Category Archives: TIGER CHESS STRATEGY COURSE

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

THE WHITE 1.d2-d4 REPERTOIRE

August 25, 2020 NigelD

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

BUILDING AN OPENING REPERTOIRE, PAWN LEVERS, TIGER CHESS STRATEGY COURSE

SEPTEMBER 2018 CLINIC: PAWN LEVERS

October 4, 2018 NigelD

The September clinic is now online and members can access it here. The theme this month was 'pawn levers', which tend to be neglected at club level but which members tend to develop because of the strong focus on strategy and pawn play. Here are a few examples from the clinic:

This first one seems like a fairly normal looking position, but White has a way to obtain the more promising position. What should he play and why?

A promising way to proceed is with 6.b4! which gains space on the queenside and at the same time inhibits Black's two main pawn levers, with ...c6-c5 or when White's bishop goes to b2, ...e7-e5. This plan is covered in my Building an Opening Repertoire course and has been used by Magnus Carlsen; White built up a very promising position and won in just 28 moves.

The second example features a typical mistake by Black which happens a lot a club level. What should Black play here?

Black has quite a few good choices, for example 5...Nc6 or 5...Nbd7 to name but two. What he should not do is 5...cxd4?!, as this allows White to gain firm control over the ...e5 square and indeed a later ...e6-e5 by Black will leave him with an isolated d-pawn. Yet 5...cxd4 is exactly what Black did, and this is one of the most common moves at club level.

Finally let's look at a lever that is associated with a direct attack. It's Black to play in the position below:

Black has a lever which gives him an attack

Black played a very strong lever with 14...b5!, which does involve a pawn sacrifice but it is a very promising one. After 15.axb5 Black even followed up with the excellent 15...d5! and after 16.bxa6 even levered open the center with 16...e5!. Black went on to win this game very quickly after his excellent pawn play.

To see the members clinics (48 of them so far!) you need to join, which can be done so on the Membership Signup page.

Nigel Davies

ENGLISH CHESS ACADEMY, TIGER CHESS ENDGAME COURSE, TIGER CHESS STRATEGY COURSE

ENGLISH CHESS ACADEMY – SEPTEMBER 2018

September 10, 2018 NigelD

For the last year I've been coaching at ECF (English Chess Federation) Chess Academy weekends with the most recent one being held last weekend. These events have been hugely successful, with many of the most promising juniors in England receiving expert coaching as well as taking part in events including a blitz tournament on the Saturday evening. Some of the younger coaches even took part whereas those needed a break retired for the evening to a local hostelry. Picture below, from left to right, are FMs Tim Wall and Charlie Storey, IM Andrew Martin and GM Glenn Flear:

The Academy was created by the outgoing ECF Junior & Education Director, Traci Whitfield, who has done an amazing job putting it together. Tact and diplomacy tend to be rare talents in the chess scene but they are invaluable for such a project. I am sure that she will be missed by the ECF.

As usual the basis of my sessions were examples taken from the 160 lesson Tiger Chess Strategy Course, which members can access here. Occasionally I have to take material from the 160 lesson Tiger Chess Endgame Course which is here. One of this weekend's topics was the role of the open file which I cover quite extensively; for the young players I was teaching this weekend I took the classic example of Alekhine - Yates, London 1922:

Alexander Alekhine had successfully penetrated along the open c-file and doubled rooks on the 7th rank. He finished the game beautifully with 36.Nf6! Rgf8 (capturing the knight with 36...gxf6 allows 37.Rh7#) 37.Rxg7! Rxf6 38.Ke5! 1-0. The only way for Black to save the rook on f6 is to move one of his two rooks to f8, but this allows mate with 39.Rh7+ followed by 40.Rcg7#.

Nigel Davies