Varuzhan Akobian is unlike many other lecturers not acting like he's on stage doing a one-man-show. He's simply doing a job, sober, stylish, to the point, deep, intense, bringing over his message. Thanks Chessclub of St.Louis for sharing this with the world.

Akobian is out of doubt your best contributor. Really great at explaining and at taking questions. Him and Yasser are real gentlemen

I really love Akobian's lectures so much.

My late father and I would play this opening all the time. Drew 80%. This brings back so many profound memories of brains dancing and afternoons spent with beers and wood pushing.

GM Akobian is the best lecturer. What a master :) I love how he explains.

This was another outstanding and very instructional lecture by GM Akobian!!

Always loved karpovs games

Superb lecture!

thank for the video akobian and ccsc

Another excellent lecture by GM Akobian

great video tribute to GM Varuzhan Akobian he is awesome!!!

nice to watch a gm teachng us

I do agree with the comments below. Akobian and Seirawan are the most instructive GMs of the channel. Thank you SLCC!

tnx you are the best

I used to hate playing players like Karpov, sound, positional, going into an endgame with a minor advantage. I found it to be so boring. Now, I start to appreciate how beautiful his games are.

Solid lecture!

Very useful nice lecture 👏👏

Karpov is a chess genius

Akobian has so much class.

with his accent and the way he was dressed, i expected akobian to explain how to put someone into a chokehold or defuse a bomb or something having that said, i like it!

Great lecture. One slight issue though - 24:18 I am not sure Ba6 is possible because White has Qa4 which seems to win material. Cheers, K

You sure sound a lot like Gru. Anyways, good lecture!

at 11:50 , why didn't white play Rf1? Nxd5 trick doesn't work because of Qxd5? After Qd8, white can play Qf3 and increase pressure on Nf6 and knight is going to be pinned. Am I right?

take here, take there, threaten this, any questions? priceless :D

what is nakamura doing at the back?

I like the way he pronounced "here"

Not sure 9...Ba6 is possible in the Ce5 Cc6! variation of the Catalan

Beliavsky, a strong player indeed, but Karpov is a legend. once a world champion always world champion.. in style, play, etc.

This is why I decided that it was important for me to learn theory. Because I found myself losing every game because of one bad move.

In the second game.... After 14. ... Nc6 15. Bxf6 black can take gxf6 instead of Bxf6 and according to Stockfish, black is perfectly OK. In any case after 17. Ng5 (attacking the Queen) Qf5 18. Be4 ... the queen can go to a5 instead of g4 as demonstrated in the presentation. Then after 18. Bxc6, black simply hits fxg5 and white's attack is no more (in case of 15 ... gxf6). In case of 15 ... Bxf6, black still gets much better version than the one demonstrated when the queen retreats to g4. Great presentation anyway!

Karpov performance rating at 94 Linares 11/13 no losses ELO 2985!!! with ratings inflation from 28 years ago probably 3100!! Karpov = human Stockfish!! And there were at least 6 future world champions or finalists in that trnmt and he crushed it!!

What if after h4 black plays h6, kicking the bishop?

26:41 Bd5 Qd3 in my opinion black can play Be4 with control of e4 and Nbd7

I gave up the Lopez and stop at c4 with the bishop now. I like the lines better.

At 24.15 Ba6?? loses a piece in view of Qa4.

Most always to win, don’t sacrifice the Kings Bishop. Tuck in a safe place, reserve for endgame.

Love how d5 just shut black down

Can anyone tell me why at around 30:30 Bishop takes Knight isn’t good? Bishop takes back sure but then white has Knight g5 threatening checkmate and the black queen is under attack by the bishop on g2

slowly realizing all the losses in these chess videos are from the queen being WAY to the left, while the winning colors chess is attacking their king

This needs more monsquaz, though.

Unzicker really should have learned to stop playing the Ruy Lopez against Karpov. He has another spectacular loss with this opening from 1974

Blunders knight resigns...

Goddamn I though anatoly karpov tough the class

Akobian is a master of awkward silences

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 Bd7 13.Nf1 Rfe8 14.d5 Nb7 15.N3h2 g6 16.Ng3 c4 17.f4 exf4 18.Bxf4 Bf8 19.Bg5 Be7 20.Qd2 Bc8 21.Rf1 Nd7 22.Ng4 1-0

Good lecture. On the Akobian/So matter, I heard on network news about Wesley losing on a technicality. It was only when I saw the comments here that I was able to put a name and face on his opponent. GM Akobian is clearly a skilled playerand lecturer but that was still a chickenshit thing to do.

"New classes and new GMs added every week, come check out the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis and subscribe to our KZfaq page." There's been a lot of money put into it, but kids out of state can't "come check it out." Adults are attracted by GM lectures, sure but IMO you're missing a very key component in tournaments. I see on your website you have G/70 and G/20 games... that's kid stuff, and like I said before kids aren't going to drive across state to check it out. Get some 90/40 type time controls, have some respectable amateur tournaments to add to your stellar cast of coaches. That will complete the package and attract more people IMO.

Why cant black just take the knight on D4 with rook, then if white recaptures whith either pawn or rook, black plays knight to C5. Black Knight cant be taken bcuz queen is loose. Now lets say black takes the knight on D4 eith rook and white takes knight on A4. Black can then retreat his rook back to the 8th rank. And black would be ok? All that happened was an exchange of knights? What am i missing? Bcuz i dont see anything wrong with black in this case.

There's no need to study, it's all about brains, coz your presently counter attacking your opponent, it depends on how you plan for offense and defence until you checkmate your opponent.