Most amateurs have the problem that they lack time for chess study, often through other commitments such as a job, family and pets. For those in this situation it makes sense to have the simplest possible opening repertoire and then focus their efforts on general chess improvement. So what elements would such a repertoire include?

With White it makes most sense to play a Queen's Pawn Game such as the Colle, which is why I included it in my Building an Opening Repertoire course. This also offers good options as Black, including the Queen's Gambit Declined and French Rubinstein. I could add some other suggestions to this including the Fort Knox French (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7) and the Queen's Gambit Declined with ...h7-h6 (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 h6).

A further possibility for White is the London System, in which White plays 1.d4 followed by bringing the bishop out to f4. This is often played by Magnus Carlsen himself, the only problem with this line is that many London players just trundle out e2-e3 and c2-c3 without taking account of what Black has done.

Training Tournaments

The training tournaments this coming Sunday are again in the French Defence, and after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 (or 3.Nd2), they will feature the Fort Knox (3...dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7) and Rubinstein  (3...dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7) variations. The latter is feature in my Building an Opening Repertoire course.

Sunday November 23rd at 5pm UK Time: French Fort Knox

Sunday November 23rd at 6.15pm UK Time: French Rubinstein
 

Video Discounts

This week's discount is 40% off buying Learning from the Greats: Akiba Rubinstein which looks at different aspects of Rubinstein's play and what can be learned from him. Just use the code 'nov21to29' on checkout.

Last week's discount was 40% off buying my French Defence course, using the code 'nov14to22' on checkout. This is is an advanced, stand-alone opening course which builds on the treatment of the French presented in the Building an Opening Repertoire course. It features over 11 hours of video which explain key games and ideas plus a pgn (portable game notation) file of recommended variations.

My Upcoming Events

I don't have definite plans to play anywhere right now, but I might play in the Bolton Rapidplay in December and then Nova Gorica in Slovenia in January:

December 7: Bolton Rapidplay

One of my local tournaments, details can be found here.

Have a good weekend.

Nigel