Dear Chess Friends! I’m sure you always get disappointed when you blunder in a chess game and as the result you lose the game. But what if I say that everyone blunders? Even World Champions. Can you imagine Garry Kasparov blundering a rook...
Hey Chess Players! Not everyone wants to learn chess, but everyone wants to play it! So, let’s practice and play a few games against FIDE Master! This week instead of a Workshop/Webinar a Blitz Practice will be conducted! I’m going...
Dear Chess Friends! Do you know that the opening you play defines your pawn structure and, as a result, your future middlegame strategy? Many club players learn only the move order of the opening and are able to play 10-15 moves according ...
Dear Chess Friends! Every chess player enjoys the game where he attacks. It’s even more enjoyable if the attack started with a beautiful combination or includes it. How do club players find such combinations? If we speak about masters &nda...
Dear Chess Friends, This week instead of my webinar, I am glad to invite you to the Free Workshop "How to Attack Like a Chess Master?" with FM Nikolay Yordanov. The workshop starts this Sunday, June 19 | 11 a.m. EST (4 p.m. London ...
Dear Chess Friends! Sicilian defense is the most popular defense in chess. And one of the famous variations there is Dragon Variation, where Black fianchettoes their dark-squared bishop and castles kingside. This opening is played by chess playe...
Dear Chess Friends! Every day I have 5-6 hours of lessons with my students and I see their mistakes. I teach student of almost all levels starting from beginners and finishing with 2000 players. All players make mistakes – some of them ...
Dear Chess Friends! Chess players usually value a bishop more than a knight because of its long reach. The bishop can move from one flank to another one in just one move, when the knight maneuver requires 2 or moves. Many coaches scold their stu...
Dear Chess Friends! Najdorf Variation is one of the most frequently used lines in Sicilian Defense. This opening became popular after a huge number of strong GMs started playing it successfully. Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov were among them. ...
My Dear Chess Friends! Everyone likes to attack in chess. Even if an immediate attack is wrong plan, many chess players still prefer to use it. In these cases, the attack may result into several weaknesses into your own camp, so your opponent ca...
Dear Chess Friends! Sicilian Defense is the most popular defense in chess. But what is the most popular variation in this defense? I play Kan & Paulsen Variations, but they are quite rare. Scheveningen was popular 20-30 years ago. D...
Dear Chess Friends! Every chess player likes to attack. Yes, it’s always exciting to attack rather than defend your position. When you are into the attack you can look for beautiful combinations and mating nets for the enemy king. If you m...
Dear Chess Friends! I believe every chess player wants to attack in a chess game. It’s easier to attack rather than defend. Moreover, if you make a mistake during the attack, you are unlikely to lose the game. But if you make a mistake bei...
Dear Chess Friends! I’m sure most of you at least once considered changing the opening repertoire. For example, I’ve been playing French Defense with Black pieces since I was 11. At the age of 32 I decided to switch the opening. I fe...
Dear Chess Friends! I’m sure most of you know a lot of strategical details of how to develop pieces, which pieces to keep on the board and which to exchange, how to set your pawns to get a perfect pawn structure and at the same time create...
Dear Chess Friends! When your opponent castles usually it means that his king is safe enough, so now he can focus on something else: a queenside play, space advantage or a center control. However, a sense of security in this case is deceptive. T...
Dear Chess Friends! What if your opponent makes a mistake and you get the advantage? How to increase this advantage? Well, there are a lot of options and I’ve already explained them at Webinar 114. That’s why...
Dear Chess Friends! What if the position is equal, but you play for a win? Well, it’s ok, if this is the position of a dynamic equilibrium – every move may change the evaluation significantly and you may provoke your opponent to make...
Dear Chess Friends! During the game when I know that my opponent is going to attack my king on the kingside I always fianchetto the bishop there. Why? Well, it’s the most solid setup to face the enemy attack. There are not only pawns cover...
Dear Chess Friends! How often do you face a situation in chess when one of the kings has to leave its initial position and lose his castling privilege? Not so often I believe. But how to take the advantage of uncastled king and initiate the atta...
Dear Chess Friends!Since our last Simul you learned several important topics: Interference Tactics in Rapid and Blitz Games Basic Endgame Plans How to play Italian game for white The art of Direct Attack How to transform your Advantage H...
Dear Chess Friends! Sometimes we may reach a better position after the opening. However, not every chess player is able to define how good the position is. At least we may compare our pieces to the enemy ones and understand that we prefer our po...
Dear Chess Friends! I’m a good theoretical player. That means I’m good with openings, know my repertoire and usually get the opening advantage. However, it doesn’t mean that I always win the game. Sometimes I lose the advantage...
Dear Chess Friends! I’m sure everyone solves chess puzzles from time to time. It helps you to learn tactical motifs and, of course, improve your calculation skills and tactical vision. What tactical motifs are the most common? Probably, pi...
Dear Chess Friends! What’s your primary opening for White? Do you play 1.e4 or 1.d4? Or maybe you prefer some closed systems such as 1.c4 or 1.Nf3 which can transpose to already known and well-studied openings or lead to rare variations wi...
