Category Archives: TRAINING

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