov 1990

Chapter 7: Attacking when opposite side castling

Lecture 1: 350+ Cs- A classic rook sacrifice to pile pressure on King – Bird vs Morphy

Lecture 2: 330 Cs- Double rook sac on same square for speedier attack – Pillsbury vs Lasker

Lecture 3: 100+ C's -Queen sac made use of for dynamic attacking play- Mieses vs Alekhine

Lecture 4: 69 C's – Black prevented from castling K-side – Alekhine vs Winter

Lecture 5: 128Cs- Fishing pole creates beautiful mate possibilities -Alekhine vs Hoelscher

Lecture 6: 340Cs -Bishop sacrifice creates huge complexity and key blunder – Tal vs Smyslov

Chapter 8: Attacking using positional Queen sacrifice (more common than you might think!)

Lecture 1: 300+ C's – Positional Q-sac to exploit departed bishop – Botvinnik vs Smyslov

Lecture 2: 370+ C's – Positional Q-sac creates teamwork – Nezhmetdinov vs Chernikov

Chapter 9: Attacking making use of Opening Gambit perks – material offered for King safety

Lecture 1: 305 C+ Cs' – Counter-Gambit perks against Gambit – Schulten vs Morphy

Lecture 2: In 200 C's – Smooth as silk Blumenfeld Gambit – Tarrasch vs Alekhine

Lecture 3: 160+ C's – Alekhine-Chatard Gambit has great compensation – Alekhine vs Fahrni

Lecture 4: 605+ C's-Gambit creates a powerful central "octopus knight" – Karpov vs Kasparov

Lecture 5: 530+ C's – Remarkable liberation of f-file and a2-g8 – Spassky vs Bronstein

Lecture 6: 200+ C's – Central authority created in King's Gambit – Spassky vs Fischer

Lecture 7: 19+ C's – Smith-Morra Gambit shows King stuck in center – Esserman vs Van Wely

Lecture 8: 160+ Cs – Surprise value of gambit leads to bad improvisation – Alekhine vs Euwe

Chapter 10: Sacrificing pawns in the middlegame for attacking ingredients

Lecture 1: 210 Cs- Forcing move sequences create beautiful effects – Morphy vs Anderssen

Lecture 2: 155 Cs – Trading Queen's pawn for K attack prospects – Alekhine vs Maroczy

Lecture 3: 210+ Cs – Double pawn sac gets attacking ingredients – Karpov vs Kasparov – 1985

Lecture 4: 280+ C's – Pieces being activated and pawn sacrifice – Karpov vs Kasparov – 1993

Chapter 11: Attacks based on square weaknesses of a certain colour

Lecture 1: In 91 C's – Lots of dark square weaknesses to exploit – Alekhine vs Chajes

Lecture 2: 382 C's: Default downside of a weak bank rank vividly shown – Adams vs Torre

Chapter 12: Attacks based on the weak back rank "default downside"

Lecture 1: Passed d-pawn but a keen eye on the back rank combos – Alekhine vs Colle

Chapter 13: Attacks based on the "Diagonal of Death" default downside

Lecture 1: 220+C's -Check the "diagonals of death" for tactical opportunities – Canal vs NN

Lecture 2: One slip and diagonal of death a2-g8 is winning – Alekhine vs Fine

Chapter 14: Attacks based on the f2/f7 soft spot

Lecture 1: 134+ C's – f2 square comes under fire unexpectedly – Rubinstein vs Alekhine