Openings

Rapport-Jobava System: Sometimes, even a single move can change the course of a game—even so much as to turn a good opening into a GREAT one! That’s what the move 2.Nc3 does to the regular London System. Not that the London system is a bad opening or such, it has got a few drawbacks where […]

Modern Defense, starting with 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7, follows any other hypermodern openings and is highly provocative and dynamic—as much as an opening can get. Black fianchetto a bishop early on the g7-square eyeing on the long dark-squared diagonal running from h8 to a1.

King’s Indian Defense (KID) is one of the most romantic and charming chess openings ever. It is the best weapon for those who want to play for a win with Black pieces against 1.d4. Black temporarily gives up the center to develop quickly and attack enemy central pawns later. This approach creates strategic imbalances from […]

Opening Moves: The possibilities in chess are countless and they grow with each move that we make. In spite of the millions of games that have been played, it is very difficult to find two that are exactly the same. We have to make a choice right from the start and this choice will usually […]

King’s Indian Defense is one of the most complex openings in chess. This is so because it can lead to many different pawn structures with various underlying tactical and strategical ideas. In this article, I would like to explore how the great Bobby Fischer treated the positions in the Mar del Plata variation of the […]

Finding the right opening can be a lot of hard work and it usually requires deep investigation before you can finally settle for the most suitable one. If you are an attacking player who likes to play the unbalanced position, it might be especially difficult to choose an opening for black. The help of a […]

Scotch Game and the reasons for recommending it. In this article, I would like to explain why to use the Scotch Game as a way to combat 1.e4 e5 instead of many other possibilities that exist out there. As a person who has played nearly exclusively 1.e4 e5 on the Black side, and a person […]

Lowenthal variation of Sicilian: The Sicilian Defense is the most popular and fun opening in chess. It leads to exciting positions, and never makes you bored. And, its combative nature attracts millions of chess fans of any level. When top-level grandmasters need to win with Black pieces, they use the Sicilian in most cases. And […]

Norwegian Defense: Are you ready to learn it? Creating a repertoire for black is usually a challenge, as your opponent is the one who’s setting the pace and can decide what type of positions to go for. If you are still struggling with putting yours together, then this article is for you!

King’s Gambit: ready to learn it? One of the biggest questions when it comes to building a repertoire is should I focus on only one opening or include more than one option for each side? There is no right answer to this question; probably the way to go is what works best for you. Both […]