Category Archives: TRAINING

BUILDING AN OPENING REPERTOIRE, COACHING, PSYCHOLOGY, QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED, TRAINING

CARBS AND CONCENTRATION

I recently went on a very low carb diet (for health reasons) and noticed that there was a very different feel about how my brain was working when I played chess. The difference was marked enough to want to investigate the relationship between carbs and concentration.

The evidence appears to be complex, on the one hand this 2008 study found that taking carbs out of the diet negatively affected cognition with regard to memory, visual-spatial memory and reaction time. Brain cells appear to require a continuous supply via the blood stream to work properly, take the supply away and they won't work as well.

On the other hand this recent study showed a number of benefits to ketogenic diets, they helped with general mood (calmness, reducing anxiety etc.) and improved alertness.

There is no conflict between these findings but what is clear is that what we eat has very different effects on the brain. I would say that chess players, for the most part, should have enough carbs in their blood stream when playing their games. A possible exception might be those who tend towards anxiety, for them their may be more advantages to very low carb consumption.

Training Tournaments

This week's training tournaments feature the Queen's Gambit Declined lines which appear in both the Building an Opening Repertoire course.

Sunday November 17th at 5pm UK Time: QGD with 5.Bg5 Be7

Sunday November 17th at 6.15pm UK Time: QGD with 5.e3 Bd6

Upcoming Events

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

December 1, 2024: Bolton Rapid Play
A fairly local event for me, so I'll be playing to to get some practice. Details can be found here.

December 7, 2024: Huddersfield Chess Club Seminar
I've run a number of seminars at this great club, this is the first since before COVID. 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'm hopeful that I'll get 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.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Nigel

BUILDING AN OPENING REPERTOIRE, COACHING, OPENINGS, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING, WHITE 1.d2-d4 REPERTOIRE

HOW TO STUDY CHESS VIDEOS

During this week's webinar I was asked how many times it's good to watch a chess opening video. I would say that the answer is rather nuanced.

To learn openings I recommend a combination of watching videos, training games and playing around with any pgn file to look for alternatives and see what the engine says. The amount of time used on these three approaches will vary from person to person and how much time they have available.

Personally I tend to watch videos, often whilst doing some other activity such as using a stationary exercise bike. I would like to spend time examining the variations with an engine and playing through them on a real chess board, unfortunately it's difficult to find time. As for training games, this tends to be my lowest priority, but I've put it there because I'd need both time and a suitable partner. In the past I've tested openings in correspondence games but tend to lose interest once the opening stage is over.

I would not recommend my approach to anybody else, I think we all have to find our own way. A good way to start is by watching Tiger Chess material and then play in the Tiger Chess training tournaments on Lichess.

Training Tournaments

This week's training tournaments will feature the Colle, which appears in both the Building an Opening Repertoire course and the White 1.d4 Repertoire:

Sunday November 10th at 5pm UK Time: Colle with 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 c5

Sunday November 10th at 6.15pm UK Time: Colle with 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 b6

Upcoming Events

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

December 1, 2024: Bolton Rapid Play
A fairly local event for me, so I'll be playing to to get some practice. Details can be found here.

December 7, 2024: Huddersfield Chess Club Seminar
I've run a number of seminars at this great club, this is the first since before COVID. 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'm hopeful that I'll get 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.

Hope you have a great weekend! Meanwhile please note that there are discounts on my Vimeo videos listed in my newsletter.

Nigel

COACHING, HOW TO, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

HOW MUCH CHESS SHOULD YOU PLAY

A question I'm often asked is how much chess someone should play in order to stay in practice. Generally speaking I suggest trying to play at least 50 classical games per annum, though for many amateurs even this many is going to be difficult to achieve.

Can you substitute online blitz and rapid play events for these classical games? To some extent you can, but I would suggest rationing faster games if being good at longer time limits is the goal. If winning on time is just as good as forcing your opponent's resignation, it can lead to playing fast/tricky moves rather than good ones.

The top players in the World are good at every time limit because their high level of skill will always be relevant. It's the development of such skill that the issue arises, it's important to learn to do things well before doing them faster.

Training Tournaments
 

This week's training tournaments will feature the French Defence, which is a mainstay of my opening recommendations because of its quality, teaching value and the ease with which it can be learned. The variations featured are the Classical (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6) and the Tarrasch with 3...c5 (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5):

Sunday November 3rd at 5pm UK Time: French Classical with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 

Sunday November 3rd at 6.15pm French Tarrasch with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5

Upcoming Events

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

December 1, 2024: Bolton Rapid Play

A fairly local event for me, so I'll be playing to to get some practice. Details can be found here.

December 7, 2024: Huddersfield Chess Club Seminar

I've run a number of seminars at this great club, this is the first since before COVID. 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'm hopeful that I'll get 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.


Hope you have a great weekend!

Nigel

COACHING, OPENINGS, PSYCHOLOGY, TRAINING

The Role of Father Random

Players sometimes wonder about changes in form, how can they play well in one game and badly in another? There are many reasons this can be the case, for example in one game they may get a position they understand whereas in the next one they do not. Or someone can simply blunder every now and then, and sometimes it happens in consecutive games. What's going on? I think it's mainly father random at work.

Why is the belief in 'form' so strong? It's because of a human tendency to find patterns where none exist (apophenia). This tendency is rooted in our past, when it was essential to spot things like predator behaviour and edible plans. This pattern recognition has been perpetuated throughout history via mechanisms such as cultural norms, claims of 'poor form' are quite common and then likely to be perpetuated.

Why is this a bad thing? It's because the perception of 'poor form' can lower expectations and self confidence. Once someone believes that they are not going to play well it can become a self fulfilling prophecy.

Training Tournaments
 

This week's training tournaments are in the Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation, a popular and important topic that is reached throughout my opening repertoires. This is because of the didactic value of this line and Carlsbad pawn structure. There's a slight but important difference between the two events, they will start from the positions after 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 c6 and then 5...Be7.

Sunday October 27th at 5pm UK Time: QGD Exchange with 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 c6 

Sunday October 27th at 6.15pm UK Time: QGD Exchange with 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 Be7

Upcoming Events

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

October 25-27, 2024: Scarborough Congress

This one of the UK's most prestigious congresses, the sections include a 'foundation' tournament and a junior event. Click here for details.

December 1, 2024: Bolton Rapid Play

A fairly local event for me, so I'll be playing to to get some practice. Details can be found here.

December 7, 2024: Huddersfield Chess Club Seminar

I've run a number of seminars at this great club, this is the first since before COVID. Their website is here.

February 16-27, 2025: World Senior Team Championship

I finally got a place in the 50+ second team. This means that I'll play a much stonger field than on bottom board of the first team, so in many ways it's quite welcome.

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'm hopeful that I'll get 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.

I offer discounts on some of my video series on Vimeo for which my catalogue is here. To get the discount codes please sign up for my weekly newsletter via the form on the right.

Nigel

COACHING, PSYCHOLOGY, TRAINING

FINDING THE NEXT MOVE

This last week has seen a couple of incidents in which notable players did themselves a disservice. I'm not going to comment on the incidents themselves, but rather on the mindset required to avoid sabotaging yourself. In short it's a question of focusing on the board and making this the most important thing.

I learned this lesson the hard way after letting things distract me. In one incident, before computerized pairings, my opponent complained to the arbiter that he was Black against me instead of White and the colours were changed. I only found out about this when I came to play and lost a really horrible game. I've also played badly because of thinking about the outcome, for example in games in which I've played for a norm or a decent prize. Another good way to lose is to carry forward negative emotions from the previous game or go in overconfident.

Eventually I decided to limit my focus to one simple thing, finding the next move. And it works.

Training Tournaments
 

This week's training tournaments are in the Queen's Gambit Accepted. They will include my repertoire recommendation of the Furman Variation of 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 dxc4 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.Qe2 a6 plus 4...Bg4 which seems to be an interesting and underrated line: 

Sunday October 20th at 5pm UK Time: Queen's Gambit Accepted with 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 dxc4 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.Qe2 a6 

Sunday October 20th at 6.15pm UK Time: Queen's Gambit Accepted with 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 dxc4 4.e3 Bg4

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

Upcoming Events

October 25-27, 2024: Scarborough Congress

This one of the UK's most prestigious congresses, the sections include a 'foundation' tournament and a junior event. Click here for details.

December 1, 2024: Bolton Rapid Play

A fairly local event for me, so I'll be playing to to get some practice. Details can be found here.

December 7, 2024: Huddersfield Chess Club Seminar

I've run a number of seminars at this great club, this is the first since before COVID. Their website is here.

February 18-23, 2025: Isle of Wight International

I've been invited to play in this one but will have to pull out if I get invited to the World Senior Teams. It's a new event but the organizers seem to be on the ball. You can find details here.

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've not been selected for the England 50+ team for the World Senior Team Championships (Prague, February 16 to 27, 2025), but I'm still hopeful that I'll get in the 65+ team (I'm 64, but you become eligible the year you turn 65). There are also 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. I'm hopeful that clarification will be forthcoming quite soon.

I offer discounts on some of my video series on Vimeo for which my catalogue is here. To get the discount codes please sign up for my weekly newsletter via the form on the right.

See you next week!

Nigel Davies

OPENINGS, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

A QUESTION OF CONFIDENCE

Players can often have a crisis of confidence with their chess, not feeling 'prepared' being a primary symptom. This is especially the case with those who are returning to the game after a long layoff, both opening theory and the ways it might be studied have changed considerably, largely due to the advent of computer databases and increasingly powerful engines.

How can this be handled? Really I believe there is only one way, to know what you are doing more thoroughly than your opponents. Yet this knowledge can take different forms, you either out-prepare people with your own computer analysis or you develop a deeper understanding of the plans and ideas.

My approach with students has been to help them develop a better understanding, I believe this will carry over into different parts of the game. For this reason I developed ideas based opening repertoires with minimal theory, then coupled this with a recommendation to play what you learn to develop fluency. The training tournaments I run on Lichess can be part of this process.

Training Tournaments

This week's training tournaments are in the Dutch Defence and use my repertoire recommendation of 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3:

Sunday October 13th at 5pm UK Time: Dutch Defence with 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6

Sunday October 13th at 6.15pm UK Time: Dutch Defence with 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 g6

Upcoming Events

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

October 25-27, 2024: Scarborough Congress

This one of the UK's most prestigious congresses, the sections include a 'foundation' tournament and a junior event. Click here for details.

December 1, 2024: Bolton Rapid Play

A fairly local event for me, so I'll be playing to to get some practice. Details can be found here.

December 7, 2024: Huddersfield Chess Club Seminar

I've run a number of seminars at this great club, this is the first since before COVID. Their website is here.

February 18-23, 2025: Isle of Wight International

I've been invited to play in this one but will have to pull out if I get invited to the World Senior Teams. It's a new event but the organizers seem to be on the ball. You can find details here.

July/August 2025: British Championships

Will these be held in Liverpool next year? Last week I linked to the rumour on Tim Spanton's page that they would be. I would be using my Metro senior travel card (!) to get there and might go for the 50+ event.

I'm also still hoping to be invited to the World Senior Team Championships (Prague, February 16 to 27, 2025) and/or the European Senior Team Championships (Walbrzych, Poland, April 4-14). I should find out about these soon.

I offer discounts on some of my video series on Vimeo for which my catalogue is here. To get the discount codes please sign up for my weekly newsletter via the form on the right.

See you next week, I'm planning to post here on a regular basis.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, FRENCH DEFENCE, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

NOVEMBER 2021 CLINIC

The November clinic features more games from the Tiger Chess Themed Training events on Lichess. This time the chosen them was the position arising after the moves 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 in the French Defence.

I have issued frequent warnings about the caution required by Black in ever castling kingside when there is a White pawn on e5. Of course it's always good for people to discover this for themselves, and this is what happened in the following position (see diagram):

HerbertChapman - NN. White to play.

Black's last move was to castle kingside (15...0-0) which White then answered with 16.Nxh5!. Black actually resigned at this point (1-0) which might have been either great vision or a reluctance to continue with his king in such a desperate situation. At first it did not seem that clear to me but then Stockfish indicates that White is winning, for example after 16…gxh5 17.Ng5 Rfc8 18.Qxh5 Qxd4 19.a3 Ba5 20.Bf4 Bd8 21.Rhd1 Qc4 22.b3 Qxb3 23.Qh7+ Kf8 24.Rdb1 Qa4 25.Rxb7 etc..

At the moment these training events are featuring the Petrosian Variation of the King's Indian Defence and take place on Wednesdays (8pm UK time) and Sundays (6pm UK time). Participation is free and you can find them here.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, TRAINING

OCTOBER 2021 CLINIC

From last month I decided to change the clinic content so that it covers the Tiger Chess Themed Training events on Lichess. This is the second clinic devoted to games from a key position in the Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation, arising after the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 Be7 7.Bd3 O-O 8.Qc2 c6 9.Nf3 Re8 10.O-O Nf8.

One nice moment from these events came from the following position in which it was Dandanmian (White) to play:

Dandanmian - Aleksandr Ivanovich; White to play

White uncorked the powerful 20.Nxf7!, intending 20...Kxf7 21.f5. Black instead tried to counterattack with 21...Qh4 but after 21.Kg2 Kxf7 22.Bg5! found that his queen had been trapped. The game lasted just a few more moves with 22...Qxe1 13.Rxe1 Kg8 14.f5 1-0.

Anyone wanting to take part in these events should join the Tiger Chess Themed Training Team on Lichess. It's free to join in and the events can give you training in specific openings and position types.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, NEWS, OPENINGS, PATTERN RECOGNITION, QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED, TIGER CHESS WEBINARS, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

SEPTEMBER 2021 CLINIC

I recently took the decision to change the clinic content so that it covers the Tiger Chess Themed Training events on Lichess. I set these events up so that students could practice important position types rather than waste time on the random mayhem that usually occurs in online games. The results have been very promising in that several people have reported increased engagement and interest in the problems after having wrestled with them in a series of games.

The first position to have been played is a key position in the Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation, arising after the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 Be7 7.Bd3 O-O 8.Qc2 c6 9.Nf3 Re8 10.O-O Nf8. This is a very useful position from which to learn strategy because of the clarity of the pawn structure and the ease with which the different plans and ideas can be explained. Nonetheless it can prove very challenging to master as these plans come into conflict, and I am devoting the current series of webinars to its mastery.

Queen's Gambit Declined: Key Position

I will not show any highlights this time but instead list the forthcoming practice events, which are held at 8pm London (UK) time on Wednesdays and 6pm London (UK) time on Sundays:

October 10th (6pm): QGD Exchange Training

October 13th (8pm): QGD Exchange Training

October 17th (6pm): QGD Exchange Training

October 20th (8pm): QGD Exchange Training

October 24th (6pm): QGD Exchange Training

After this series the webinars will cover a new topic and new positions will be used for the training events. It will take more practice than this to get in tune with these position types, but this is at least a start.

Nigel Davies

ARTICLES, OPENINGS, TIGER CHESS WEBINARS, TRAINING

CRAFTING YOUR OWN OPENING REPERTOIRE

With so much off-the-peg opening material available why should someone want to craft their own repertoire? There are many reasons for doing so, not least of which is the suitability of most of the repertoires that are being published. They are often developed by strong Grandmasters who seem to have very little understanding of the requirements of players weaker than themselves. Commonly they contain hundreds of computer generated variations which can be over 20 moves in length.

Here at Tiger Chess I adopted a different approach, presenting openings that were ideas based, relatively easy to remember and that illustrated typical strategic themes in the middle game. Yet in producing this material my idea was that students should extend their own personal approach above and beyond what I presented. I wanted to provide a starting point for engaged study and development, not a rigid lump of merged games and engine analysis, to be memorized and repeated for a lifetime.

To show people how to do this I am presenting a series of webinars for Premium Members only, running live over the next few weeks and recordings available thereafter. Here are the titles:

How to Choose a Chess Opening
August 5th 2021: 9-10pm London time
Guidance about what to look for in a chess opening, explaining why you can and should avoid the hype about the latest off-the-peg 2700 repertoire and build something that is suitable for your level.

Sources for Opening Study
August 12th 2021: 9-10pm London time
In this session you will see how to pick and choose between different sources to help with your independent creative work. Here too I offer vital guidance on choosing materials that are suitable for a particular player's chess development rather than attempting to memorize super-GM offerings.

Assembling an Opening Repertoire
August 19th 2021: 9-10pm London time
Having chosen an opening to learn and assembled a source or sources there is a choice about whether to record and formalize your research. In this episode I present the options, some of which are free, and explains how to choose between them.

Worked Example of Opening Preparation
August 26th 2021: 9-10pm London time
In this final session I will bring together the previous three sessions and provides a worked example of how to put together a opening so that it can be studied and updated.

Please do note that these are only available to Premium Members, but they are included in the modest subscription price of $19.95 per month along with other video content. To sign up please go here, and hopefully I will see you at the sessions.

Nigel Davies