GM Max Illingworth's Blog

GM Max Illingworth's Blog

Sort: Most Recentโ€Ž
The Carlsen Variation Of The Exchange QGD

The Carlsen Variation Of The Exchange QGD

GM Illingworth
| Feb 18, 2024

Hello chess friends!In today's post, I will share with you the Carlsen Variation of the Exchange QGD, and how to play it as Black!You may be wondering - what exactly is the Carlsen Variation?The Carlsen Variation arises after the following moves: ...

A London Opening Bomb, In Morphy Style

A London Opening Bomb, In Morphy Style

GM Illingworth
| Feb 12, 2024

๐€ ๐‹๐จ๐ง๐๐จ๐ง ๐Ž๐ฉ๐ž๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐›, ๐ˆ๐ง ๐Œ๐จ๐ซ๐ฉ๐ก๐ฒ ๐’๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฅ๐žโฃ โฃ While working with a student, I discovered a sophisticated opening bomb in the London System, which I'd like to share with you. โฃ โฃ Our position arises after ๐Ÿ.๐๐Ÿ’ ๐๐Ÿ“ ๐Ÿ.๐๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‘ ๐๐Ÿ๐Ÿ” ๐Ÿ‘.๐๐Ÿ๐Ÿ’ ๐œ๐Ÿ“ ๐Ÿ’.๐ž๐Ÿ‘ ๐๐œ๐Ÿ” ๐Ÿ“.๐๐›๐๐Ÿ ...

Potholes & Detours From The Road To 1600+

Potholes & Detours From The Road To 1600+

GM Illingworth
| Jan 19, 2024

Hello chess friends!Would you like to discover what's stopping you from getting a chess rating over 1600?Then check out my new training video, 'Potholes & Detours From The Road To 1600'! Would you like to discover what's stopping you from...

The Modern Caro-Kann Antidote to 3.Nc3

The Modern Caro-Kann Antidote to 3.Nc3

GM Illingworth
| Dec 31, 2023

In this post, I will share with you an interesting idea against the Caro-Kann, which was first played in a Grandmaster game in 2017 (and once before that in 2014), but is now a quite trendy answer to the old main line of the Caro-Kann, with 1...

The Importance Of Unlearning In Chess - Part 1

The Importance Of Unlearning In Chess - Part 1

GM Illingworth
| Dec 30, 2023

You may be wondering...โฃโฃWhat is ๐”๐ง๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ?โฃโฃWhy does this especially matter for ๐š๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ?โฃโฃHow can we 'unlearn' the things ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ต ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ?โฃโฃLet's discuss each of these.โฃโฃUnlearning means 'to make an effort to f...

A Creative Approach Against The Short Caro-Kann

A Creative Approach Against The Short Caro-Kann

GM Illingworth
| Dec 27, 2023

IntroductionWhat is the most annoying system for Caro-Kann players to face?The easiest answer would be 'The line that scores best for White', but we can't purely rely on the statistics to determine this. For instance, White's best scoring lin...

A Small Learning Hack

A Small Learning Hack

GM Illingworth
| Dec 25, 2023

Do you want to retain much more of what you learn in your study for the day?โฃ โฃ Allow me to share a short story.โฃ โฃ When I resumed coaching privately in April 2023, I had a lot of new experiences from the last few years:โฃ โฃ - Selling low-tic...

The Quest To Play Every Opening Variation

The Quest To Play Every Opening Variation

GM Illingworth
| Aug 1, 2023

How many opening variations are there in chess?If you've looked at the Chess.com Explorer, under 'Master Games', you'll notice that the branches quickly become very wide: For instance, we see here that 3.Bb5 is played more than all other moves c...

The Role Of Positive Reinforcement In Chess Improvement

The Role Of Positive Reinforcement In Chess Improvement

GM Illingworth
| Jul 2, 2023

Today I want to discuss the role of approval/recognition in our chess improvement journey.โฃโฃThe fundamental process of how we improve at chess is to:โฃโฃ1. Do somethingโฃโฃ2. Get feedbackโฃโฃ3. Adapt or reinforce a pattern based on that feedback. โฃโฃHowe...

What Makes Chess Significant?

What Makes Chess Significant?

GM Illingworth
| Jun 26, 2023

Looking at it from a broad perspective, I consider the greatest significance of chess to be as a model for effective decision-making in life.โฃโฃIn fact, this significance - of simulating life in a way where the constraints of the game give us a sys...

How To Play The Opening Like Hikaru

How To Play The Opening Like Hikaru

GM Illingworth
| May 14, 2023

Would you like to play the opening like GM Hikaru Nakamura?Here's the short answer to that question. For the long answer, continue reading!In this post, I'll share with you some games by played by Hikaru with his most effective system with Bl...

Big Announcement!

Big Announcement!

GM Illingworth
| Apr 6, 2023

Dear chess friends,I have some big news to announce - however, it's not what you may think If you've read some of my previous posts, or watched some of my Youtube videos, you will probably know that I retired from competitive chess play in early 2...

A Crash Course In Understanding 1.d4

A Crash Course In Understanding 1.d4

GM Illingworth
| Nov 8, 2022

Discover the simplest ideas of 1.d4 for White, through some dynamic games of the old masters! Introduction Ten years ago, I was a very dogmatic coach, who believed that was only 'one best way' to master chess. I had only just become an Int...

How A Grandmaster Plays 1.e4

How A Grandmaster Plays 1.e4

GM Illingworth
| Nov 4, 2022

In this post I'll share with you a recent series of mine, showing you how I like to play 1.e4 in my Chess.com games!Here is the series in video format (starting with 1.e4 e5):  In these videos I mainly focus on how my recommendations in Cru...

Titled Players Winning With My White Repertoire

Titled Players Winning With My White Repertoire

GM Illingworth
| Oct 28, 2022

For a Grandmaster like myself, openings aren't a 'set and forget' thing - we're constantly scouring the databases and broadcasts for new, interesting games. By playing through games each day, we don't just get the inside scoop on new moves th...

Crush Sub-1800s With 1.e4 (FREE Sample)

Crush Sub-1800s With 1.e4 (FREE Sample)

GM Illingworth
| Oct 26, 2022

Would you like to win many more games against players rated below 1800, when you play with the White pieces?If so, then my new opening course, 'Crush Sub-1800s With 1.e4', is perfect for you I'm doing something that I have hardly ever done before....

The Adhiban Gambit

The Adhiban Gambit

GM Illingworth
| Aug 21, 2022

Discover an exciting attacking approach against the English Opening (1.c4)! In the last year, a new gambit emerged against the English Opening, as suggested by the neural network engine Leela Zero. โฃโฃโฃโฃIt arises after 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 e...

Olympiad Opening Ideas - Round 1

Olympiad Opening Ideas - Round 1

GM Illingworth
| Jul 31, 2022

Reflections On Aronian's Olympiad Game   You saw it, right?   It's Round 1 of the biggest chess festival of 2022 - The Chess Olympiad in Chennai - and FM Daniel Silva of Angola gets a winning position against the Board 2 of USA, ...

Why I Struggle To Write Articles

Why I Struggle To Write Articles

GM Illingworth
| Mar 9, 2022

๐—ช๐ก๐ฒ ๐ˆ ๐’๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ž ๐“๐จ ๐—ช๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ž ๐€๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌโฃโฃโฃโฃNow that I have your attention, I'm going to stop making excuses and instead actually write an article.โฃโฃโฃโฃNamely, on how the key to jumping 200 rating points is to ๐’๐ˆ๐Œ๐๐‹๐ˆ๐…๐˜ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐œ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐œ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ.โฃโฃโฃโฃThat'...

The Invisible Assassin Killing Your Chess Improvement

The Invisible Assassin Killing Your Chess Improvement

GM Illingworth
| Mar 4, 2022

You've read all the books, studied all the courses, had a bunch of coaching, played a bunch of games...โฃโฃโฃโฃSo ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜บ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ'๐˜ต ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ?โฃโฃโฃโฃWhatever reasons you thought of - that's what you're going to have to ๐ฅ๐ž๐ญ ๐ ๐จ of, in order to progress.โฃโฃ โฃ...

Dealing With Sidelines - Bird's Opening

Dealing With Sidelines - Bird's Opening

GM Illingworth
| Feb 27, 2022

๐ƒ๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐—ช๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐’๐ข๐๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ฌ - ๐๐ข๐ซ๐'๐ฌ ๐Ž๐ฉ๐ž๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ โฃโฃHow do you deal with unusual early moves by the opponent? โฃโฃDo you get ๐˜ง๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ, wondering 'why didn't I look at this recently?' โฃโฃDo you get ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต, believing 'I'm gonna crush this guy in 20 moves?...

Get Listed

Do you love to write about chess and want to reach a larger audience? Join the Chess.com Top Bloggers' program!

Benefits:

Apply