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Here are some links to learn more about GM Kraai: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Kraai https://twitter.com/jessekraai https://www.youtube.com/user/heliopolitanus

I finally won a game playing GM Kraai's system against the French Defense, but I was lucky. I think I played the opening correctly, but I played the middlegame poorly. I got lucky when my opponent made a blunder that enabled me to win a piece. Even though I won, I know there is plenty of room for improvement, and I would like to know what I should have done differently. I have not done the computer analysis of this game.

8th Cherry Blossom Classic - MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND !!!May 27th - 31st, May 28th/29th - 31st 2021Washington Dulles Airport Marriott45020 Aviation Dr, Dulles, VA 20166, VA 20166 Jesse is returning to the "real world" this weekend for an Over-The-Board Tournament! There are 58 players in the Open Tournament with an average rating of 2171. You can follow our hero here: http://cherryblossomchess.com/

Watch GM Kraai practice pre-move (AKA "Predict-A-Move") from his 4/6/2021 Twitch stream:

GM Kraai has reinvented himself as a ChessDojo. There are three incarnations of this that I know of. 1. Twitch TV where he shares the ChessDojoLive Channel with IMs Kostya Kavutskiy and David Pruess. 2. You Tube where you can subscribe to ChessDojo to easily track the videos. 3. Discord Once you have joined this site you can join the Chess Dojo server using the invite: https://discord.gg/sUUh8HD. Here you can follow the doings of the Dojos.

GM Alex Yermolinsky (AKA Uncle Yermo) mentioned this game during the World Cup broadcast today. He said that GM Kraai knew the ending of Rook + Rook's Pawn vs Bishop was a win but could not remember how to do it. GM Jaan Ehlvest was on hand and happened to be teaching a team of students such endings for the past week. Still GM Ehlvest was unable to describe the process. The story starts at about 1 hour and 25 minutes into the video: Perhaps Jesse will address this incident/ending in one of his upcoming shows.

The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 1 - 1/22/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKkV7u_nFrU GM Kraai vows to get his rating back up to 2500 by going over games from his recent tournament. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 2 - 2/5/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wHupr8G_9A GM Kraai discusses another game from his tournament travels. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 3 - 2/12/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Czvr0-6wPI GM Kraai charts his progress and goes over two games from his recent tournaments. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 4 - 2/17/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_T4jtpPseA GM Kraai goes over two games from his recent tournaments and notes his ailing body part for the week. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 5 "Nothing Easy" - 2/26/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvzS58YDybU GM Kraai reports his progress from last week and goes over several endings from his experience. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 6 "Hard Work" - 3/4/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXZJ-4pdoyM Jesse analyzes his recent games and gives the view from the "Maryland Post". The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 7 - 3/11/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pi9_59vSig Jesse unveils the "flare for his lair" and then reviews his game with "The Sitter". He is joined by his friends GM Josh Friedel and IM Kostya Kavutskiy in the chat. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 8 "Thinking Fast And Thinking Slow" - 3/18/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUFR9MaWwkU GM Kraai interrupts his usual programming to present several mate-in-two problems. He also introduces the upcoming ChessDojoLive project. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 9 "Thinking Fast" - 4/1/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEw0zSLuGB4 GM Kraai moves his broadcast to ChessDojoLive. Jesse reviews a vote chess game vs ChessPatzerUK. He also fears he may have the corona virus. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 10 "Cracking The Shell" - 4/8/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P818hwXJUIs Jesse finishes his game from Episode 7. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 11 "Chess Crimes" - 4/15/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsbwBk4IW3o Our man Jesse deviates from his usual French defense and plays the Philidor/Lion. He commits two chess crimes. Will he be punished? Tune in next week. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 12 "Analysis" - 4/22/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZSh9siSmjQ Jesse continues his game analysis from last week and will continue next week. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 13 "Old Time Adjornment Analysis" - 5/1/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT9lAxDzjMc Jesse dissects his ending with the help of GM Josh. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 14 "Computer Evaluation Live Reveal" - 5/6/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh7XCc85li8 The computer grades Jesse's analysis for the game he has been analyzing. Will he pass or fail? The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 15 "Openings" - 5/13/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn5wNppFEh8 GM Jesse shows some opening ideas of Karparov in his younger days. He goes on to explain the ideas of several other openings. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 16 "Kasparov" - 5/20/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxYEnI8mP2o GM Kraai again shows us why he is a man of the people and analyzes the game Kasparov-Akesson 1980. He also gives GM Nikitin's analysis. The computer shows us why we are not worthy. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 17 "Macho Rook Endgames" - 5/29/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15oOvUospMA GM Kraai discusses two endings from Victor Korchnoi's Practical Rook Endings. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 18 "The Macho Rook" - 6/3/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBUrF2oWXXs Jesse continues with two endings Korchnoi had vs Karpov. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 19 "My Macho Endgame vs Yermo US Champ 2010" - 6/11/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py_hlqWm3YA GM Jesse reviews a game vs GM Alex Yermolinsky which started with the Andersson-Böök line of the English opening. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 20 "Final Mas Macho vs Yermo US Champ 2010" - 6/18/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MHjrPiz7zs&list=PLH4lD9b6Zgbcd7sql2fo4wzYh-n8wcs2j&index=18&t=0s The Macho man continues his endgame analysis from last week and goes into overtime. The computer is consulted at the end to give its opinion. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 21 "Karpov-Kasparov" - 7/3/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E4HpBiSKUA GM Kraai examines game 8 of the 1986 World Chess Championship match. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 22 "Narratives" - 7/13/2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJjF7cYaGjk Our intrepid hero takes a look at games when plans were paramount Kasparov-Spassky 1989 and Karpov-Seirawan 1983. The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 23 "Yasser" - 7/23/2020 GM Kraai looks at 3 games of GM Yasser Seirawan vs Anatoly Karpov and Boris Spassky. These games are from Yasser's book Chess Duels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF2DwLJtLH4 The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 24 "Attacking Chess w/ Vasiukov" - 8/6/2020 GM Jesse looks at some games from the book Evgeny Vasiukov, Chess Champion of Moscow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvKBadPakxE The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 25 "Gligoric" - 8/12/2020 GM Kraai continues his studies with a look at the book I Play Against Pieces. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pcdt-s5BRI The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 26 "The long and the short of calculation " - 9/3/2020 Jesse examines some puzzles from Jacab Aagaard's book Grandmaster Preparation: Calculation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnAQ00VnsMA&list=PLH4lD9b6Zgbcd7sql2fo4wzYh-n8wcs2j&index=21&t=0s The Road Back to 2500 - Episode 27 "Tree of Chess Skill" – 9/20/2020 GM Kraai examines the skills necessary to become a strong chessplayer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDwiLUbDC-Y

Attention Diamond members! GM Kraai has started a video series on the world chess championship (official & unofficial). Mcdonnell vs La Bourdonnais 1834: https://www.chess.com/video/player/mcdonnell-vs-la-bourdonnais-the-1st-world-chess-championship Morphy vs Anderssen 1858: https://www.chess.com/video/player/world-chess-championship-morphy-vs-anderssen Steinitz vs Zukertort 1886: https://www.chess.com/video/player/world-chess-championship-steinitz-vs-zukertort

POST YOUR GAME BELOW to have it analyzed by GM JESSE KRAAI on Wednedsay October 30th on www.twitch.tv/jessekraai At 1:00 pm Pacific time! 3 HOURS LONG! The goal of the show is to help you analyze your games - the true path to improve your chess. So write out as much of your thinking as you can in your annotations. Tell us where the game was played and the time control too. If you look up past threads you will find many fine examples of amateur players writing about their games. Not sure how to post your game? Chess.com has you covered! Just check out the video below to learn how! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI7lGCZP6TA

POST YOUR GAME BELOW to have it analyzed by GM JESSE KRAAI on Wednedsay September 25th on www.twitch.tv/jessekraai At 1:00 pm Pacific time! 3 HOURS LONG! The goal of the show is to help you analyze your games - the true path to improve your chess. So write out as much of your thinking as you can in your annotations. Tell us where the game was played and the time control too. If you look up past threads you will find many fine examples of amateur players writing about their games. Not sure how to post your game? Chess.com has you covered! Just check out the video below to learn how! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI7lGCZP6TA