WGM Raluca Sgîrcea - tag
English Opening: Finding the right opening for you is a complicated and time-consuming process. You need to be objective, know yourself very well, and try to find positions that will suit your style. If you are still looking to build a repertoire with white, but are not sure which opening would suit you best, we […]
Double Fianchetto System: These days engines have become a chess player’s best friend. Its influence is mostly felt in the opening phase, where every line is analyzed in detail and everybody, regardless of their level, knows a fair amount of theory. If you want to avoid in-depth preparation, it is a good idea to add […]
Openings: A beginner may easily feel overwhelmed when facing the choice of what to play at the beginning of the game. There are so many openings, so much theory! What is he or she supposed to do? What are the best openings for beginners?
Chess Strategy and Tactics are two big parts of this game. There are games that can be classified as positional and games where the tactical, attacking ideas dominate. However, most of the time, the two go hand in hand, and a game that had a slow, quiet start, could finish with a beautiful sacrifice. In […]
The study of basic chess strategy is one of the things that will help you improve your level and become a better player in time. It is amazing to see how many times strong masters win their games against lower-rated opponents by applying the very basics of chess strategy and showing a better positional understanding, […]
Reti Opening has been, for a long time, a second or third opening choice for white, being considered a dull and harmless alternative to the more popular 1.d4 or 1.e4. However, things could not be farther from the truth. In fact, its founder, Richard Reti, considered these moves to be inferior, since black could immediately […]
Najdorf Sicilian Opening, named after the Argentinian Grandmaster Miguel Najdorf, is probably one of the most popular openings among chess players. Whether they play it or not, most players have already seen many famous games played in this particular variation. Not only this, but beautiful games still spring every time the Najdorf appears in top-level […]
A-Pawn Advance: When we talk about attacks, most people automatically assume that there will be an attack against the opponent’s king. While these are a lot of fun and can lead to sharp positions with beautiful tactical possibilities, it is not always possible to start one. Some positions require different types of play and starting […]
Pawn structures, their studying, and understanding the typical plans in each one of them is one important step to improving your chess level. It will help you find the best plans in the position easier, you will already know where the pieces go, what you should be looking for, what to avoid and what your […]
Catalan and Dominating Weaknesses in it. The concept of weakness is the most basic part of positional chess. Weak squares and weak pawns are ideas that you must juggle throughout the whole game. The choice of a correct plan is most of the time based on correctly identifying targets of attack in the opponent’s position.
