Openings

Petroff Defense is one of the most solid and reliable openings in chess. White has always been struggling to find an advantage against it. It usually leads to symmetrical and balanced positions where it is hard to complicate the game. It makes Black’s play rather simple and straightforward.

Owen’s Defense: When it comes to studying openings, most of the players look for shortcuts and skip studying the rare ones. It gives their opponents good chances to surprise them with off-beat openings. One such option is Owen’s Defense. It is a flexible hypermodern opening. Black allows the first player to conquer the center and […]

Tactical 1.e4: When it comes to building an Opening Repertoire, it is important to consider the player’s strengths and weaknesses. Many people underperform because their openings don’t match their style. It is easy to imagine a strong positional player getting lost in tactical jungles as well as a strong tactician making no sense in a […]

Four Knights Game is one of those openings that are popular at both beginner and grandmaster levels. It has solid positional ground and most of the time leads to calm positions. At the same time, some lines are so sharp that it is not surprising that many strong and creative players favored the Four Knights […]

Max Lange Attack is a dangerous attacking weapon that White has at their disposal in a number of openings. You can reach the same position from six different move orders and we will take a look at those in a moment. The line got its name after Max Lange, a German player, theoretician, and problem […]

Win with Black Pieces: The player with the White pieces moves first in chess, which gives them a certain advantage. They can choose what direction the game will take and can fight for the initiative from the start. At the beginner level, such an advantage doesn’t matter.

Studying openings is one of the most popular activities among chess players. It is reasonable: if you are good at openings, you get a head-start for the middlegames or even endgames. The first stage of the game is also the most predictable one. You can cook certain lines or traps at home and then catch […]

Sveshnikov Sicilian: The Sicilian is the most popular answer to 1.e4 and is one of the openings we can find at any level, from club players to the very top. The reason why so many players employ it is it usually arises from unbalanced positions, with good fighting chances for both sides. It is also […]

Pirc Defense is a hypermodern opening named after the five-time Yugoslavian Champion Vasja Pirc. At the highest level, the opening has always been staying on the roadside of the mainstream theory. Still, Mikhail Botvinnik used it in the Century Match in 1970, and Robert Fischer employed it against Boris Spassky in the World Championship in […]

1…e5: “What should I play against 1.e4?” is a big question when creating your opening repertoire with the black pieces. There are a number of good openings for black, with the Sicilian (1…c5) being the main choice by the second player.