An early n4 move by White and n5 by Black, followed by undermining pawn moves in the adjacent files—and there it is, the true “pride and sorrow” of chess.
Not only can it win you games like a rockstar, it can also lose you games like mere simpletons!
Need an opening that is equally aggressive as positionally sound against White’s 1.d4?
Without studying hours of opening theory… as in the Dragon or the Grunfeld?
Here’s the Tarrasch Defense for you.
Mikhail Tal’s style of playing was maniacal, but there was a method to the madness. Many of his tactical combinations were unsound, but they worked in his hands!
The psychological pressure that he created on his opponents, his brilliant feel for the initiative, and his ability to maintain the momentum, threats after threats, with insane sacrifices and crazy king hunts…
The Nimzowitsch Defense packs a punch of surprise right in the opening but has also got a misplaced knight on c6 in most cases.
If you play Black ever in your chess games and your opening needs to have a shock value, this is for you.
“For him, exchanges are often not the prelude to a quick draw but the signal that it is time for his opponent to start suffering.” – Dennis Monokroussos, chess author and Fide Master
Wondering who they are talking about?
A feat equaled historically only by Emanuel Lasker and Wilhelm Steinitz—and that made him one of the GREATEST players of all time.
Mikhail Botvinnik’s playing style was strategically forceful. He did not engage in a berserk piece sacrifice or any unsound tactical combination only to put pressure on his opponent. What he did instead was slowly outplayed him with a superior strategy until he cracked like an egg.
When someone asks something like, “Hey, I just want to have some fun—and still win games. Which opening should I learn?”…
The answer is usually to AVOID the great, old Sicilian or the totally unoriginal King’s Pawn, or any of the popular openings that you constantly hear about for that matter.
Yes, choosing the right candidate move can make or break your position… true that.
But what’s even more important?
What’s the FIRST step that comes even before looking for candidate moves?
That’s right—evaluation of the current position.
Ask any chess beginner rated around 1400-1600… and they will tell you what’s on top of their mind.
It’s almost always along these lines:
“How to find the best moves in a position?”
“How to visualize the chess board better?”
And more often than not…
In Tata Steel Masters 2020, Jordan Van Forest was the lowest-rated chess player in a pool of 2700+ Elo “sharks”.
He knew that they would be out for his blood. To hold his own against these apex predators over the chessboard, he needed a weapon, sharp and powerful enough to put a dent on the play of even a Super-GM…
