Category Archives: OPENINGS

OPENINGS, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING, UPDATES

NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LONDON

In my Chess Questions Answered video this week, I looked at some developments in the London System since the days of my Chessbase videos on it. As with all openings, the exposion of information and analytical methods, most notably strong engines, has changed and developed the theory quite a bit. What used to be a nice way to get a playable position is now littered with theoretical mines.

This is also the case with other solid openings, but there are usually ways to just get a playable position. In one way the effect of high powered engines has been good, as the most ambitious openings are petering out to a draw or dull equality, why not have play something in which you just trundle your pieces out?

Are there top players who are using this approach? Well Magnus Carlsen is for starters, and he's played some really oddball stuff, especially at faster time limits. An example of this is his choice of 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.a4 in a couple of games, another is 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Nf6 intending 3.e5 Nh5. One thing we need to watch out for are chess products on these lines in which the publisher claims they're Magnus Carlsen's secret weapons. They're not, but they do get his opponents on their own resources.

Training Tournaments

Here are the latest scheduled events:

Sunday March 1st, 5pm UK King's Indian Attack

Sunday March 1st, 6.15pm UK French Alapin

Video Discounts

This week's discount is 40% off buying Surviving Computerized Opening Preparation using the code 'feb27mar7'. Drawing on my experience as a player and coach, I shows different ways in which the effects of computer preparation can be mitigated so that players can just sit down and play a chess game.

Last week's discount was 40% off the Eastern Clamp Sicilian using the code 'feb20to28', and this is valid until tomorrow. This is a non theoretical approach to beating the Sicilian based on a clamping strategy, pioneered by Canadian IM Lawrence Day. It also features a refined move order developed by Mikhail Shereshevsky, a famous coach, and adopted by his students together with GMs Yuri Balashov and Victor Kupreichik. More recently it has been adopted by a new generation, including Hrvoje Stevic and Alexei Fedorov.

Upcoming Events

This is how things look right now and there's nothing new since last week. I'm hoping to get invites to the British Championships (August), European Senior Team Championships (late August) and English Senior Championships (October), but there's nothing definite as yet.

March 22nd: Manchester Rapidplay, Bolton
A local event for me with pretty good prizes. You can find details and enter here.

April 3 - 6: 4NCL Easter Congress, Daventry

I try to make most of the 4NCL Congresses because I like them so much. This one is 7 rounds, and played over Easter weekend.

April 18 - 29: World Senior Team Championships, Durres, Albania
I've had confirmation that I'll be in the 50+ first team for this one.

Have a good weekend.

Nigel

OPENINGS, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

WHY THE FOUR KNIGHTS IS A GREAT CHOICE

In this week's Chess Questions Answered video, I showed why the Glek Four Knights is a great choice for White, and not only as a way of meeting the annoying Petroff Defence. It can also enable White to meet Alekhine's Defence (1.e4 Nf6) with 2.Nc3, which will lead to a Four Knights after 2...e5 3.Nf3 Nc6.

Another thing I like about the Four Knights is that White has several other choices on his fourth move, besides Glek's 4.g3. The Scotch Four Knights, with 4.d4, has been shown to contain a lot of poison and 4.Bb5 is another popular choice. White has also tried a lot of unusual moves such as 4.Be2, 4.a3 and 4.h3, all of which require Black to know what he's doing.

Generally speaking I think it's good to be the one with the choices in the opening. There are some perfectly sound lines where this is not possible, making it easier for your opponent to prepare and risking having to learn a whole new opening should something bad happen to the only way of playing it.

Training Tournaments

Here are the latest scheduled events:

Sunday February 22nd, 5pm UK London System

Sunday February 22nd, 6.15pm UK Catalan

Video Discounts

This week's discount is 40% off the Eastern Clamp Sicilian using the code 'feb20to28'. This is a non theoretical approach to beating the Sicilian based on a clamping strategy, pioneered by Canadian IM Lawrence Day. It also features a refined move order developed by Mikhail Shereshevsky, a famous coach, and adopted by his students together with GMs Yuri Balashov and Victor Kupreichik. More recently it has been adopted by a new generation, including Hrvoje Stevic and Alexei Fedorov.

Last week's discount was 40% off Positional Play with 1.e4 using the code 'feb13to21', which is still valid until tomorrow. 1.e4 is often associated with tactical play and heavy theory, but it can also be played in a positional fashion using lines such as Bishop's Opening, Sicilians with 3.Bb5 and the King's Indian Attack. In this series of videos I outline this method of play and show some wrinkles from my own games.

Upcoming Events

I'm going to enter the Manchester Rapidplay in March, in addition to the 4NCL Congress over Easter and the England 50+ first team in the World Senior Team Championships at the end of April.

March 22nd: Manchester Rapidplay, Bolton
A local event for me with pretty good prizes. You can find details and enter here.

April 3 - 6: 4NCL Easter Congress, Daventry

I try to make most of the 4NCL Congresses because I like them so much. This one is 7 rounds, and played over Easter weekend.

April 18 - 29: World Senior Team Championships, Durres, Albania
I've had confirmation that I'll be in the 50+ first team for this one.

Have a good weekend.

Nigel

CHESS PARENTING, COACHING, OPENINGS, TOURNAMENTS

CHESS OPENINGS FOR JUNIORS

In this week's Chess Questions Answered video, I explained that there can be chess openings which are good for juniors. I dug out some lines that I showed my son Sam during our chess project, and these would often take his opponents by surprise.

These were different to the standard fare of aiming for Scholar's mate (1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Qxf7#) or the Fried Liver Attack (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7) because those tend to be well studied at junior level. Sam also made considerable progress when he stopped meeting 1.e4 with 1...e5, as that tended to walk into the evil schemes of result orientated junior coaches.

I'm thinking about producing a recommended repertoire for juniors based on some of the lines I suggested to Sam, 1.e4 would certainly be the first move followed by some simple plan based approaches. I won't be giving everything away right now, but the Closed Sicilian would probably be among the recommended choices. For those who can't wait, a decent option is my Positional Play with 1.e4 series, which is discounted this week (see below).

Training Tournaments

Here are the latest scheduled events:

Sunday February 15th, 5pm UK Fort Knox French

Sunday February 15th, 6.15pm UK QGD Exchange

Video Discounts

This week's discount is 40% off Positional Play with 1.e4 using the code 'feb13to21'. 1.e4 is often associated with tactical play and heavy theory, but it can also be played in a positional fashion using lines such as Bishop's Opening, Sicilians with 3.Bb5 and the King's Indian Attack. In this series of videos I outline this method of play and show some wrinkles from my own games.

Last week's discount was 40% off buying The Why and How of Chess Annotations using the code 'feb6to14', which is still valid until close of play tomorrow. Annotating games can be a powerful improvement method if done in the right way. With this video you will learn how to use a reflective process to improve how you play, going beyond computer annotations.

Upcoming Events

I've now signed up for a 4NCL Congress over Easter, and will be playing for the England 50+ first team in the World Senior Team Championships in April. I might look for another weekend event in March.

April 3 - 6: 4NCL Easter Congress, Daventry

I try to make most of the 4NCL Congresses because I like them so much. This one is 7 rounds, and played over Easter weekend.

April 18 - 29: World Senior Team Championships, Durres, Albania
I've had confirmation that I'll be in the 50+ first team for this one.

Have a good weekend.

Nigel

OPENINGS, POSITIONAL PLAY, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

OPPOSITE COLOUR BISHOPS

The former World Champion, Boris Spassky, once described his marriage to his first wife Larissa as 'like opposite colour bishops'. In the chess World this picturesque metaphor became a way of describing marital estrangement, the opposite colour bishops move on different colour squares and in no way interact.

From the perspective of chess strategy, opposite colour bishops have some interesting features. Pure pawn endgames are notoriously drawish because opposite colour bishops can help blockade otherwise dangerous passed pawns. Yet when you start to add more pieces, such bishops tend to favour the side with the initiative because they help a player attack things that cannot be defended.

In a tournament in Budapest, in 1987, I witnessed a game between Stefan Kindermann and Mikhail Gurevich which made a deep impression on me. At first sight it seemed that White had the better game, but then Black brought his pieces to bear on the vulnerable f2 pawn and eventually even won. At the time of this game Gurevich was not widely known, but within a few years he became recognized as one of the best players in the World.

This and two other opposite colour bishop games were included in this week's webinar, which can be viewed by Tiger Chess standard and premium members. Premium members also get access to the complete archive.

Training Tournaments

Richard is doing a great job of running these, introducing a slightly longer time limit and starting some of them from the initial position or just a single first move. Here are the ones that are currently scheduled:

Sunday January 25th, 5pm UK Time King's Indian Attack French

Sunday January 25th, 6.15pm UK Time: French Classical

Sunday February 1st, 5pm UK Time Colle System

Sunday February 1st, 6.15pm UK Time: Torre Attack

Video Discounts

This week's discount is 40% off Learning from the Greats: Mikhail Botvinnik using the code 'jan23to31'. Botvinnik was a great master of the endgame and introduced a number of new methods including deep research into different opening systems. These insights would later to transmitted to one of his students, the formidable Garry Kasparov.

Last week's discount was 40% off Learning from the Greats: Anatoly Karpov using the code 'jan16to24', which is still valid until tomorrow. Anatoly Karpov is widely acknowledged as having been one of the greatest players in history, in this series of videos I examine Karpov's style and strengths, showing what can be learned from him.

Upcoming Events

I'm currently playing in Nova Gorica, in Slovenia shortly, one of my favourite tournaments in one of my favourite countries. I've also signed up for a 4NCL Congress over Easter, and now understand that I'll be playing for the England 50+ first team in the World Senior Team Championships in April. I might look for another weekend event in February or March.

January 23-30: Nova Gorica

A very nice and well organized event that starts today! Details can be found here.

April 3 - 6: 4NCL Easter Congress, Daventry

I try to make most of the 4NCL Congresses because I like them so much. This one is 7 rounds, and played over Easter weekend.

April 18 - 29: World Senior Team Championships, Durres, Albania
I've had confirmation that I'll be in the 50+ first team for this one.

Have a good weekend.

Nigel

BUILDING AN OPENING REPERTOIRE, FRENCH DEFENCE, OPENINGS, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

THE JOYS OF SIMPLICITY

This week I briefly presented the 3...h6 Queen's Gambit Declined (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 h6) in the Chess Questions Answered video, having been asked about a simple defence against 1.d4. This line fits in with my other recommendations for club players, who often have limited time to study and should probably focus on the basics (tactics, strategy and endgames) rather than burden themselves with intricate opening lines.

This Queen's Gambit line is just one good example, others include the Fort Knox French and indeed my entire Building an Opening Repertoire course. The latter series has proven to be very popular with players who were just fed up with the intricacy of most opening videos and courses. I have also struggled to get to grips with many of today's offerings, and I don't believe it's because I have a particularly poor memory or ability to learn.

Are there other suitable openings? Yes indeed, for example the London System (1.d4 followed by 2.Nf3 and 3.Bf4 or even 2.Bf4) is a long-time favourite at club level and can be played in a no frills way. On the other hand it has become so popular that a large body of theory has build up around it, with some variations going well into the middle game.

Training Tournaments

Richard is doing a great job of running these, introducing a slightly longer time limit and starting some of them from the initial position or just a single first move. Here are the ones that are currently scheduled:

Sunday January 11th, 5pm UK Time: Catalan 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3

Sunday January 11th, 6.15pm UK Time: Standard Position

Sunday January 18th, 5pm UK Time: Slav 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6

Sunday January 18th, 6.15pm UK Time: 1.e4 Only
 

Video Discounts

This week's discount is 40% off buying my flagship Building an Opening Repertoire course using the code 'jan9to17'. This course is built around using the moves 1.d4, 2.Nf3 and 3.e3 as White together with a similar formation as Black against pretty much everything. Whilst the early moves are quite simple there is still the opportunity for an interesting game, and a great many plans and ideas.

Last week's discount was 40% off buying my Creating an Improvement Plan series using the code 'jan2to10', but this is still valid until close of play tomorrow. Many players would like to improve but have little idea how to do it. In this series of videos I draw on decades of coaching experience to show how players can diagnose their strengths and weaknesses, then target the most important areas to make the most effective use of their efforts.

My Upcoming Events

I'll be playing in Nova Gorica, in Slovenia shortly, one of my favourite tournaments in one of my favourite countries. I'm also hoping to play in the World Senior Team Championships in April, but would need to be selected. Apart from that I might take part in a few local weekend events.

January 23-30: Nova Gorica

A very nice and well organized event, details can be found here.

Have a good weekend.

Nigel

BUILDING AN OPENING REPERTOIRE, OPENINGS, POSITIONAL PLAY, QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

STUDYING OPENINGS WITHOUT DATABASES

This week's Chess Questions Answered video explained an alternative way to use HIARCS Chess Explorer without recourse to a database of games. By using an online book and an engine, you already have enough to build your opening repertoire, and I understand that this kind of approach is the way things are heading amongst professional players. I did add that databases of correspondence games can be a useful addition, provided these games were played with the use of engines.

So is there any use at all for games databases? Most definitely there is, but mainly selecting some well played games and going through them to understand middlegame strategy. One thing that I've often done is to print out a bunch of games in an opening I wanted to play, and then play through them using an actual chess set. This makes the experience far more memorable than playing through them using the right hand arrow button in a computer database.

Are databases the only way to select such games? Certainly they make it easy to find interesting games in a particular opening, but chess books (the kind made of paper) have their advantages too. One of the biggest ones is that they will often have been annotated by famous players, and as a labour of love.

Training Tournaments

Sunday's training tournaments are in the Catalan (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7) and King's Indian Attack (1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 e6 4.0-0 Be7), this King's Indian Attack set-up also having the potential to reach a Catalan. These lines were covered from Black's perspective in the Building an Opening Repertoire course and the Black Queen's Gambit Declined Repertoire.

Sunday December 14th at 5pm UK Time: Catalan

Sunday December 14th at 6.15pm UK Time: King's Indian Attack
 

Video Discounts

This week's discount is 40% off Mastering Key Pawn Structures: ZOOM Formations, using the code 'dec19to27'. This video series will consider ZOOM formations, which typically arise from the Gruenfeld Defence and Catalan Opening, and which were covered by Stefan Zeuthen and Bent Larsen in the classic book 'ZOOM 001: Zero Hour for Operative Opening Models'.

Last week's discount was 40% off buying the Black Queen's Gambit Declined Repertoire using the code 'dec12to20' on checkout, and it is still valid until tomorrow. This is an advanced, stand-alone opening course based around the Tartakower Variaton (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nf3 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 b6) and the Semi-Tarrasch Defence (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 c5 or 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 c5). It features 14 hours of video which explain key games, and has a pgn (portable game notation) file of recommended variations that can be built upon and extended.

My Upcoming Events

I'll be playing in Nova Gorica, in Slovenia next month, one of my favourite tournaments in one of my favourite countries. I'm also hoping to play in the World Senior Team Championships in April, but would need to be invited!

January 23-30: Nova Gorica

A very nice and well organized event, details can be found here.

Have a good weekend.

Nigel

ENDGAMES, OPENINGS, TRAINING

PLAYING ENDGAME OPENINGS

One of the most useful things for players to do is to adopt openings which often lead to endgames. Playing more endgames is a great way to improve your play because it gets you to pay attention to small details and the strategic elements of a position. Being good at endgames means that you don't fear exchanges and will play logical moves rather than try to force an attack. They also tend to be a weak spot for amateur players, which means that competence there can give you a considerable edge.

Many classical openings can lead to an exchange of queens, some more than others. Usually there's no need to force the queens off, just playing good moves can lead to situations in which a queen exchange is the right thing to do. On the other hand there are openings in which the exchange of queens is less likely to happen, for example in the Dutch and Benoni Defences. Such openings might be considered combative, but their soundness is often questioned.

How should someone get started with reaching more endgames? Just play normal classical openings, such as the Queen's Gambit Declined, and allow the position to simplify. Then rather than agree a draw, just keep playing. Don't worry about the exchange of queens and other pieces, just keep going. If nobody gets checkmated, at some point an endgame is going to arise. 

Training Tournaments

The training tournaments this coming Sunday are in the 3.e3 lines of the Dutch Defence, 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 and now 3...e6 and 3...g6. This is a simple plan based way to meet the Dutch that I recommend in both my Building an Opening Repertoire course and the White 1.d4 Repertoire.

Sunday November 30th at 5pm UK Time: Dutch with 3.e3 e6

Sunday November 30th at 6.15pm UK Time: Dutch with 3.e3 g6
 

Video Discounts

This week's discount is 40% off buying my Endgame Openings series, using the code 'nov28dec6' on checkout. Endgame openings enable players to go directly to the endgame after just a few moves. The value of such lines can be to negate an opponent's tactical ability, just as Vladimir Kramnik used them to defeat Garry Kasparov in their World Championship match. As such they represent an great option for experienced players whose main strength is in the endgame.

Last week's discount was 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.

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

FRENCH DEFENCE, OPENINGS, QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED, QUEEN'S PAWN GAMES

CREATING A REALLY SIMPLE OPENING REPERTOIRE

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

BUILDING AN OPENING REPERTOIRE, FRENCH DEFENCE, OPENINGS, TRAINING

LEARNING CRITICAL LINES

Earlier this week, one of my students asked me what the best line for White was after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4, the Queen's Gambit Accepted. I'm fairly sure that it's 3.e4, but the issue with this move is that it's highly theoretical and will be difficult to learn and play with confidence. Accordingly I suggested that he stick to my recommended Furman Variation with 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.Qe2, at least for the time being.

This kind of question is actually quite common, and for very good reason. We all want to play the most principled and dangerous moves, but it can come at a heavy cost in terms of study time. Generally speaking I'd say that only full time professionals will have the time and motivation to play the sharpest variations, for most amateurs it's better to aim for a playable middlegame in a position type that you like.

Have I ever played very sharp lines? Well there was a period in the 1990s in which I studied some sharp lines for White, namely that Catalan Gambit and the Botvinnik Variation of the Semi-Slav. The results were actually quite mixed, and probably not much better than playing more quietly in the opening. Shifting the emphasis of the struggle to the middle and endgame is not a bad idea because it can help make us into better chess players..

Training Tournaments

This week's training tournaments return to the Advance Variation of the French, with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 being the starting point of the first tournament and then the additional moves 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Nge7 featuring in the second. These lines occur in both Building an Opening Repertoire and the more advanced French Defence course.

Sunday November 16th at 5pm UK Time: French Advance with 3.e5 c5

Sunday November 16th at 6.15pm UK Time: French Advance with 5...Nge7
 

Video Discounts

This week's discount is 40% off buying my French Defence course, just use 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.

Last week's discount was 40% off my flagship Building an Opening Repertoire course and it's still valid until tomorrow. Just use the code 'nov7to15' when you buy it.

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

BUILDING AN OPENING REPERTOIRE, FRENCH DEFENCE, OPENINGS, QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

OPENING REPERTOIRE INCONSISTENCIES

I previously examined the issue of move orders back in May, but it's worth revisiting because of the breadth and complexity of the topic. One area in which move orders can be very important is when you are creating an opening repertoire and need the different parts of it to fit together.

Some good examples of this can be seen in openings such as the Alapin Variation of the Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.c3), someone may have a good line in this particular position (for example 2...d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bg4), but what if their favourite line involves meeting 2.Nf3 with 2...e6? In this case their chosen defence against the Alapin will no longer work because they've already shut their c8 bishop in and will not be able to bring it out to g4.

How can this be handled? One approach can be to review your lines with an opening tree of the type that can be found at Chess Tempo or Chessbase. It might take some time, given the sheer scale of modern theory, but if done properly it will provide a good sense of your repertoire layout and help pick up any inconsistencies.

Training Tournaments

The training tournaments this week will feature two more Queen's Pawn Openings, the Colle (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 and now 3...g6 for Black) and the Trompowsky (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 and now 2...e6 for Black). I gave 3...g6 against the Colle in my Building an Opening Repertoire course, 2...e6 is a solid answer to the Trompowsky which can nonetheless unbalance the game:

Sunday November 9th at 5pm UK Time: Colle with 3...g6

Sunday November 9th at 6.15pm UK Time: Trompowsky with 2...e6
 

Video Discounts

This week's discount is 40% off my flagship Building an Opening Repertoire course, using the code 'nov7to15' when you buy it. This acclaimed course shows how to use simple opening lines to develop middle game understanding by reaching key pawn structures. 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.

Last week's discount was 40% off buying my series on Understanding Strategy & Planning, please use the code 'oct31nov8' when buying. Strategy and planning are two of the most difficult chess skills to master and most players never do. This video series presents a systematic way of approaching these areas by learning how to play different pawn structures and the plans and ideas they contain.

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