Openings

Wesley So is a Filipino chess prodigy currently representing the US. He is the number 2 rated chess player in the world behind only Magnus Carlsen. He set a record by being the youngest player to cross 2600, previously held by Carlsen. So has a very aggressive and tactical style, and likes to sacrifice his […]

Evans Gambit is an aggressive line of Giuoco Piano. The opening is named after William Evans, who is the first player to use it. This opening quickly became a popular choice for many great masters including Anderssen, Morphy, and Chigorin. Eventually, Emanuel Lasker came up with the novelty that allowed getting an upper hand by […]

Isolated queen’s pawn positions are incredibly rich in ideas for both sides. The discussion on how there are several possible ways to play these types of positions for both sides is never-ending. In this article we will discuss a very important structure that occurs often in such positions; see the following diagram.

Kamsky’s Way – Sicilian Dragon: The Sicilian is the number one enemy for 1.e4 players. Nowadays it’s almost impossible to play against the Sicilian without having a strong theoretical preparation. This approach requires a long time to memorize not only the main lines but also the so-called playable secondary lines which are often the most […]

Bird’s opening is a standard flank opening which is characterized by the move 1.f4! White’s main idea involves controlling the strategic e5 square. This offers great attacking possibilities, but slightly weakens the king’s side. This opening move is ranked 6th by popularity. This opening is not something you will see very often in GM tournaments, […]

King’s Indian Attack vs. the Dragon: We are always on the look to learn new opening ideas to surprise our opponents in the future. It doesn’t really matter whether it is an opening that we play or not; we see someone playing something and if it’s enough interesting for us we take a deeper look […]

Improve Your Openings! Every chess player, of any level, is constantly trying to improve and show his best chess over the board. In order to successfully accomplish this, it is important to study all three phases of the game: opening, middlegame, and endgame.

Vienna Game was developed at the end of the 19th century. The main idea of this opening is to defend the e4 pawn and the d5 square, launching an attack with quick f2-f4. This is a rare opening, and cannot be often seen in Grandmasters’ games. Black has strong counter-chances with d7-d5 push. This is […]

Garry Kasparov is considered to be the greatest chess player of all time. From 1986 to 2005 he was ranked the world’s number 1 for 225 out of 228 months! Kasparov holds a record for winning 15 consecutive tournaments. He is also the youngest ever undisputed world champion at age of 22. A great deal […]

One of the most frequently asked questions from amateurs to masters is the simple “what is better – 1.e4 or 1.d4?” However, the answer to this question is not that trivial and it depends on many factors. In this article, we will try to give you our views and some explanations that will hopefully help […]