One of the most troubling decisions is to design your opening repertoire. The idea of having a perfect set of weapons against each of the opponent’s possible choices gives us peace of mind. However, there is a huge gap between how we picture this in our head and how it actually works in practice. We see openings (our repertoire) as something fixed where ideally we would obtain a comfortable position each time and sometimes if we are lucky, we can get even an advantage. I would say that nowadays this rather sounds like wishful thinking and not very practical.

The Sicilian is black's main response to the move 1.e4. Many 1.e4 players spend a considerable amount of time studying the main lines of the Najdorf Sicilian or the Dragon and, no matter how much time they dedicate to these variations, preparation never seems sufficient. There are simply too many choices, too many possible weapons for black and during a tournament you can easily become a victim of not knowing a theoretical line or even forgetting it.

Paul Keres was a legendary Grandmaster from Estonia. He was one of the strongest players in the world when he was in his prime. Keres had several chances to become world champion, but for some strange reason he couldn't achieve the highest chess title. His name then became associated with the nickname of “The eternal second”.