Two top grandmasters, Artur Yusupow and Jan Gustafsson look at the reasons behind Magnus Carlsen's remarkable success.
When can a group of pawns overpower the opposing pieces? NM Elijah Logozar shows you how to evaluate a sacrifice and overwhelm your opponents.
Now complete with 30 essential pawn structures! GM Johan Hellsten, author of the award-winning book "Mastering Chess Strategy," breaks down more essential pawn structures.
Do you ever find yourself confused in closed positions? GM Jon Ludvig Hammer knows just what to do. Check out how he doesn't let the closed nature of positions stop him from winning games.
How can you tell when to accept doubled pawns? GM Fabien Libiszewski demonstrates the pros and cons in sharp Caro-Kann and Nimzo Indian variations.
Learn the best way to use your a, b, c and d-pawns to help you win the game! GM Simon Williams will help you make the most of your queenside!
AlphaZero was the first neural net chess engine, but it only played a couple of matches before retiring. Its mantle has since been taken up by Leela Chess Zero, the winner of the 2020 Computer Chess Championship. Take a look at Leela's greatest games!
Join Grandmaster Jon Ludvig Hammer as he demonstrates key strategies that can win games at all levels. Not only does Jon Ludvig demonstrate his own games against the strongest players in the world he also shows a variation that he helped Magnus Carlsen prepare to win a brilliant game against former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik!
Wilhelm Steinitz was the first official chess World Champion. He held the title from 1886–1894. Steinitz was the strongest player of his day and developed the theory that you should accumulate small advantages to prepare a winning attack. See if you can find the moves from five of Steinitz's greatest games.
The Carlsbad Pawn Structure is one of the most important structures in all of chess. You can reach it out of the Queen's Gambit, the Caro-Kann or a variety of other openings. White can aim for a minority attack or kingside play. Black can attack or focus on equality. Learn a structure that was a favorite of many world champions.
Try to figure out the moves in some of the best games of World Champion Magnus Carlsen! Can you work out the combinations like he does? Enjoy the puzzles and good luck!
Join GM Victor Mikhalevski as he demonstrates long term positional sacrifices in some of his best games. Watch how he targets the opponent's king with sacrifices. Even when they don't lead to a quick mate, the attack can tie up the opponent and there's no escape from the positional squeeze!
Join GM Dejan Bojkov as he discusses the strategies of playing with and against strong center pawns. He demonstrates the games of strong Grandmasters like Vladimir Kramnik, Giorgi Margvelashvili and Pouya Idani as they take over the center and attack. Follow along and learn from the best!
Join Grandmaster Eugene Perelshteyn as he introduces several essential pawn structures from both e4 and d4 openings and shows how to use them to attack. Openings as diverse as the Sicilian and King's Indian Defense all feature pawn structures that can help you play brilliant mating attacks. Follow along and good luck!
Learn from multiple time US Champion, Super-Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura as he provides an in depth look at his thought process in games against World Champions and other top players.
Learn about the most common book chess openings and their main ideas
Get an advantage in the first few moves
See the whole board so you can decide on the best plan
Pawn play is a vast subject. In this course we're going to cover its most typical - and some atypical - aspects. Some puzzles will focus on tactics, others on strategy. A few of the ideas covered: Strong and weak pawns; the overall pawn structure; understanding how the characteristic pawn formations of various openings determines the middlegame plan; the fight for the center; pawns attacking and defending the King; advanced passed pawns, etc. etc.
The fact is, all openings demand a certain amount of memorization. But far more important than the memorization of a bunch of moves is the understanding of what the pawn structures call for, where your pieces should be placed in these situations, and what the plans for both sides offer the respective players. The material in this course is designed to give you a taste of what these "prepackaged" plans look like, and this will help you search for such setups and plans in your own systems.
Much has been made of psychology in chess, but rarely have I seen anything about how one player can get inside his opponent's head and make him accept a false image of what's really happening on the chessboard. And, once you buy into your opponent's version of reality, defeat isn't far away. This course is all about making an opponent accept your "orders."
The Roots of Positional Understanding, by IM Jeremy Silman. Are you ever at a loss for what to do when there are no immediate tactics in sight? If so, then you need to learn the basics of positional play. The master seems to optimally place his pieces with effortless ease where they coordinate well and control key lines and squares. This is because he sees the board as a structural entity. (Initial release date of November 20, 1998)
