Openings

Fort Knox Variation in The French Defense: The French defense is a very popular choice nowadays among chess players of all levels. It’s quite flexible and it offers black unbalanced positions almost in any line. In this article, we will have an inside look at the so-called Fort Knox variation of the French and we […]

Ragozin Defense has become very popular nowadays against the move 1.d4. Given its flexibility in the move order, black can employ it in different move orders, depending on white’s starting move.

Openings played by Grandmasters: Modern chess has become a sport of not only skills but also knowledge and memory. It has always been like this, but since the irruption of computers in our game, memorization has become more important than it used to be.

Semi-Slav Defense is one of the most popular options nowadays against 1.d4. It is a complex opening in which black is able to fight for the initiative without taking any major positional risks. The Semi-Slav Defense was one of Kasparov’s most dangerous weapons when he was in his prime, but many other attacking players like […]

Italian opening, also known as Giuoco Piano (Italian for “quiet game”) has always been under the shadow of the ever-popular Ruy Lopez as white’s main weapon against 1…e5. One of the reasons for this is that the positions arising from the Italian are far less complex than the ones that can arise in the Ruy […]

King’s Indian Defense: The four pawns attack is one of the most aggressive lines against the King’s Indian Defense. From a very early stage in the opening white grabs a considerable amount of space, hoping to put black in a crammed position. The drawback of this system is that sometimes white finds himself overextended and […]

Different Openings: Many chess players get stuck on certain opening lines and never move on to something else. In many cases, these ones are not even the best bet for the player. They only play it because their coach suggested it, or they have friends who play the same lines or maybe they saw it […]

King’s Indian defense is not everyone’s cup of tea. The closed positions that arise from this opening, the large space advantage given to white voluntarily, and the race of attacks on opposite wings are elements difficult to dominate. However, the truth is that it is a fantastic defense and a very useful resource to have […]

Semi-Slav is one of the most popular variations of Queen’s Gambit Declined. It can be reached by various move orders. Black builds a pawn triangle, c6-d5-e6 and with …dxc4, …a6 and …b5 mobilizes his queenside pawns. The light-squared bishop is placed on b7, once the diagonal is opened after …dxc4.

French Defense has always had a reputation of being a rock-solid choice against 1.e4, leading very often to closed positions full of central pawns in which both sides have a very clear game plan. Black attacks the base of the pawn chain on the queen-side or undermines the most advanced pawn (e5) by playing f6.