Latest Posts - Page 97
Catalan Opening is one of white’s main weapons against the Queen’s Gambit Declined nowadays. The popularity of this opening has increased greatly over the last 10 years thanks to the efforts of players like Kramnik and Gelfand, who used this variation frequently at the highest level with big success. When it comes to the Catalan, it’s impossible not to mention Grandmaster Boris Avrukh, a big specialist on the line, but also a well-respected writer.
It’s no surprise that the majority of chess players have trouble understanding and correctly interpreting the typical middlegame positions. Most chess players think that positional understanding is something that only the masters can effectively use to win games. This is quite an incorrect assumption. Any chess player can learn and effectively use the typical middlegame positions. This article will give you the resources needed to achieve just that.
Continuing our series of typical sacrifices, this time we take the time to discuss a common idea in the Sicilian, the piece sacrifice on b5.
It’s a common idea, and it should be well known to the Sicilian experts.
In today’s article, we continue talking about basic ideas and sacrifices any chess player should be aware of. We have covered so far the very well-known f7 (f2) and h7 (h2) sacrifices, the double bishop sacrifice, and the sacrifice on b5 that occurs mostly in the Sicilian Defense.
Our first game is by a frequent guest on this section of the page, the Chinese super star Wei Yi. He recently produced another gem by crushing the very solid GM Wang Yue (rated 2724).
The game is a Sicilian defense in which Wei Yi develops a typical plan attacking with g4 quite early in the game.
English Opening is one of white’s most solid start choices. It usually leads to closed positions with very few exchanges on the board. The battle is tense from the very beginning and there aren’t many forced lines for any side. In his prime, Garry Kasparov used the English Opening quite often, achieving remarkable wins and doing a great contribution to the theory of this opening.
The 4th FIDE World Cup in Composing was held early this year by WFCC. The studies section received as many as 49 problems. Here is the winner of the First Prize.
Many openings, like the Alapin variation against the Sicilian, the Rubinstein (4.e3) versus the Nimzo Indian, the Panov Attack against the Caro Kan, have in common that, very often, white gets an isolated queen’s pawn in the middlegame and eventually, after exchanges, hanging pawns arise.
Dare to Try 2.Be2!? Sicilian Defense occupies a huge percentage of the training and study time of the majority of chess players, and it is no secret. Working out the mainlines of the most popular choices for black, memorizing forced variations, or finding novelties in critical positions is all part of the day-to-day training.
Many chess players ask me the same questions over and over again. The most common questions involve the big 3: anxieties before and during the game, barriers that prevent them from improving at chess, and obstacles that disallow focusing on chess, sticking to the plan and reaching the goals. In today’s article, you will learn how to deal with these 3 big problems that prevent many chess players from fully enjoying the game and reaching their potential.
