Category Archives: CHESS SOFTWARE

CHESS SOFTWARE, NEWS, TRAINING

WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN CHESS IS SOLVED?

Elon Musk recently predicted that chess will soon by 'solved' just as checkers was some years ago. It's worth quoting him in full before I set about disagreeing with his post: "Chess is hard for humans, but not for computers. One day, it will be fully solved like checkers. Between now and then, or even after, have fun. People enjoy many games/sports where machines are vastly better."

I have no doubt that he's right about computers playing perfectly, but machines have been a lot better than us for some time. I don't see much difference between what we have now and the official 'solution', at least not in practical terms. Certain openings have been refuted or at least shown to be very difficult, others have been rehabilitated or even invented by strong engines. At the same time it's impossible for humans to remember such solutions for practical play. Some players are certainly very well prepared, but the World's best player (still Magnus Carlsen) relies on sidestepping such preparation.

Accordingly I'd say that Musk's comment is rather meaningless for chess players, we'll carry on as usual and try to negotiate the impact of engines. The main issue is still the opening in which it can be difficult to put your opponent on their own resources, but Carlsen and others still manage to do so. 

Vimeo Closing Its Video On Demand

Unfortunately Vimeo is closing its Video On Demand service in November, so I'll no longer be offering any titles through them. Those who have purchased one of my videos on this platform will be able get access to the materials at Tiger Chess by the time Vimeo closes this service. Please send me your receipts which are available here when you are logged onto your Vimeo account.

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, with nothing in particular planned after November. If I'm invited I'll play in Nova Gorica (Slovenia) in January next year and then Maya (Portugal) in August:

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've now entered this one and booked my hotel. Details can be found here.

November 2-13: European Youth Championships, Crete
I've been appointed as one of the coaches for this event, which basically rules out the English Senior Championships because the two events only have a day's break between them. 

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

CHESS SOFTWARE, TRAINING

USING AI FOR CHESS IMPROVEMENT

I've recently been experimenting with the use of AI, in particular for designing study programs. In particular I learned a lot from this video, particularly about how to ask the write questions. The output astonished me personally, though experienced users of AI can probably do much better.

A couple of my experiments involved chess improvement goals, one of which constitutes this week's Chess Questions Answered video. Whilst I did not agree with everything Gemini suggested, it brought the kind of clarity and directness to the process that I sometimes struggle to establish myself. The section on what to ignore was particularly interesting because it insisted on prioritizing the work needed and ignoring other chess activities that I might want to pretend are 'training'. Bullet and three minute games were ruled out as being unproductive, also and secondary lines that I might use as fun surprise weapons.

Will I now implement Gemini's suggestions training regime? Not the entire package, but there were so many useful ideas and ways of looking at things that I will certainly integrate some of them into my future approach. In particular I think the idea of focusing on a particular topic will be of great benefit to me as I tend to get distracted. Hopefully I will emerge as a more effective player.
 

Vimeo Closing Its Video On Demand

Unfortunately Vimeo is closing its Video On Demand service in November, so I'll no longer be offering any titles through them. Those who have purchased one of my videos on this platform will be able get access to the materials at Tiger Chess by sending me their receipts, these are available here when you are logged onto your Vimeo account.

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:

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've now entered this one and booked my hotel. Details can be found here.

November 2-13: European Youth Championships, Crete
I've been appointed as one of the coaches for this event, which basically rules out the English Senior Championships because the two events only have a day's break between them. 

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

CHESS SOFTWARE, OPENINGS, PSYCHOLOGY, TOURNAMENTS

POSITIONS FOR ENGINES ONLY

There's a growing awareness that it's not at all simple for humans to follow computer recommendations, both in the openings and elsewhere. The massive calculating power of engines means that they can find brilliant moves that make little sense to humans, and then follow them up with more brilliant but strange moves. Eventually it becomes clear that the concept has worked but only an engine can make it work.

This is the problem with many engine driven openings books and courses, engines find improvements everywhere but with moves that make no sense to humans. Let's say that you remember a brilliant new move out of the hundreds of brilliant new moves suggested. Will you then remember the follow-up, potentially consisting of another ten brilliant moves that you couldn't possibly work out on your own. My contention is that this will be difficult if not impossible.

What is the solution? We certainly shouldn't abandon engines because we can't keep up with them, but we can manage how we use them. I suggest investing heavily in understanding the logic behind the moves but then have the engine run in the background. If the engine improvements make sense then great, if they don't make sense then either study the position until they do or go with the option that makes sense to you. Sometimes you may find that an entire line depends on brilliant engine moves and in this case I personally would be likely to look elsewhere.

Video Discounts

This week's discount is 40% off Surviving Computerized Opening Preparation using the code 'june19to27'. With the advent of databases and high powered engines, computerized chess opening preparation has become a menace to players at every level of competition. Drawing on his extensive experience as a player and coach, Nigel shows different ways in which the effects can be mitigated so that players can just sit down and play a chess game.

Last week's discount was 40% off buying the Building an Opening Repertoire course with the code 'june12to20' on checkout, and this is still available until close of play tomorrow. The lines presented here (French and Queen's Gambit Declined as Black, 1.d4 followed by 2.Nf3 and 3.e3 as White) are easy to learn and remember. There are no elaborate computer generated variations, just plans and ideas.

Sam's Youtube Chanel

My son Sam has started 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 give him a like, 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.

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

BUILDING AN OPENING REPERTOIRE, CHESS SOFTWARE, OPENINGS, TRAINING

LIFE BEYOND CHESSBASE?

Since the late 1980s, Chessbase has been considered essential software for serious players. Using it, instead of books and magazines, took chess study and preparation to a whole new level. There have been alternatives, such as Chess Assistant and SCID vs PC, but they've never been considered quite as good.

Is Chessbase still so essential today? There are many players who would say that it is, but to my mind there are now some excellent alternative approaches. My favourite chess database is now HIARCS Chess Explorer Pro, which if used with its opening book and a good engine (for example a cloud engine from Chessify) is difficult to beat as far as working out opening lines is concerned. You don't need to include lots of games in your files, you just need to see what's been played and have a powerful engine running. This represents a fundament departure from the old method of studying openings, which was founded on copying the moves of strong players.

As far as preparation is concerned, Chessbase certain gives you access to a lot of games, though these tend to be the games of notable players. Here too there are alternatives such as Yotta Base and Opening Tree, the latter being particularly scary for anyone whose Lichess or Chess.com handles are known. Basically my advice would be to keep them private or have an alternative opening repertoire for your online games, you don't want people knowing exactly what you play, if this can possibly be avoided.

Training Tournaments

This week's training tournaments are in Queen's Pawn Games, the London System (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4 c5) and Torre Attack  (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 c5).

Sunday July 13th at 5pm UK Time: London System

Sunday July 13th at 6.15pm UK Time: Torre Attack
 

Video Discounts

This week's discount is on my Crafting Your Own Opening Repertoire series, you got 40% off its purchase (not rental) by using the code 'july11to19'. This series covers all aspects of creating an opening repertoire, from opening selection, to choosing sources and assembling your lines.

Last week's discount was for the Black Queen's Gambit Declined Repertoire, you got 40% off its purchase (not rental) by using the code 'july4to12'. Based around the Queen's Gambit Declined Tartakower Variation, and the Semi-Tarrasch, it represents a straightforward but high quality repertoire against 1.d4 and Flank Openings.

My Upcoming Events

There's still nothing new from last week and I have a new project that I'll start work on from September. I will keep playing, but it will move down my list of priorities for a while.

Here is how things look now:

July 31 - August 10 2025: British Championships
As mentioned I've gone for the Championship itself rather than one of the old folks sections. Obviously this will be full of underrated juniors, I'll just have to play better against them this time! You can find details here.

August 23 - 30 2025: San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife

This looks like a great event and I'm really looking forward to it. Travelling back is a bit tricky because the direct flights were very expensive, finally I found a flight back to Glasgow from where I can take a train!

September 5-7: Hull 4NCL Congress

I'm a big fan of 4NCL Congresses because they are played in nice venues, they're invariably well organized and they offer free entry and accommodation to GMs. You can find details here:

I'll be looking for things after September, not sure when or where!
 

Chess Questions Answered

I'll just be posting my Chess Questions Answered videos on Tigerchess from here on, though I might be putting some of them on Youtube in due course. I don't think I'm cut out to be a streamer, for one thing I don't have time and for another I'm not beautiful enough!

Have a good weekend.

Nigel

CHESS SOFTWARE, OPENINGS, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

THE DEATH OF CERTAIN OPENINGS

The dawn of high power computers has meant that opening theory has been revolutionized. One of the main effects is that some openings that were previously thought to be playable are now in deep trouble.

One of the highest profile victims is the Benko Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5), in which Black may no longer get compensation for his pawn. It goes without saying that gambits such as the Latvian (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5) and Elephant (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5) are doomed, but it seems that even the venerable King's Indian (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4) is in some trouble. Top players have been moving away from it in their longer time limit games, though it is played quite frequently in rapid chess and blitz.

It goes without saying that humans may not be able to learn and remember the engine refutations, but playing a dubious opening can eat away at your self-confidence. What if one of your opponents has actually learned and remembered a highly effective line? Will you be able to overturn things in a practical game? And is it worth investing time and effort in finding new resources that keep it alive?

Personally speaking, I would prefer to play openings which are still considered sound, but offer chances to outplay an opponent. There are plenty of lines left which fit the bill, for example most of the Queen's Gambits (Accepted, Declined, Slav etc) together with the Nimzo-Indian (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4) and Gruenfeld (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5). Against 1.e4 there seems to be little immediate danger to 1...e5, the French, the Caro-Kann and most lines of the Sicilian.

How can you tell which lines are still healthy? A good indicator can be the games of top over-the-board and correspondence players, if they're still being played then probably they're in decent shape. If not then beware, many openings are dying because of high-powered engine analysis.

Training Tournaments

This week's training tournaments are in the French Defence, one of the most solid defences to 1.e4 which also offers chances of counterplay:

Sunday May 25th at 5pm UK Time: French Steinitz with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7

Sunday May 25th at 6.15pm UK Time: French Rubinstein with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4
 

My Upcoming Events

I've now added the South Lakes Congress to my schedule because I'd like to get some more games in before going to Izmir. Here is how things look now:

June 13-15 2025: South Lakes Congress
I've added this one to my schedule, mainly as a warm-up for Cesme. You can find details here.

June 23-29 2025: 11th Cesme International Open
This strong open event, in Izmir in Turkey, promises to be a real challenge. I'll be going a couple of days early because I can get a cheap flight, but the city looks very interesting and well worth a visit.

July 31 - August 10 2025: British Championships
As mentioned I've gone for the Championship itself rather than one of the old folks sections. Obviously this will be full of underrated juniors, I'll just have to play better against them this time! You can find details here.

August 23 - 30 2025: San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife
This looks like a great event and I'm really looking forward to it. Travelling back is a bit tricky because the direct flights were very expensive, finally I found a flight back to Glasgow from where I can take a train!

September 5-7: Hull 4NCL Congress
I'm a big fan of 4NCL Congresses because they are played in nice venues, they're invariably well organized and they offer free entry and accommodation to GMs. You can find details here:

I'll be looking for things after September, not sure when or where! But if I manage to play well enough to win sufficient funding, I might go for the World Senior Championships in Gallipoli in October.
 

Twitch Channel

My new Twitch channel will have new shows every Monday ('Chess Questions Answered), the Webinar on training tournaments and games is up on Fridays. Please follow it if you'd like to get updates etc, all the shows will be available to Premium members in the Tiger Chess members area, even when they are no longer available on Twitch.

Have a good weekend.

Nigel!

BUILDING AN OPENING REPERTOIRE, CHESS SOFTWARE, ENDGAMES, EXERCISE, TACTICS, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

MY NEW TRAINING REGIME

Over the last few weeks I decided upon a new training regime to improve my chess. It's been a long time since I did anything that was organized and had to put some thought into it. It would need to have a relatively small footprint with regards to time, have a degree of flexibility and also have more general benefits.

Since my return to chess, a few years ago, I came to understand that my main issue has been a lack of willingness to concentrate and calculate. This probably has something to do with me being in my 60s and there's not much to do about that. On the other hand I figure I can try to make the most of what I've got.

The first essential item had to be calculation training, and getting used to calculating on a daily basis. In my teenage years I did the Alexander Kotov analysis exercise whereby you set up a key position and write down what you see. This may be the ideal approach and I created the Tiger Chess Analysis Course for this purpose; unfortunately I know the positions and would struggle to find time, a chess set and a suitable table and chair. Given these limitations I've decided to take a short cut and purchased a couple of apps on my phone; CT-Art 4.0 and Total Chess Endgames. I'm trying to do at least 30 minutes a day on these apps, which should get me more used to calculating again.

A willingness to sit down and concentrate is more of a non chess matter that relates to overall fitness. I've long felt that the standard Western approach to being fit is too one dimensional because it fails to engage the mind and the breath. After reading Wim Hof's Becoming the Iceman and experimenting with his approach, I realized that I have underestimated the importance of fresh air and deep breathing, so after 30 minutes on the exercise bike (or fast walking if a bike is unavailable) I'm using his recommendation of cold showers combined with deep breathing. This in turn has led me to incorporate better breathing into my qigong practice and I have to say that it's making quite a difference.

I've been doing a couple of other things too, mainly playing some online games with particular openings and doing a bit of research into them. I would say this is a minor part of my overall regime and rightly so, opening preparation has its limits because sooner or later you are on your own.

Overall it looks like this, with 60 minutes of chess and 90 minutes of mind/body exercise:

  1. Calculation training (30 minutes per day).
  2. Qigong with enhanced breathing (60 minutes per day).
  3. Exercise bike/fast walking (30 minutes per day) and cold shower (5 minutes).
  4. Training games and opening study (30 minutes per day).

Wish me luck, I think it should help but the proof of any pudding is when you eat it!

Training Tournaments

The training tournaments this week are in two lines of the French, the Fort Knox and the Rubinstein.

Sunday January 5th at 5pm UK Time: The Fort Knox French with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc4 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7

Sunday January 5th at 6.15pm UK Time: The French Rubinstein with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc4 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7

My Upcoming Events

Here's my schedule over the coming months, though it is subject to change. I often don't know until fairly late in the day:

January 17-19: Huddersfield 4NCL Congress
I really enjoy the 4NCL Congresses as they're played under excellent conditions in nice hotels. This is the first one in Huddersfield, you can find details here.

January 27th: Stockport Rapidplay
I've played in this event with some regularity, so probably I'll go for it again. You can find details here.

February 16-27, 2025: World Senior Team Championship
I've accepted a place in the 50+ second team which means I'll play a much stronger field than on bottom board of the first team. Although this diminishes my chances of winning a medal I'm looking forward to the challenge.

July/August 2025: British Championships
Will these be held in Liverpool next year or maybe Torquay? I've heard rumours about both venues, if they're held in Liverpool I'd probably go for the 50+ event.

I am still hoping to play in the European Senior Team Championships (Poland, April 4-14) in which I've said I'll play in any team and on any board. The details have now been confirmed and I understand that selections are to be made shortly.

Regretfully I've recently had to pass on two events in Slovenia and Serbia:

January 24-31, 2025: HIT Open in Nova Gorica: Details can be found here.

February 5-10, 2025: Senta, Hotel Fantastico: Details can be found here.

Twitch Channel

I'm setting up a new Twitch channel to answer viewers' questions and post recordings in the Tiger Chess members areas. Please follow it if you'd like to get updates etc, I'm looking at running the first one on Monday January 6th at 8pm UK time.

Have a good weekend!

Nigel

CHESS SOFTWARE, OPENINGS

WHICH CHESS DATABASE SOFTWARE?

Players often wonder whether they need some chess database software to take their opening preparation to a new level, but what should they choose? There are a number of options to be considered, many of which I know little about. So today I'll talk about those I use on a regular basis, namely Chessbase, HIARCS Chess Explorer and the Lichess study feature. All of them have pros and cons that suit different needs and budgets.

Starting with Chessbase, for many years this has been an industry leader and the features are ideal for professional players. The main reference database can be updated with a few mouse clicks which makes it easy to search for different players and prepare for them. I have version 17, which I find very useful for preparing opening material. The main con is that it is expensive kit, and you might not need all the features offered, to learn more about it you can go here.

I'm a big fan of HIARCS Chess Explorer, largely because of its simplicity and the fact that you can have opening books, engines and the game notation right in front of you. It's also very easy to play training games against an engine and from any position. There's a MAC version and it's a lot less expensive than Chessbase, all of which makes it very appealing. If I didn't have to produce various chess material, for which Chessbase is useful, I would probably just use this.

There's also a pro version of HIARCS Chess Explorer, which I haven't managed to get on with quite as well as the non pro version. I imagine this is because I haven't taken the time to examine all its features.

Finally we come to the Lichess study feature, which in my view is just great. There have been other attempts to create online chess databases, but this is the first I've seen that works really well. As with Chessbase and HIARCS Chess Explorer there's an engine and database facility, what is unique is that its online and free. This means that you can access your databases with ANY web browser and on ANY device, making it ultra-convenient.

For those interested in a chess database I'd recommend trying the Lichess study feature as a first step and get a feel for what it can offer you. If you need more then you can decide between Chessbase, HIARCS or perhaps some other chess software such as Chess Assistant. They all have their fans.

Training Tournaments

The training tournaments this week  are in the Queen's Gambit Declined Repertoire, two lines that appear in my Black QGD Repertoire.

Sunday December 8th at 5pm UK Time: QGD Tartakower with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nf3 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 b6

Sunday December 8th at 6.15pm UK Time: QGD Semi-Tarrasch with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c6 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5

Upcoming Events

Here's my schedule over the coming months, though it is subject to change. I often don't know until fairly late in the day.

December 8, 2024: Huddersfield Chess Club Seminar
This coming Sunday I'm giving a seminar at this club. Their website is here.

January 17-19: Huddersfield 4NCL Congress
I really enjoy the 4NCL Congresses as they're played under excellent conditions in nice hotels. This is the first one in Huddersfield, you can find details here.

January 27th: Stockport Rapidplay
I've played in this event with some regularity, so probably I'll go for it again. You can find details here.

February 16-27, 2025: World Senior Team Championship
I've accepted a place in the 50+ second team which means I'll play a much stronger field than on bottom board of the first team. Although this diminishes my chances of winning a medal I'm looking forward to the challenge.

July/August 2025: British Championships
Will these be held in Liverpool next year? There's a rumour on Tim Spanton's blog that they would be. I think I might go for the 50+ event if this is the case.

I am hoping to play in the European Senior Team Championships (Walbrzych, Poland, April 4-14) in which I've said I'll play in any team and on any board. The details have yet to be confirmed, but when they are the teams will be selected.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Nigel

BOOKS, CHESS SOFTWARE, OPENINGS

BUILDING AN OPENING REPERTOIRE

Building a chess opening repertoire is a fundamental aspect of becoming a strong player. It also takes time to do so and there are top Grandmasters who spend many hours every day just on this. Besides understanding the plans and ideas they will need to know about the latest finesses, which sometimes occur 20-25 moves or more into the game. There is also the issue of computer testing, which with the sharpest openings will be a big job requiring some very serious technology.

The fact that top players want to do this leads amateurs to think that they need to as well, yet how is this possible with things like a job and family to consider? The short answer is that it is not, they need to make simpler choices whilst using their time to develop core skills such as positional understanding and a knowledge of endgames. Yet this is not what chess publishers seem to indicate as they churn out countless volumes of densely packed analysis. Here's a picture of four books which cover what might seem to be a simple repertoire; 1.d4 as White and then the Caro-Kann and Slav with Black. The thing to the right is my coffee cup:

Four Book Repertoire

A count of the number of pages shows a total of around 1,750 pages, many of the variations extend to 20 moves or more and there are probably around 10 variations a page. Is it practical for anyone with any kind of life outside of chess to study these monstrosities? The answer is a clear NO! So why do people buy them? Perhaps they are tired of bad positions and have heard somewhere that they should play the main lines as a remedy?

Is playing main lines a remedy? Well kind of, though this should not necessitate having 1,750 pages/17,500 variations worth of repertoire. If someone learns and understands logical openings, where there is no immediate sharp conflict, then nothing too bad will happen to them in the opening. I should add that if their general chess understanding is good then they will probably get the better of an opponent who has booked up on variations but does not understand too much. Trust me, they will not be able to remember all 17,500 variations and are more likely to get brain damage than chess strength.

So where can someone find repertoires which depend largely on plans and ideas? Unfortunately they are difficult to find, and this is why I decided to create one. A few years ago I developed the Building an Opening Repertoire course here, which features 21.5 hours of video and pgn files which can be loaded into software such as Chess Position Trainer and Chessable. I deliberately made the lines as simple and logical as possible so as to aid the assimilation of plans and ideas, for example as Black I gave the French (including the Rubinstein Varation with 3...dxe4) and older lines of the Queen's Gambit Declined. For White I gave the Colle System (1.d4 followed by 2.Nf3 and 3.e3) and showed how White could then adapt his later plans to however Black responded, sometimes going for a queenside pawn advance (c2-c4, b2-b4 and a2-a4) and at others setting up a Stonewall Formation (Nf3-e5 and f2-f4). People who have bought this course have responded very positively, many starting to understand typical plans for the first time despite having shelves full of openings books. Below is a position from one of the lines in which White has established a knight on e5:

Stonewall Attack Formation

The main target audience for the Building an Opening Repertoire course is the 1300 to 2000 Elo range, though even stronger players have found it useful. I am now working on some follow up courses, the first of which will be an expanded version of the French and include lines against both 3.Nd2 and 3.Nc3 as alternatives to the Rubinstein (3...dxe4 against both). I will be announcing it here when it is out, though you will get the news faster by signing up for the Tiger Chess Newsletter.

Nigel Davies