Category Archives: QUEEN’S GAMBIT DECLINED

MIDDLEGAMES, OPENINGS, PAWN LEVERS, QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED, TIGER CHESS STRATEGY COURSE, WHITE 1.d2-d4 REPERTOIRE

THE WHITE 1.d2-d4 REPERTOIRE

The White 1.d2-d4 Repertoire Course is a stand-alone opening course which considerably extends the White lines presented in the Building an Opening Repertoire course. It has over 16 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 98 games from the videos are also included in pgn format.

As in the Building an Opening Repertoire course, White is still playing 1.d4 followed by 2.Nf3 but will then follow up with 3.c4 against most of Black's defences. The Colle is still to be used after 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 but the ...d7-d5 lines are met with the Rubinstein-Zukertort line and those with 3...b6 are answered with 4.Bd3 Bb7 5.0-0 c5 6.c4, transposing into the 4.e3 line of the Queen's Indian but without allowing annoying lines such as the Bogo-Indian (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 Bb4+), Modern Benoni (3...c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6) or Blumenfeld Gambit (3...c5 4.d5 b5).

A particularly important aspect of this course for the developing player is the inclusion of openings which act as touchstones for the understanding of positional play, including the Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation (1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5) and King's Indian Petrosian System (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.Be2 e5 7.d5). These openings are particularly rich in plans and pawn levers, which helps students develop a deeper understanding of the material presented in the Tiger Chess Strategy Course.

Wherever possible the lines have been selected so that important position types can be practiced but without the need to learn a lot of intricate variations. This is in keeping with the Tiger Chess approach of developing core skills, and therefore playing strength, in the most efficient way. The full running order is as follows:

1. Introduction
2. Queen's Gambit Declined, Exchange I
3. Queen's Gambit Declined, Exchange II
4. Slav Exchange
5. Queen's Gambit Accepted
6. Other 1...d5 Lines
7. King's Indian
8. Modern, Old Indian and 1...d6
9. Gruenfeld Defence
10. Queen's Indian via 2...e6 3.e3 b6
11. Rubinstein-Zukertort Colle via 2...e6 3.e3 d5
12. Anti-Benoni
13. Dutch Defence
14. Miscellaneous Defences

This course is suitable for players over 1700 Elo who want a high quality opening repertoire for White that is based on plans and strategy rather than intricate theoretical variations. You need to be a Tiger Chess member to get it and continue to view it, which is why it priced at just $24.95. You can get it at the add-on videos page but need to be a logged on member to see the option to purchase it.

Nigel Davies

BOOKS, BUILDING AN OPENING REPERTOIRE, FRENCH DEFENCE, OPENINGS, QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED, QUEEN'S PAWN GAMES

HOLIDAY PREPARATION

Finding the time to study chess can be quite tricky, especially for those of us with work and family commitments. It can seem almost impossible to find a solid chunk of time to work on your game which usually means using occasional study opportunities during the day. I built Tiger Chess with this in mind; people can access lessons and videos while waiting for a bus or train or during lunch breaks at the office. It is better to try and set aside some study time during the day, for example first thing in the morning or last thing in the evening, but this is not always possible.

When holidays come along, such as the ones many of us have at the moment, there can be more of an opportunity to spend a few consecutive hours on chess. How should we use it productively? The first thing is to have a realistic plan in place of what can be achieved during this time. There is also a good case for having a plan for all of our chess study, holidays just providing a bit more time to make extra progress.

A favourite study topic is the opening, not least because most of the chess books out there are about them. Simple practical openings that are not in danger of being suddenly refuted make the most sense for busy people. This accounts for many of the lines I recommend, such as the French Defence, Queen's Gambit Declined and Queen's Pawn Games as White. Those with little time on their hands do not have time to try to assimilate opening theory using books with hundreds of pages of densely packed analysis. This stuff is also completely unnecessary, games can be won against Grandmasters using simple openings and strong core skills.

What is the best way to study openings? Well here at Tiger Chess HQ my son Sam and I use the old fashioned approach of going through complete games with a board and pieces, never once going through them on a computer screen. We also play dozens of training games in each line in order to get the feel of the middle games and build up practical experience in particular position types. I think this is invaluable but very few people do it.

One final recommendation is to try to introduce new openings over time rather than change everything in one fell swoop. The previous paragraph really explains this, if you try to take on too much it will be impossible to do it thoroughly enough. The result will be a superficial grasp of a lot of things rather than a deep grasp of just one.

Nigel Davies