how the Russians play chess differently

I'm from UK and I have a Russian friend who told me Russians have a unique way of looking at chess , he tried to explain it to me and I didn't really understand, could somebody please tell me if there is actually a difference in chess concepts between russian and English theory and if so what is the difference ?:)

Yeah, I heard the same. They have a bit of different raw understanding that they call "The Russian School of Chess"

If you ever get a old Russian coach with a good strength, you shall not have to look anywhere else for coaching.

So there definitely is a difference then and my friend wasn't talking out of his unmentionables

But out of curiosity what is the difference between the Russian school and the regular one

Russian 16-yo 2200: No I do not play chess. I am still beginner, I only know 91% of all thematic endgames and how to put them into practice them perfectly in deep time pressure.

Western 16-yo 1200: Yeah I play chess, I’m actually really good. I even figured out how to beat the Fried Liver Attack by playing the Scandinavian.

Pretty much that the Russian school of chess is just shoving fundamentals so far down your throat you’ll LITERALLY never forget them. Like ever. There’s no fancy stuff, no gambits, no ultra-tactical ultra-theoretical engine-level opening knowledge, you just sit there, learn, and practice.

So really it's just train hard

You have to drink a bottle of vodka before playing if you want to learn the Russian secrets of chess.

In my chess club there is an old russian guy. He told me that caro kann tartakower is bad because black has less pawns on the queenside, and he doesn’t care that someone can have a 70% win rate with it

There's an old book, The Soviet School of Chess by Kotov and Yudovich, that asserted that the Russians had a different way of looking at the game.

The claim is about 90% propaganda, though.

... although that still leaves about 10% truth in it, I suppose.

The difference in approach to chess by Russian school of chess and the western ways of perceiving chess is the approach to principles.

Western chess players emphasise that success in chess comes down to excellent opening preparation and most importantly to one’s ability to calculate. Principles take a secondary role for the westerners since every position is unique and concrete and only by the means of exhaustive analysis through calculation we can attain the truth of the position and outplay our opponents.

Russian chess school on the other hand is based on a thorough understanding of chess principles and playing them at every juncture of a chess game. While mistakes can happen due to being dogmatic with those principles, they argue that it doesn’t matter since most of the time the principles do work in their favour, saving energy not having to outcalculate the opponent on every move. Openings also take a secondary role for the Russians, as they argue that one should always prioritize the endgame to gain a better fundemantal understanding of how chess actually works.

Both approaches are decent. I personally prefer the western one: monster opening preparation and outcalculating my opponents. I’ve had better results with it over the board, but anyone should pick their way.

Can you mix both tho? Having a monster opening prep and spending crazy amount of time calculating sertain moves while falling back on principles during relatively peaceful game stages?

Yes of course a good chess player always has a good understanding of principles. But it’s about the subtle difference in what is the key factor in making decisions. Principles or concrete variations

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Russian coaches have been indoctrinated into the idea that you start off chess coaching by teaching endings but one should be careful with using the word "unique", which means "the only one" or "the only one of its kind".

It isn't possible that they can have a way of looking at chess that no-one else does, since chess is in any case a game of full evidence, if not full information, so we can all have our own way of looking at it. Therefore if all Russians look at it the same way, that would mean they've been indoctrinated. But I very much doubt it's true.

We had a Russian and a Ukrainian in our local chess club. The Russian lived near me and we played quite a bit at his house. There's no difference, exept those stylistic differences that might normally occur due to personality differences.

Yes, that's how that old man plays. He never spends more than 10 seconds on one move and always says stuff like "I shouldn't tear apart the last line, i have a hole here, pawn majority here la la la i gotta play ta ta ta"

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English school, dutch school or Fide, russian chinese child school are very different from each other!! English school for example teaches tactics or long line of progressing attack. Dutch school propaganda is all about gambits or kamikaze attcks. While russian school is based on the strategy or how to stop the madness on the board!!

I dont even know how to play chess.. im just learning

Those guys should be falling out the window behind them as Putin passes.