Hi guys! In the last couple of years, I traveled a lot with Timur and he was been not only a kind host but also my impressions of him are intensely ethical. He organized a search party for me when I lost my Greencard, offered support in numer...
Relaxing in Kansas with Timur before helping with chess camp in Oklahoma! Hi! I have some openings available for new students. Feel free to message me about you and your chess goals, and we'll go from there. The first lesson is on the house -...
"I was astonished by his memory. I was astonished by his intuition. Both were off the charts for what I have seen training Shankland, Gelfand, other 2600+, and a few 2700s." - GM Jacob Aagaard Hans Niemann is clearly on the rise. He ...
'Moving the rook as far as plausible is almost always the best move.' - FM Sean Vibbert It's Rook Postulate season, eh? 'We often overlook long moves - that our opponents make or that we could have made. At the board, we focus on ...
'Every strong chess player should have his own opening theory which is different from the mainstream theory. The more outrageous your personal opening theory, the better your results.' - GM Mikhail Botvinnik Enjoy some fresh ideas against...
'When it is essential to play for a win, I play the Caro-Kann.' - GM Mikhail Tal 'I have a unique approach to chess, which I use in my own games as well as to teach my students. I call it the Dacha Approach, which is based on building on the l...
After our road trip, Marck and I finally arrived in California to play some chess! We mainly focused on the Southern California Open, but Timur also gave a blindfold simul. I won at rock paper scissors! The prize was this fun mask. ...
Five months ago, I caught the infamous Covy D and was dragged down with chronic fatigue. As a result, I had mixed feelings about jumping back into the chess world. While chess tournaments are always exciting, would I have the endurance? I assumed ...
'Since we don't have eyes on the side of our heads we cannot easily anticipate horizontal moves, especially if they reach from kingside to queenside or vice versa.' - IM Yochanan Afek The purpose of the Vibbert Postulate is to assist in candid...
Drop your shields and pick up your spear: it's time to use your king without fear! “No retreat, no surrender; that is Spartan law. And by Spartan law we will stand and fight and die. A new age has begun. An age of freedom, and all will kno...
'Youth is typically proud of its deep, accurate, and rapid calculation of variations. At that time, Tal was already famous for this quality, and I had no wish to be left behind.' - GM Lev Polugaevsky A couple of months ago, I ran an experiment...
'I have a unique approach to chess, which I use in my own games as well as to teach my students. I call it the Dacha Approach. It's based on building light and dark in harmony, With the pieces as builders and the pawns as bricks. Both the pieces a...
"In general terms, I consider that everything in chess rests on tactics. If strategy is the block of marble, then tactics are the chisel with which a master operates to create a work of chess art." - GM Tigran Petrosian (Former World Champion: 196...
"Each time I leaf through the Chess Praxis, the book that I literally kept under my pillow and read in my childhood like fairytales, I rediscover Nimzowitsch's maxims that, as I understand now, had become the basis for my chess views a long time a...
Like Dvoretsky, I think that (all other things being equal), the analytical method of studying chess must give you a colossal advantage over the chess pragmatist, and that there can be no certainty in chess without analysis. —Garry Kasparov ...
"Of course, Garry's play is not without certain deficiencies, but he is very self-critical, and this is a guarantee of future success." - IM Alexander Nikitin (speaking about the 12-yr old Kasparov) After obtaining more than satisfactory ...
I recently published a Chessable course titled 'Crush 1.b3 with 1...e5!". It can be purchased here for $9.99 (currently on sale for $6.99). There are over 9,000 words, 41 drillable variations, and 3 annotated games. The average line depth is 11.75...
"The old masters dealt only with the static features of positional rules. But these are insufficient to explain the basics of chess. The problem is that chess, like other sciences, has undergone a dynamic revolution, but chess literature does not ...
I recently published a Chessable course titled Mop Up the Morra with the claim that Black is better in all variations if he follows my recommendations. I gave Esserman a chance to respond to this on stream, simply by pointing out the variation and...
I recently published a Chessable course on countering the Smith-Morra gambit. My claim is that Black has the advantage in all variations if he follows my recommendations. With an early novelty and deep analysis, this course is far beyond current t...
"The difference between theory and practice is that in theory there is no difference, but in practice there inevitably is." - GM Jacob Aagaard I recently ended my hiatus from tournament chess by competing in the National Open. I studied a lot ov...
It's well known that it's easier to attack than defend, the reasons behind this were analytically deconstructed by Vukovic in his excellent book Art of Attack in Chess. Even Alpha-Zero is not immune. When it played millions of chess games against ...
I recently published a new Chessable course titled Crush the London, endorsed by GM Dejan Bojkov. My course is an ambitious Black repertoire, aimed at fighting the London System. With my recommendations, Black tries to fight for the initiative and...
I recently returned to tournament chess after a hiatus and frequently found myself in winning positions (with both colors) by move 20 against players 1800+ USCF. I mainly attribute this to my opening preparation. Many players underestimate the val...
My Chessable book 1.e4: A Comprehensive White Repertoire was released today. This repertoire was a major project of mine that I've been working on for several months and was endorsed by GM Dejan Bojkov. The price for this book is $19.99 with a sal...
