Dutch amateur player Nick Bijlsma (FIDE rating: 2133) says ChessVibes Openings helped him to become stronger. "I see many interesting and good ideas in CVO and as a result my rating increased in a short time!" At the recent Univé Open in Hoogeveen, The Netherlands, Bijlsma won 42 rating points.


Nick Bijlsma has been a subscriber to ChessVibes Openings since July 2009. We noticed that he played an excellent open tournament in Hoogeveen in October, where he beat FMs Arno Bezemer and Daniel Naroditsky and drew with ChessVibes editors IMs Yochanan Afek and Robert Ris (!) - one of the CVO authors. We asked Nick about his experience with CVO at tournaments, and he told us: "I see many interesting and good ideas in CVO and as a result my rating increased in a short time!"

What is ChessVibes Openings?

Every issue consists of a PDF Magazine and the accompanying PGN file. The PDF consists of four pages (A4 size) with the following contents:

• What's hot? A round-up of this week's important opening developments, with statistics about the frequence and score of the week's most important opening novelty (page 1)
• What's not? Which openings are not recommended at the moment, according to the top players? And why not? (page 1)
• Game of the week Each week you'll find the theoretically most important game analysed by our two IMs, with a detailed survey of the opening phase (page 2).
• This week's harvest Four more new important opening ideas from this week (page 3) revealed and described with explanation of the opening and early middlegame (page 3).
• It's Your Move An interactive element: every week two exercises, of which the solutions/explanations will follow one week later. This will improve your understanding of certain opening, middlegame or even endgame themes even further.

How to pay? Click on one of the buttons:

Payments can be done directly via Paypal, or by credit card after creating a Paypal account which takes a minute. Please drop us an email if you prefer to pay by bank transfer!

For Dutch clients it's possible to pay via iDEAL, the Dutch online bank system with which you can pay safely, secure and comfortably.

This week's issue: #99, November 24, 2010

ChessVibes Openings #99 The Blitz World Championship is very spectacular to follow live, but traditionally it's less interesting from an opening theoretical point of view. We examine the champion's approach, the UNAM Rapid won by Judit Polgar and the 16th Asian Games. Wang Yue-Le Quang Liem from the 16th Asian Games is our Game of the Week - a Fianchetto Gruenfeld.

Other lines that are covered:

• King's Gambit
• Grivas Sicilian
• Semi-Slav, Chebanenko
• Gruenfeld, 4.Bg5

Last week's issue: #98, November 17, 2010

ChessVibes Openings #98 A glance at the final standings of the Tal Memorial sees the impressive trio of Kramnik, Gelfand and Shirov in 7-9th place, while the new generation is about to take over. We also take a look at the German Bundesliga and the Russian Cup Final. All about the 5.Nc3 which was analysed in our Game of the Week Karjakin-Kramnik, Tal Memorial 2010.

Other lines that are covered:

• Najdorf, 6.Be3 Ng4
• Slav, 4.Qc2
• Semi-Slav, Meran
• Gruenfeld, Exchange

Previous issue: #97, November 10, 2010

ChessVibes Openings #97 Aronian crossed the 2800 barrier, and now he is leading the Tal Memorial with 3 out of 4, which makes him the virtual world's number 2. Naturally Aronian- Kramnik, Tal Memorial 2010 is our Game of the Week, a Ragozin defence. We also cover the Corsica rapid event and the SPICE Cup.

Other lines that are covered:

• Petroff, 5.Nc3
• Ruy Lopez, Breyer
• QGA, 6.d5
• Gruenfeld, Exchange

Previous issue: #96, November 3, 2010

ChessVibes Openings #96 We take a close look at the second half of Nanjing, which left Carlsen as the clear winner. This brought the young Norwegian back to the top of the live rating list. We also examine the Hoogeveen Crown Group & Open and the Youth World Championship. All about the 8.Qc2 Catalan which was analysed in our Game of the Week Anand-Topalov, Pearl Spring tournament (Nanjing) 2010.

Other lines that are covered:

• Sicilian Najdorf, 7...Nc6
• Caro-Kann, Panov
• Gruenfeld, Exchange
• Catalan/Benoni

Previous issue: #95, October 20, 2010

ChessVibes Openings #95 Just a week after the Masters Final in Bilbao, the first Grand Slam tournament of 2010/2011 started in Nanjing, China. We also discuss the first round of the Unive tournament (Hoogeveen) and the final phase of the European Club Cup. All about the 3...Qd6 Scandinavian which was analysed in our Game of the Week Shirov-Tiviakov, Unive tournament (Hoogeveen) 2010.

Other lines that are covered:

• Petroff, 3.d4, 8.Qh5
• Queen's Gambit Declined, Lasker variation
• Slav, 6.Ne5
• Schlechter System

Ehm... can I have a look?

Here's what ChessVibes Openings #16 (April 22, 2009) looks like:



FREE SAMPLE ISSUE - ChessVibes Openings #16 - click to download!

• What's hot? A round-up of the most important opening developments of mid-April, including statistics about the frequence and score of the Chebanenko position after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.c5 Nbd7 6.Bf4 Nh5 7.Bd2 Nhf6
• What's not? This week 1.e4 e5 was hot, as the top players categorically avoided the Semi-Open Games. Interestingly, the classical 1...d5 was also much more popular than the more modern answers to 1.d4, at the FIDE Grand Prix in Nalchik.
• Game of the week "I didn't spend much time on it before the game, but I prepared seriously for this tournament and we did investigate this line", Peter Leko said at the press conference in Nalchik, after his game against Sergei Karjakin. Page two has a closer look at this highly interesting draw in the Chebanenko.
• This week's harvest For more opening ideas from the Ruy Lopez Marshall, Sicilian Taimanov, Queen's Indian and Ragozin Defence.
• Opening expert This week Rustam Kasimdzhanov is highlighted. The former FIDE World Champion and current second of Anand has a broad repertoire, switching from hypersharp openings like Dragon and Anti-Moscow to positional Queen‚Äôs Gambit lines.

FREE SAMPLE ISSUE - ChessVibes Openings #16 - click to download!

What does it cost?

As a subscriber you'll receive the PDF Magazine and accompanying PGN files in your mailbox every week.

A one-year subscription is € 25 (that's less than € 0.50 per issue!) - for price in US $ click here

How to pay? Click on one of the buttons:

Payments can be done directly via Paypal, or by credit card after creating a Paypal account which takes a minute. Please drop us an email if you prefer to pay by bank transfer!

For Dutch clients it's possible to pay via iDEAL, the Dutch online bank system with which you can pay safely, secure and comfortably.

July 1, 2009: Eugene Manchester reviews ChessVibes Openings for ChessCafe

In the July 1 issue of ChessCafe's Book Review (mirror here) ChessVibes Openings was reviewed by Eugene Manchester. Some quotes: "So, who-ya-gonna-call? Opening busters? Not quite. For the reasonable price of 25 euros per year, once a week you can receive intelligent, interesting opening surveys and analysis presented by a team lead by Dutch IMs Merijn van Delft & Robert Ris."

"The format and presentation are consistently of high quality, with variety of coverage and opening analysis."

"The cost per year is roughly equivalent to a good chess book. Each week you get a four- page issue packed with opening analysis, at least two thoroughly annotated games with one or more of that week's featured openings, a glimpse into the world of the latest opening novelties, in short, a quality weekly opening report."

May 7, 2009: GM Hedinn Steingrimsson reviews ChessVibes Openings for Chess Today

In issues 3103 (Thursday, May 7) of Chess Today, the daily chess newspaper which also comes into your inbox by email in PDF, ChessVibes Openings was reviewed by GM Hedinn Steingrimsson from Iceland. Some quotes: "What I like about ChessVibes Openings is their focus on the trend and discoveries that are revealed in super tournaments and by very strong players. It makes sense for all tournament chess players and opening theoreticians to follow these developments and getting an overview from ChessVibes Openings definitely saves time."

"I find it positive that there is consistency in the openings covered so that the readers will with time have a certain repertoire available based on different theoretical articles from ChessVibes about e.g. the Anti-Moscow Variation."

"For those that really want to find out how to get a better position out of the opening and are willing to enter complications and do some homework in order to succeed, ChessVibes Openings can be recommended."