Openings

WGM Raluca Sgircea, IM Renier Castellanos
05.25.2015

Sicilian Defense is probably the most dynamic response against 1.e4. The philosophy of this opening is not just to achieve a position with equal chances, but to fight for the initiative from the very start of the game. In this article, we are going to examine the positions arising from the sharp Najdorf/ Scheveningen variations, […]

Yury Markushin
05.15.2015
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Yury Markushin
05.15.2015

Opening Principles: Many chess players get in trouble in the openings because they are not familiar with general opening principles. These players may know the opening lines that they usually play, but if something goes differently they get confused and in danger to get an inferior position and even losing the game. The goal of […]

WGM Raluca Sgircea, IM Renier Castellanos
05.14.2015

Worrall Attack of the Ruy Lopez: The popularity of 1…e5 has increased greatly in recent years. For a long time, this response against white’s move 1.e4 was considered a less ambitious option for black than, for example, The Sicilian Defense. However, times have changed, and so has the way we perceive 1…e5 nowadays.

WGM Raluca Sgircea, IM Renier Castellanos
04.22.2015

Playing Against Closed Sicilian: When writing about the closed variation, it is impossible not to mention the ex-World Champions Vassily Smyslov and Boris Spassky. Each one had its own style and they contributed enormously to enriching the theory of this great opening.

WGM Raluca Sgircea, IM Renier Castellanos
04.06.2015

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 […]

WGM Raluca Sgircea, IM Renier Castellanos
04.03.2015

The Slav defense is possibly among the top three choices for black against 1.d4. After the moves 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3, white not only must know the main line of the Slav with 4…dxc4 but also, but he should also be prepared against the move 4…e6, the Semi-Slav variation. The amount of […]

WGM Raluca Sgircea, IM Renier Castellanos
03.30.2015

 The French defense (1..e6) is one the most popular responses to 1.e4 in contemporary chess tournaments. It gives black possibilities to create unbalanced positions in a very early stage of the game. Unlike the Sicilian, the positions arising are considerably more closed, with pawns chains in the center.

WGM Raluca Sgircea, IM Renier Castellanos
03.27.2015

  The King’s Indian Defense remains one of the main weapons to play for a win against white’s 1.d4. This ever popular defense has had its ups and downs through the history of modern practice. It started getting very popular during the 50’s, with the help of players like Bronstein, Geller, and Gligoric.

WGM Raluca Sgircea, IM Renier Castellanos
03.23.2015

In our previous article on the Queen’s Gambit declined we mentioned the main plans for white in the Carlsbad structure seen below:

WGM Raluca Sgircea, IM Renier Castellanos
03.16.2015

Before starting the actual presentation, we will first address a basic question to the understanding of this article: “What is the ‘Carlsbad pawn structure’?” This notion refers to the pawn structure arising in the Exchange Variation of the Queen’s Gambit, which made its debut in Carlsbad, in 1923. We can see this pawn formation in […]