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Hello Everyone! This will be the thread where people can suggest specific openings that they would like to practice. If you have an opening that you'd like to suggest, please add it to this thread along with a diagram for everyone to see. For the first group tournament, I am starting a 5 person tournament featuring the King's Gambit: Declined, Classical Variation: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 Bc5 (send me a message if you are interested in joining)

Hey there, Would that be cool if I started a King's Gambit Tournament? Anybody interested? Take care,Alex

I'm comforatable playing when im white, but when im black this seems to happen alot...

Hello everyone I've been having some OTB problems with the KID playing against the six pawns attack.

Hello everyone I really need someone's help on how I should confront this move in the Colle system.

Hello heres a game I played where when my opponent played a early g and e6 which I thought was a novelty since I couldn't quite figure out how to break it but still won cause of a blunder.

Hello everyone I have been looking for ways to improve my opening skills and wanted to know what books and traing everyone else likes to do.

Hi all. Everyone likes the idea of gambits, but if you are like me, you don't really want to try them out in case it all goes wrong and your rating plummets :-( I thought it would be good to start a series of small, unrated tournaments focussing only on gambits - both sound and unsound! We won't bother with the Queen's Gambit, because that is already covered in the d4 opening series. Please post here for the gambits you would like to have a go at. Initial thoughts: King's Gambit Danish Gambit Benko Gambit What crazy gambits would you like to have a go at in an unrated tournament?

Prepare for some intense positional struggles... 1800+ Tournament: http://www.chess.com/tournament/english-hedgehog Opening: http://www.chess.com/opening/eco/A30_English_Opening_Symmetrical_Variation_Hedgehog_Defense

Hello does anyone know what most likly might be the best 1.e4 type of opening in order to posses some good calculating skills a 1.e4 openings I know will make me think and if possible follow the Classical style of play.

hello im having touble with this line as black.

I found this opening variation in the pirc called the chinese variation and also found some to consider it the anti-pirc is this true and if so what are some books I can find on it.

hello im intrested in playing the dutch and while i was looking at the stonewll variation couldn't help but notice the paulson pawn formation and thought blakc is ok here.

Hello there can anyone please no matter who you are tell me about some openings that are aimed at controlling dark squares or openings that lead even occasionally to aiming at control of dark squares.

Can someone tell me the concepts or/and basics of the Rubinstein variation of the dutch.

This might be lengthy, but here is my approach to a chess game. I use an acronym that reminds me to look at certain factors on each move, specifically: FAST PAW PACT EPIDEMIC. This equates to: Force - Calculate the point value. Attack - Look at and be aware of every possible exchange. Space - I look at the square bordered by f3 - f6 - c3 -c6. I examine each square and see who controls it. I literally count the number of squares that I control versus the number that my opponent controls, to evaluate who is superior in space. Time - I count each move to see who is ahead in time. Pawn - I examine the pawn structure, and who has more pawns on the Q-side, the K-side, and the center. Advantage - Okay, this gets laborious, but ... I look at every square on the board to see who controls it (versus just the center) and see if there is a positional advantage. Weakness - See Advantage above. Pieces - I compare the mobility of each piece. For example my opponents dark squared Bishop might have 8 possible squares to move while mine has 4. I make note of that and try to either increase the mobility of my Bishop, decrease the mobility of my opponents Bishop, or exchange the piece if its beneficial. And Counter Attack Theory - This just reminds me to look at responses to any possible attack that I am planning, in general plans. EPIDEMIC = Every Piece, Increase Deeper, Every Move, Increase Concentration - Basically, look at every possible move that I can make, no matter how ridiculous it looks. As well as look at every possible reply that my opponent can make. When I have looked 3 moves deep, stop and look deeper. With that in mind, here is a game that I analyzed.

Hello, I just joined. Is the group active? I see the last forum post was 30 days ago.

Hey whats a good defense against the prie attack and if you don't know what it is it's the newes't opening invented by eric prie in 2004 and it's starting to become popular. The opening is 1.d4/d5 2.a3!?

This is from one of the thematic tournaments arranged by the forum "Opening skills". This puzzled me. Can you see a way out of this for black? HINT: It is not tactical, but positional. The point is not to win matererial, but to free up the game. Visit http://blog.chess.com/view/french-defence---locked-position for my analysis. Please, feel free to comment.

This is the first of a several theme tournaments focusing on the queen pawn opening. We start with the semi-slav defence that build up a strong point in the centre. To read more and register, please, follow this link: Want to improve your queen pawn openings? - Semi-Slav Defense