not to play 1.e4

The King’s Indian Defense is one of the most popular replies for black against white’s 1.d4. It is the perfect weapon for the active player who likes to be aggressive and is not afraid of complications. The opening is well-known for the dangerous attacks that black can start on the kingside, which has produced many brilliant games.

The main plan for black is the advance e7-e5, after which white has a choice. If the center is closed with d4-d5, then black usually starts preparing the pawn storm on the kingside.

The Benoni Defense (arises after the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 ed 5.cd5 d6 6.e4 g6) is one of the most attractive options to play as black for those players looking for a sharp game.

Historically, world champions have employed this defense with great success; most notorious were Bobby Fischer and Mikhail Tal. Other notable Grandmasters that played this mystic defense quite often were Bronstein, Savon, Suba, Mecking, Psakhis, Marin, Topalov and let us never forget Vugar Gashimov who brought it back into modern high level with reasonable results.

The Tarrasch Defence is a neglected one. It had its glory days in the late 1960s when Boris Spassky used it first in his Candidates match against Geller in 1965 and then as a very efficient weapon in his title-winning match against Petrosian in 1969 when he scored 1 win and 4 draws with it.

The second champion of the Tarrasch Defence was another World Champion, Garry Kasparov, who scored phenomenal results with it in the early 1980s.

If Black wants to play for a win he has two general directions to choose from: he can try to equalize first and then outplay his opponent, or he can try to wrestle the initiative from White from the get-go.

I would like to discuss the second option as it is often the preferred one in all-or-nothing situations (though this does not mean that it will give more chances!).

This course is dedicated to one of the most popular openings played on all levels – The Ruy Lopez or as many people know it the Spanish game.

Here is how this opening starts: 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5

In previous articles, we have written about the importance of being practical in your opening choice. Following the sharp lines in the mainstream theory is not for everyone, but fortunately, chess is rich enough and can be played in many different ways. In this article, we would like to draw your attention to the exchange variation of the French as played by the French Grandmaster Etienne Bacrot. Bacrot is an extremely strong player with a wonderful chess career. Although for most of his career, he has been a 1.d4 player, Bacrot switches to 1.e4 every now and then.

One of the most troubling decisions is to design your opening repertoire. The idea of having a perfect set of weapons against each of the opponent’s possible choices gives us peace of mind. However, there is a huge gap between how we picture this in our head and how it actually works in practice.

We see openings (our repertoire) as something fixed where ideally we would obtain a comfortable position each time and sometimes if we are lucky, we can get even an advantage. I would say that nowadays this rather sounds like wishful thinking and not very practical.

The pawn structure in the diagram above is very familiar in chess practice. It can arise from openings like Slav and Semi Slav, Alekhine, Scandinavian, French and of course Caro Kann, the latter being the most common source of appearance. The special thing about such structure is that although white has more space, black is rock solid and his plans are very clear. Such a scenario always produces tense positional battles where both players need to understand the demands of the position and know well what the typical plans to follow are.

For the first time since 2012, when Boris Gelfand used it as his mainstay weapon with Black after 1 e4 against Viswanathan Anand in their World Championship Match, the Sveshnikov Sicilian returned to the biggest scene in this year’s World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana.

In a curious twist, in 2012 Anand first tried the Sveshnikov once only to revert to the Rossolimo, which eventually won him the match.

An easy guideline for club players against White’s most solid opening. Studying openings is a never-ending duty for the competitive chess player. Even when one has already decided on a repertoire, it is not unusual to develop an interest in learning new systems.

Through the years I’ve come to the conclusion that although the intense study of openings has been stigmatized as of no great importance to improve your chess understanding, a variety of openings deeply studied with the resulting middle games, structures, and patterns is very useful for the improving player.