One of the best ways to accelerate the development of an opening repertoire is to copy someone else's; just find a player whose games you like and play what they play. Clearly you won't have their deep knowledge, but the choices themselves can be very instructive and would otherwise require a lot of work. Once you're on board you should be able to fill in any knowledge gaps over time.
Who are the best players to emulate? I would suggest choosing players with a relatively narrow repertoire who clearly do their homework. A good example would be Matthius Bluebaum in the French Defence (1.e4 e6), he's clearly an outstanding specialist who works deeply on the variations he chooses. As he also plays online a lot you will be able to find a lot of his games in the French in the databases.
What if your model plays several different openings and several different lines within their most common choice? In this case you should play what they play most often, as long as there are also recent games. A major issue for specialists is that a lack of mobility can make them easier to prepare for. Accordingly they have to vary a bit, but this won't be the case at amateur level.
Video Discounts
This week's discount is 40% off my French Defence course using the code 'july3to11'. It features over 11 hours of video which explain key games and ideas plus a pgn (portable game notation) file of recommended variations that can be built upon, extended and important into software such as Chess Position Trainer. The 88 games presented are also included in pgn format, but without annotations.
Last week's discount was 40% off buying my Endgame Mastery series using the code 'june26july4', and this is still valid until tomorrow. The endgame is one of the most important aspects of chess, though it tends to be neglected at club level. In this series of videos Nigel shows how you can improve your endgame play and use this stage of the game to notch up valuable points.
Sam's Youtube Chanel
My son Sam runs a Youtube channel in which he streams his live games on chess.com. This shows considerably more bravery than I'm able to muster, so please check it out and subscribe, I think he's doing a nice job.
Upcoming Events
This is how things look right now having withdrawn my availability for the European Senior Team Championships. I might get invited to the English Senior Championships in October, in which case I will probably play:
July 7-12: South Wales International, Bridgend, Wales
I've accepted an invitation to this event and look forward to playing!
August 1-9: British Championships, Coventry, UK
I've accepted an invitation to this one (the Championship itself) and look forward to playing.
August 21-23: Manchester Summer Congress, Bolton UK
This is a long standing event which is now run in a nice venue and with good prizes. Details can be found here.
September 25-27: Hull 4NCL
The 4NCL Congresses are always well run, so I'll be playing in this one. Details can be found here.
October 23-25: Scarborough Congress
I'm intending to play in this one if I can. Details are here.
October 26-31: English Senior Championships, Peterborough
This is also up in the air unless and until I get invited. Details can be found here.
Tiger Chess Themed Training Tournaments are organized on a weekly basis at Lichess, featuring selected opening variations. You can check out what's coming up here.
Have a good weekend.
Nigel
