Category Archives: TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS

CLINIC, NEWS, QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS, WHITE 1.d2-d4 REPERTOIRE

NOVEMBER 2022 CLINIC

The November clinic featured some more games in the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, this time starting after the moves 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5. It also featured an interesting duel between two of the regular participants in these events.

Most of the games were very hard fought, but in one of them White demonstrated some neat twists in the opening and found a devastating shot from the following position (see diagram):

OldSpeckledHen - DanStaples, White to play

White uncorked the brilliant 17.Bxg6! after which 17...hxg6 18.Qxg6 Bf8 19.exf6 Re6 20.Bxg7 forced resignation (1-0), not a difficult sacrifice but a very instructive one.

Tigerchess.com Themed Training events are a great opportunity to practice key positions from regular openings, and are open to everyone who joins the Tiger Chess Team. Participating in these events helps players develop an insight into the openings played, above and beyond looking at them in a book or on a video.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS

OCTOBER 2022 CLINIC

The October clinic featured games with two different openings, the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined (1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 c6 6.Qc2 Be7 7.Bg5 0-0 8.e3 Nbd7 9.Bd3 Re8 10.0-0 Nf8) and the King's Indian Defence (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.Be2). Both of these lines are in Tiger Chess opening repertoires, and both have great instructional value because they are rich in plans and pawn play.
This is not to say that tactical opportunities never arise as the following position illustrates, Black to play found a devastating sequence (see diagram):

JackHodges - Oldspeckledhen, Black to play

Black won with 31...Ra1+ 32.Rf1 Rxf1+ 33.Qxf1 Qxe4! (0-1) as if the queen is taken then White's queen on f1 also falls.

Tigerchess.com Themed Training events are a great opportunity to practice key positions from regular openings, and are open to everyone who joins the Tiger Chess Team. Participating in these events helps players develop real insight into the openings played, above and beyond looking at them in a book or on a video.

Nigel Davies

QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS, WHITE 1.d2-d4 REPERTOIRE

MAY 2022 CLINIC

The May clinic features games with the Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation from the Tiger Chess Themed Training Tournaments on Lichess. The starting position was the one that arises after the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 Be7 6.Bg5 c6 7.Qc2 O-O 8.e3 Nbd7 9.Bd3 Re8 10.O-O Nf8, which is considered a key opening position. This features in two Tiger Chess courses, the White 1.d4 Repertoire course (in which 11.h3 is recommended for White) and the Building an Opening Repertoire course in which it is recommended for Black.

Both sides have chances in this line and it is rich in strategic and tactical ideas. One of the key plans for White is a minority attack with b2-b4-b5. Dandanmian brought this off in one of his games and here he had a winning idea (see diagram):

 

Dandanmian - NN: White to play

White to play found 21.Ba6!, winning the rook on c8 because 21...Ra8 is met by 22.Bb7. Black struggled on for some moves but the position is hopeless.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, FRENCH DEFENCE, NEWS, OPENINGS, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS

MARCH 2022 CLINIC

The March Clinic is now out, featuring games with the Exchange Variation of the French Defence (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5) from two of the Tigerchess.com Themed Training team tournaments. Although this line has a drawish reputation both sides have fighting chances, and there are also a number of trappy ideas that both sides can fall into.

The following position shows one of the classic dangers for Black, that he plays ...Bc8-g4 and then has his bishop driven back with h2-h3 and g2-g4. His last move was the natural 13...c6, what did White do next (see diagram)?

Dandanmian - BalthasarII, White to play

White played 14.f4!, which is actually quite devastating because of the threat of 15.f5. Black cannot save his bishop with 14...Be4 because then 15.g5 would undermine the bishop's defender. In the game he tried 14...h6, but as the f-pawn is pinned just 15.Nxg6 won a piece and the game.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, OPENINGS, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS

FEBRUARY 2022 CLINIC

Several different openings featured in the February clinic, the Semi-Tarrasch (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e3 cxd4 7.exd4 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Qc7), the Queen's Gambit Declined Tartakower Variation .d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nf3 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 b6) and the Zukertort Colle (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 c5 4.Bd3 d5 5.b3 Nc6 6.Bb2 Bd6). All the games played were from training events between members of the Tigerchess.com Themed Training team.

Here's a spectacular finish from one of the games, with White to play (see diagram):

 

Dandanmian - Borzoi73, White to play

White played 26.Qxc7, essentially forcing resignation (1-0) as after 26...Rxc7 there is mate with 27.Rd8.

The Tigerchess.com Themed Training events are a great opportunity to practice key positions from regular openings, and are open to everyone who joins the Tiger Chess Team. Participating in these events helps players develop real insight into the openings played, above and beyond looking at them in a book or on a video.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, NEWS, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS

JANUARY 2022 CLINIC

A main line of the Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 Be7 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.e3 O-O 8.Bd3 c6 9.Qc2 Re8 10.O-O Nf8) features in the January clinic. There were training events in this line between members of the Tigerchess.com Themed Training team which provided the material to be used

Here's a position from one of them in which it was White to play (see diagram):

Dandanmian - Aleksandr Ivanovich. White to play.

White played 19.Rxf6!, which gave him a strong attack after 19...Qxf6 20.Rf1. The game ended with the moves 20...Qg5 21.Rxf7+ Kg8 22.Rxb7 Re6 23.Ne2 Bd6 24.Nf4 Rf6 25.Nexg6 Re8 26.Ne5 Qg3 27.Qh7+ Kf8 28.Qh8+ Qg8 29.Qxf6+ 1-0.

The Tigerchess.com Themed Training events offer a valuable opportunity to practice key positions from my syllabus, and are open to everyone, not just subscribers. Those who participate in them find that the experience helps trigger valuable insights into the topic concerned, much more so than just playing through some lines in a book.

Nigel Davies