Complete Ruy Lopez Repertoire with GM Marian Petrov
GM Marian Petrov is back with his complete guide to this fascinating opening. His 10-hour Complete Ruy Lopez walks you through every major variation, explaining how the different choices change the dynamic of the game.
The Ruy Lopez is the opening that Kramnik used to take Kasparov’s world crown. It’s one of the two openings that Anand says all players simply must master if they want to get really good at the game.
It’s strategic, tactical, offers play on the queenside, kingside and in the center. Direct attacking play, positional squeezes. Learn how to play the Ruy Lopez well and you’re not just learning an opening, you’re learning chess.
In this incredible course, GM Marian Petrov reveals the ideas behind every major Ruy Lopez variation, backing them up with model games played by World Champions from Steinitz to Magnus Carlsen!
Right now, the Ruy Lopez is THE most important opening you can learn.
It may have been played for over 500 years but Google’s AI AlphaZero not only rediscovered it, it proved the Ruy Lopez is the BEST continuation for both colors after 1.e4.
About the Author:
Marian Petrov is an accomplished professional chess coach, theorist, and Bulgarian champion for 2002 and 2017, as well as winner of many open tournaments around the world.
GM Petrov is also a FIDE trainer and was the coach of Team Wales at the 2016 Baku Olympiad. He graduated from the National Sports Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria, with a Bachelor’s degree in Chess Pedagogy, a four-year undergraduate program designed to prepare top-level chess trainers.
How is this course going to help me?
Each variation has a theory and practice section, with GM games (mostly from World Champions) illustrating the middlegame themes and strategies.
Here’s part of what you’ll see in Complete Ruy Lopez Repertoire:
The crazy must-know line in the Berlin that either gives one side a win in 15 moves or leads to an attacking imbalanced endgame. Chapter 5 gives you the insights to win with either color after …Bxh2+!
Bobby Fischer’s secret weapon. In the 1966 Olympiad, Fischer destroyed Portisch, Gligoric, and Jimenez with his new ideas in the exchange variation (4.Bxc6). GM Petrov explains how to apply Fischer’s strategy in chapter 6.
Playing the Marshall Attack. Kasparov considered the Marshall Attack so dangerous that he never allowed it as White. It’s razor-sharp and one slip means a quick loss for either side. Learn the 4 key things to look out for in chapter 9.
The thematic knight sacrifice that Karpov shocked another World Champion with – you can use this idea whenever Black fianchettos kingside!
When to use Lasker’s trademark e4-f5 pawn setup to effectively paralyze your opponent’s pieces and attack unopposed.
Studying GM Petrov’s lessons is the clearest path to becoming adept at the Ruy Lopez, the opening everyone is going to be playing by next year.
This is your real chance to get ahead of the curve!
Essential Endgames Course for Club Players – IM Anna Rudolf
Most club players hate endgames.
With a clenched fist in the air, they’ll wail and shout that its much more fun to just line up their pieces, sac one of them, and deliver a brutal checkmate as a roaring crowd cheers them up…
…That’s much better than grinding out a tiring 60-move endgame win.
But what if this dream checkmate doesn’t happen and their opponent manages to wriggle out of trouble?
The pain of a feeble, unskilled handling of the resulting endgame…
…A win turned into a draw…or a draw turned into a loss…
But not for you.
This course makes things simple for you with IM Anna Rudolf shedding light on the endgames every serious chess player absolutely must know.
Mastering these techniques, you’ll soon be converting fundamental endgames with a well-practiced mastery.
Can you convert with a Bishop and Knight vs Lone King? You’re covered.
Can you assess the coming King and Pawn ending, even while there are still lots of pieces on the board? Sounds impossible, but there’s a simple trick making it easy in any position.
Join IM Anna and you’ll quickly be saving the toughest Rook Endings, winning the most drawish Opposite Color bishop endings, blocking dangerous passed pawns, and much more…
About the Author:
Anna Rudolf is an Olympic Chess-Player and three-time Hungarian Champion currently rated 2325 Elo. She has been able to accomplish the titles of International Master and Woman Grand Master.
She recorded her first video series in 2013 and since then, she has established herself as an acclaimed chess commentator, events streamer, and chess reporter.
Anna has participated as a commenter in many world-class events including the World Chess Rapid and Blitz Championships in Doha, the Paris and Leuven legs of the Grand Chess Tour, the 2016 Candidates Tournament and the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku.
Is this course for you?
Whether you love or hate endgames, serious chess players need this endgame knowledge in order to improve…and Anna’s Essential Endgames Course is the simplest way to cram the ideas into your brain and begin using them immediately.
This is the strong endgame foundation you need and will support you for the rest of your chess playing life.
So congratulations! Your path to endgame mastery has begun.
Here’s part of what you’ll see in this course:
Mate with Bishop and Knight
Mating with a bishop & a knight is much more difficult than mating with two bishops but stay patient. With a little practice, you’ll be able to win this endgame every single time.
This position to the right is key. This is the position to aim for in these endgames.
We want the opponent’s king on any side of the board. Our king stands in opposition, the knight in-between, and the bishop at the rear all on the same rank.
It doesn’t matter which side of the board you’re on, as long as your pieces are in this order (from the opponent’s king): Knight – King – Bishop.
Chase the King to the Corner
Which corner? To win this endgame, the opponent’s king will need to be on a corner square that is the same color as your bishop. In this case, we have a dark-squared bishop, so we want to drive the king to a8, a dark-square.
Pawn Square; Creating a Passed Pawn
Can your passed pawn be promoted without the help of your king?
The concept of the pawn square will tell you the answer every single time without requiring you to expend energy trying to calculate the moves out.
Let’s use the position to the right and draw our pawn square. Imagine a box starting from your pawn and reaching to the promotion square. You can easily size this box by imagining a diagonal line to the promotion rank.
If the opponent’s king is inside this square or can step inside it on the next move, then the pawn cannot be promoted without your king stepping in to help.
If the opponent king cannot step into this square, it can make it all by itself.
IM Anna Rudolf covers all the basics, and more, to give you the edge over your opponent. Most club players ignore endgame training, but you’ll be ready for anything – and be able to punish your opponents!
Chess Endgame Mastery Secrets: Endgame Renaissance Full Collection
After long hours of play against a tough opponent, you reach an endgame. Your edge is slight and in 20 moves time, the result will be known.
Whether you win or draw depends on how you conduct those next 20 moves.
This mega pack is entirely focused on the type of positions you encounter in real endgame play.
You will learn how to think in the chess endgame; how to make progress in tricky positions and how to coordinate your pieces like a real master.
Each one of the courses in this mega bundle has been designed with the competitive player in mind, showing you how to maximize your results and stop gifting half-points to your rivals.
There are too many club players who limit themselves by failing to develop a good chess endgame strategy understanding and technique.
It is this one area that keeps 90% of players firmly in the club player bracket when they are capable of so much more.
What’s Included in this Unique Mega Bundle?
Many players are unable to surpass the club player level, simply because they don’t take their chess endgame training seriously. This bundle will arm you with exactly what you need in order to move forward.
Here are the courses included in this incredible bundle:
IM Valeri Lilov is here to arm you with the skills you need to squeeze every last half-point from your endgames with his 6 hour Practical Chess Endgames for Club Players.
Here’s how this course will help you:
All about the activity.
You may have heard that activity is more important than material… IM Lilov teaches you to actually think this way with a lucid explanation of some miraculous wins.
Timing beats speed.
Don’t rush in the endgame… until you have to! Valeri reveals how to prepare, build, then strike like a cobra!
Power up your pieces.
Want the magic formula for powerful pieces? Think worst pieces, best squares, least number of moves. IM Lilov explains how to make this work in practice.
As you can see, these skills are invaluable in any situation. But it’s easier to master them in the endgame first.
IM Kiewra provides you with valuable guiding principles that will serve you well during chess games for years to come.
In this 5 hour course, experienced chess coach and 9-time Nebraska Champion IM Keaton Kiewra will train you in the skills needed for you to succeed in chess endgame strategy.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn:
Fortress building blocks.
IM Keaton Kiewra reveals the 3 things you need to build an unassailable fortress – keep these in mind and you’ll save a ton of otherwise lost positions.
The rook vs. queen setup.
Don’t get ground down in a major piece ending – look for ways to sac queen for rook + pawn and set up a fortress. Keaton shows you some must-know patterns like this one – White moves the rook along the 3rd rank and Black can’t make progress.
Fake fortresses fall.
Keaton analyzes an Alekhine classic to see how a well-timed counter sacrifice can make those fortress walls tumble and transform the position into a winning ending.
In this 6 hour course, 2018 U.S. Women’s Chess Champion IM Nazi Paikidze trains you in the skills needed for success in the endgame.
Instead of theoretical positions, this course focuses entirely on the type of positions you’re actually likely to encounter in real games.
In order to improve your handling of practical endgames, IM Nazi Paikidze suggests two chess endgame training methods.
First of all, it is key to carefully analyze your own endings and take notice of your mistakes.
Secondly, IM Nazi Paikidze suggests you analyze how top players handle the endgame.
Get familiar with key chess endgame principles, master imbalances, learn how to transition to a favorable endgame and much more.
With crystal clear delivery, IM Paikidze talks you through the minor piece techniques that will serve as a guiding light in your times of need.
Here’s what She covers:
The 2 types of minor piece endgames and the different approaches you need to win them.
2800 endgames.
What can super-technical endgames teach us about positional chess and the hidden power of the pieces? IM Paikidze dissects a masterclass in technique from Vachier-Lagrave!
Game-defining decisions.
Endgames can swing from a win to a loss in one move. Here, White has just played a4. Would you find the right move as Black? Karjakin couldn’t!
In this 6-hour chess endgame course, experienced coach and Grandmaster Rashad Babaev trains you in the skills you need to master the principles of practical endgame play, learn how to win with dynamic sacrifices, dictate
the transition to the endgame and much more.
GM Babaev gives you the chess endgame training knowledge and understanding that will decide games in your favor for years to come.
Endgames are the weakest point for most players which means working on this critical phase presents a golden opportunity to rack up tournament wins and rating points.
Here is some of what GM Babaev covers:
How to eliminate positional weaknesses – like doubled pawns – before entering the endgame.
Promotion premonition.
See 20, even 30 moves into the future and guarantee your pawn will eventually promote by assessing 3 factors including the defender’s line of sight – 51.e5! fxe5 52.Ke4 h5 53.b6! wins.
Convert like Kramnik.
Which pawns can you afford to trade and still win? How can you involve your king while avoiding checks? GM Babaev covers these and many more tips in his analysis of a hugely instructive Kramnik endgame.
A large majority of club players are weak when playing the endgame in chess. They usually don’t get found out because their opponents also lack the necessary skills.
This is a huge opportunity for you. Even if you’ve been slightly worse all game, you can turn the tables and win the game with superior endgame technique.
In Middlegame to Endgame Transition Mastery, GM Bryan Smith reveals how to:
a) Control the endgame transition to give yourself the best winning chances, and
b) Convert these endgames with flawless technique, regardless of whether they’re a rook, minor piece or king and pawn endings.
When you are serious about improving your endgame skills, it is time for GM Bryan Smith’s Middlegame
to Endgame Transition Mastery.
These are topics that aren’t covered in many places.
Learn them and you’ll have a big advantage over your opponents.
In 21st Century Chess Endgame Technique, GM Marian Petrov reveals the technical skills you need to squeeze every last half-point from your endgames, how to convert better endgames with flawless technique and how to hold tough positions to a draw.
By looking at plenty of recent games and practical examples from the 21st century, Petrov sheds new light on classical endgame principles, showing you how to excel in the endgame.
When you are serious about improving your endgame skills, it is time for GM Marian Petrov’s 21st Century Chess Endgame Technique.
GM Marian Petrov begins this course with a look at general principles you should keep in mind no matter what endgame position you find yourself in.
This isn’t a highly theoretical “in this very specific endgame, you play this specific move,” but a much more useful and practical guide to approaching your endgames with solid techniques that can help you convert your games into wins. The principles are so important, they can completely turn games around in your favor.
Whether you love or hate endgames, serious chess players need this endgame knowledge in order to improve…and Anna’s Essential Endgames Course is the simplest way to cram the ideas into your brain and begin using them immediately.
This is the strong endgame foundation you need and will support you for the rest of your chess playing life.
This course makes things simple for you with IM Anna Rudolf shedding light on the endgames every serious chess player absolutely must know.
Mastering these techniques, you’ll soon be converting fundamental endgames with a well-practiced mastery.
Can you convert with a Bishop and Knight vs Lone King? You’re covered.
Can you assess the coming King and Pawn ending, even while there are still lots of pieces on the board? Sounds impossible, but there’s a simple trick making it easy in any position.
Join IM Anna and you’ll quickly be saving the toughest Rook Endings, winning the most drawish Opposite Color bishop endings, blocking dangerous passed pawns, and much more…
Is this product for me?
If you want to take your chess skills to a completely new level, then you must definitely spend time working on your chess endgame strategy.
This bundle will arm you with everything you need in order to get yourself familiarized with chess endgame training methods and strategies, which will definitely enable you to outplay your opponents very easily if they’re not as prepared as you for this stage of the game.
Chess Strategy Secrets: 2019 Ultimate Club Players Toolbox
Secrets of the Masters: Chess Library for Intermediate Players
If you want to take your chess to master level, no matter what your current level is, then we have exactly what you need.
Today we present to youa super collection of high-quality chess videos.
This exhaustive chess course collection is specially dedicated to beginner and intermediate chess players and includes 14 individual courses covering openings, middlegame strategy, tactics, and endgames.
What makes this bundle different from others?
2019 US Chess Champion – GM Sam Shankland
This course represents a unique collection of chess instruction with over 120 hours of high-quality coaching from top players like GM Sam Shankland, IM Nazi Paikidze, GM Damian Lemos, GM Bryan Smith, IM Valeri Lilov, GM Rashad Babaev, IM Eric Rosen, and others.
Beginner and intermediate players will find exceptional value in the 6 DVD, 38-hour master class collection presented by Argentine Grandmaster Damian Lemos.
GM Lemos covers every single important aspect that you must consider during your games, starting with fundamental chess strategy concepts, attacking chess, essential chess tactics, and also the endgame.
The 80/20 Tactics Multiplier Mega Bundle includes the first four volumes of the outstanding chess tactics video series, exclusively from iChess.net.
2018 US Women Champion – IM Nazi Paikidze
If you like playing openings such as The London system, the Grunfeld, the Sicilian Dragon, and the King’s Indian Defense, you must definitely become familiar with the chess tactics and the common patterns that can arise from these types of openings in order to oppress your opponent with high-voltage tactical traps right from the start of the game.
The Endgame Renaissance bundle, which is also included in this package, will arm you with everything you need in order to get yourself familiarized with chess endgame training methods and strategies, enabling you to outplay your opponents very easily if they’re not as prepared as you for this crucial stage of the game.
Endgames are the weakest point for most players which means working on this critical phase presents a golden opportunity to rack up tournament wins and rating points.
Is this product for me?
Here’s what’s included in this superb chess mastery super-collection:
Masterclass Bundle
You must have heard about the super-special Masterclass series which covers EVERYTHING about chess under the sun.
Starting from unstoppable attacks to stifling positional play…
From endless endgame maneuvers to grandmaster level strategy…
This exclusive training system is a “must have” for every serious chess player, and today we’re bringing this awesome series to you along with two other incredible bundles that will make you the most feared player at your level.
80/20 Tactics Multiplier series
Our 80/20 Tactics Multiplier series makes sure you’re the last man standing by training you in ALL the typical tactics, killer sacrifices and surprise maneuvers in 7 of the most ambitious opening systems available: The King’s Indian Defense, The Sicilian Dragon, The Grunfeld Defense, The London System, The Scotch, The Najdorf and The Trompowsky.
By focusing on these themes with your favorite openings, you learn the opening AND will never miss a chance to end the game early.
Endgame Renaissance Full Collection
After long hours of play against a tough opponent, you reach an endgame. Your edge is slight and in 20 moves time, the result will be known.
Whether you win or draw depends on how you conduct those next 20 moves.
This mega pack is entirely focused on the type of positions you encounter in real endgame play.
You will learn how to think in the endgame; how to make progress in tricky positions and how to coordinate your pieces like a real master.
Each one of the courses in this mega bundle has been designed with the competitive player in mind, showing you how to maximize your results and stop gifting half-points to your rivals.
This is the largest collection of high-quality chess videos anywhere!
The iChess team started producing the Empire Chess DVD series in October 2012.
In little over a year, the Empire Chess video series became the most popular chess DVD series of the 21st century with 109 DVDs featuring the best players and coaches in the world!
Now our extended series of chess videos present an incredible collection of footage containing more than 250 hours of premium content from a variety of well-known players.
The series is intended for chess players of all levels, as the content is extremely diverse and covers a wide range of topics from specific chess openings to general topics like positional sacrifices and developing tactical awareness.
The Grandmasters were encouraged to provide instruction on topics where they were most knowledgeable and could display their highest level of expertise.
How is this bundle different from others?
When we created Empire Chess, our primary goal was to destroy the obstacles standing between chess improvers like yourself and your true chess potential.
We aim to give you a genuine chance at mastery with our unique content strategy comprising of:
Video Lessons –Pause and re-watch lessons; benefits visual and auditory learners; no need to set up
a board.
GM/IM Coaches – Save years of hard effort by learning directly from proven masters and seasoned
professionals.
All key topics covered – Become strong in the opening, endgame, tactically and strategically with
hundreds of hours of master level coaching.
Challenging Puzzles – Test your newly acquired knowledge with puzzles relevant to each topic.
And to make things even easier for you, you can work your way through the Empire Chess library at your own pace, focusing “buffet style” only on the areas you most want to improve at any given time.
Although there are no shortcuts in chess, absorbing the details as our team of GMs reveal their unique winning methods is as close as you could ever get.
Is this Chess Video Course for me?
Beginner players will find exceptional value in the 10 DVD, 30-hour course presented by Argentine Grandmaster Damian Lemos in Empire Chess Volumes 21-30.
Intermediate players will get huge value from “The Club Player’s Manifesto,” GM Lemos’ superb course which teaches you all the key concepts and practical tricks, tips, and strategies to accelerate your chess development and launch you into the 2000 Elo range.
The Manifesto comes in 3 parts, Empire Chess volumes 51-60, 71-80, and 91-100. These courses make sure there are no holes in your game.
And for more advanced players, we would highly recommend the chess videos produced by Grandmasters Sam Shankland, Leonid Kritz, and Victor Mikhalevski.
This 109 DVD chess course is guaranteed to improve your game via the highest-quality instruction and level of products available in today’s global market.
The Empire Chess Mega Bundle represents a complete chess education giving you everything you need to catapult from a humble club player to a 2300 master and beyond.
How is this going to help me?
Viewers will not only learn the ¨best¨ and ¨most accurate¨ move orders in the early opening, but viewers will also be instructed on the reasons behind the moves in the opening.
Our extensive team of Grandmaster and presenters have made a point to focus on a holistic approach to learning chess. Studying openings will increase your understanding of the game and improve your rating, but the material must be presented in a comprehensive manner with respect to other phases of the game.
In Volumes 1-10 of the Empire Chess DVD Series, viewers of all skill levels (Beginner, Club/Intermediate, and Advanced) can find DVDs that are relevant to their current rating.
The star-studded cast of presenters includes Grandmasters Gregory Kaidanov, Sam Shankland, Leonid Kritz, Eugene Perelshteyn, Damian Lemos, and Michal Krasenkow.
What do super-GMs Wesley So, Ding Liren and Alexander Grischuk have in common? They all frequently rely on the French Defense!
This flexible reply to 1.e4 is one of the most trusted chess openings of all time, popular from beginner level right up to the top.
Not only is the French Defense considered one of the most successful openings for Black, it is also an opening that does not force you to learn an endless amount of theory. You can play it if you understand the key strategic ideas and plans.
GM Damian Lemos is here to give you that crucial knowledge in this 7-hour Deep Dive into the French Defense.
This is an opening you can use for the rest of your chess life with good results, and it is flexible enough that you can play it in the style you prefer – solid and resilient, or dangerous and attacking!
And that’s not all – understanding the French Defense not only gives you a solid opening repertoire for Black, the various pawn structures that arise also helps you to become a better overall strategic player.
No need to fear 1.e4 anymore; add the French Defense to your repertoire and you’ll soon be dominating the whole board.
About the Author:
Damian Lemos is a grandmaster from Argentina with a peak rating of 2559 Elo.
In his lessons, Damian works closely with students to first identify the flaws and weaknesses in their games so that they can be properly evaluated and corrected.
By developing specifically-tailored training regimens for every one of his students, Grandmaster Lemos is able to achieve results that other chess coaches dream of.
Is this course for me?
If you’re looking for a reliable chess opening for Black against 1.e4, here are several reasons why you should consider playing the French Defense:
First of all, the French Defense is considered to be one of the most successful openings and has an excellent score in chess databases. That means that by playing it, you are automatically maximizing your winning chances statistically.
Secondly, playing the French Defense can be a vital alternative for all Black players who are tired of repeatedly entering the highly theoretical terrain of all the absolute main lines such as the sharp Open Sicilians or the Ruy Lopez.
Playing the French Defense does not force you to learn an endless amount of theory. It’s much more important to know the key strategic ideas and plans.
Here’s part of what this course is going to teach you:
The French Defense – Exchange Variation
In the Exchange Variation of the French Defense, White trades the pawns with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5.
White has three main continuations from this position: 4.Bd3, 4.Nf3 and 4.c4.
4.c4 is known as the Panov-Botvinnik attack where White is willing to play with an isolated pawn on the d-file.
The recommendation here is to play 4…Nf6 supporting the d5 pawn.
The normal response to this is 5.Nc3 Bb4. If White does not play 5.Nc3 and instead plays something like 5.Nf3, then Black can take advantage and play 5…Bb4+ intending to castle after 6.Bd2 Bxd2+ 7.Nbxd2 0-0.
Black is encouraged to trade pieces off beginning with 5…Bb4 since White is likely going to end up with an isolated d-pawn – an early transition into endgame will favor Black.
The Exchange Variation leads to a symmetrical pawn structure. This decision from White may simplify things, but White can’t now hope for an opening advantage. At the same time, it is also not easy to play for a win with Black.
The Advance Variation in The French Defense
This is one of the main lines where white opts to advance his e-pawn with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5.
In doing this, White gets a little more space, takes away the f6 square from the knight and closes the center. White will hope to keep his strong center but Black will look to disrupt this with moves like …f6 and …c5.
Damian recommends an immediate 3…c5, which doesn’t leave White with a lot of options. If he takes with 4.dxc5, Black will simply reply with 4…Bxc5 with a slight lead in development and an eye on the weak f2 square.
The best move for White is to support the center with 4.c3. To take away some of White’s options, GM Lemos advises Black to play an early 4…Qb6. This takes away the option from White to play 5.Be3 as this would leave b2 hanging.
After 5.Nf3 Nc6 we arrive at the main position of the advance variation.
If White does not support the d4 pawn after …Qb6 and plays something like f4 then Black should just take with 5…cxd4 6.cxd4 Nc6 7.Nf3. Eventually Black will play Ne7-f5 and the pressure on d4 will be too much. The c1 bishop cannot come to aid as it would leave b2 hanging.
The Advance Variation is a popular line for White against the French Defense and usually leads to a complex strategic battle.
The Tarrasch Variation
This variation occurs after the moves 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2. Also optional is 3. Nc3 but this is met by Bb4 from black and this is not so good for white.
In this line, GM Lemos recommends playing 3…c5. White has moved his knight to the “wrong” square without support to the center so black can afford to push this pawn without his center being at risk.
Taking on c5 with 4. dxc5 Bxc5 is not sound at all from white. Black gets to bring his bishop out quickly and occupy an important diagonal.
If exd5 Black should retake with the queen. If then 5. dxc5 then best for black would be 5…Nf6 with the intention to take on c5 later with the queen. If the knight moves to b3, then black should happily trade queens with 6. Nb3 Qxd1+ 7. Kxd1 with ideas like Ne4 and Nd7 following to take the pawn.
Trying to protect the pawn with 6. b4 loses to 6…Qe5+ and the rook falls.
Thanks to the asymmetrical pawn structure which arises from most variations, the French Defense is an excellent opening to play when you’re looking for a win with the black pieces.
GM Damian Lemos will show you everything you need to know in order to play the French Defense like an expert and dominate your opponents.
Chess Openings Mastery – GM Damian Lemos Deep Dive Collection
GM Lemos’ Deep Dive Collection – Vol. 01 – 15
Chess openings knowledge is crucial in competitive chess. Between equal players, it often makes the difference between winning and drawing.
However, up till now, most opening instruction has been very general – good enough so you know what you’re doing but without the detail required to give you the competitive edge in tournaments.
GM Damian Lemos has addressed that with his acclaimed Deep Dive series.
As the name suggests, Damian gives you the deep knowledge you need to outplay your opponents in specific openings.
Despite the advanced nature of the courses, no prior knowledge is required as Damian begins each course with a comprehensive overview of each one of the chess openings that he covers, explaining the ideas behind the opening and the plans for each side.
About the Author:
Damian Lemos is a grandmaster from Argentina who has reached a rating of 2559 Elo.
Damian Lemos was no stranger to success from an early age, achieving the FIDE Master title at only 14 years old, International Master at 15, and Grandmaster at 18.
In his lessons, Damian works closely with students to first identify the flaws and weaknesses in their games so that they can be properly evaluated and corrected. By developing specifically-tailored training regimens for every one of his students, Grandmaster Lemos is able to achieve results that other chess coaches dream of.
If you want an opening system to call your own, one which you can force your opponents into and then outplay them with your expertise, master the London System with GM Lemos’ Deep Dive course!
Is this course for me?
GM Lemos will provide you with the basic knowledge on each one of the chess openings that he covers in this series, once you have that level of understanding, Damian goes into each variation, explaining how to counter every idea and revealing all the options you have available to you.
And this doesn’t involve never-ending variations either; each idea is demonstrated with examples from Super GM play so you learn how the very best players overcome the toughest obstacles.
Here are some of the openings you’ll be able to master:
The King’s Indian Defense.
Follow in the footsteps of Fischer and Kasparov and become an attacking legend, racking up points as Black, no matter which variation White plays!
The London System.
The perfect choice for players who don’t have much time to spend on openings. Play it against nearly anything Black comes up with and decide whether you want to subject them to a positional queenside squeeze or a terrifying kingside attack.
The Accelerated Dragon.
Get positions you love with Damian’s system based on rapid development and seizing the initiative the moment White makes a natural-looking mistake!
The Double Fianchetto system (b3 and g3)
This system is quickly becoming a favorite of players like Vladimir Kramnik. Incredibly flexible, full of attacking potential and very easy for your opponent to slip up against.
The Sicilian Taimanov.
Sidestep all the Najdorf theory – and your rivals’ preparation – with lines that blunt White’s attack and give you great counterplay early in the game.
The Chigorin Defense.
2…Nc6! takes your opponent out of their comfort zone and onto your battlefield. The Chigorin has easy to learn plans, is positionally sound and full of dynamic attacking chances, like this “ordinary” position which can lead to White’s resignation in just 4 more moves!!
The Petroff Defense
The Petroff Defense, also known as the Russian Defense, was a favorite opening of both Karpov and Kramnik. The Petroff is as solid as a rock, easy to learn and offers a ton of ways to turn the tables on those 1.e4 players!
The Petroff is starting to come back in a big way with Fabiano Caruana just one of the top GMs who relies on it when it matters.
The English Opening
Playing the English Opening can be a vital alternative for all 1.e4- and 1.d4-players who are tired of repeatedly entering the highly theoretical terrain of all the main lines Black can choose from.
The English Opening allows the White player to immediately take the opponent out of his comfort zone by playing a move which is not as frequently played as 1.e4 or 1.d4.
In contrast to White’s two main moves 1.e4 and 1.d4, White takes control over the center (especially the d5-square) by moving a flank pawn. The fight for the d5-square is paramount in the English Opening.
The Scandinavian Defense
The Scandinavian Defense is a tough nut to crack. Thanks to the efforts of GM Sergey Tiviakov and other strong GMs, the Scandinavian in general, and the 3…Qd6-line in particular, have attracted more and more attention recently and have found their way back to the tournament halls.
In this comprehensive 8-hour Deep Dive course, GM Damian Lemos builds up your knowledge of this powerful opening weapon, demonstrating how to combat each of White’s sidelines and mainlines in turn.
The Slav Defense
If you’re looking for a chess opening for Black against 1.d4 which is solid, does not require an endless amount of theory to memorize and still offers decent chances to outplay your opponents, play the Slav Defense!
One thing that makes the Slav Defense so trendy in modern days is that even though opening theory continuously develops and incredibly strong engines frequently find novelties and new approaches, there is still no easy way for White to get an advantage against this opening.
The King’s Gambit
The King’s Gambit has fascinated the greatest chess players throughout all of chess history.
This is an opening for the romantic, for the brave and creative chess player who thrives on wild sacrifices and extravagant combinations. This was the opening for the Magician of Riga, Mikhail Tal.
Now you can follow in the footsteps of the legends, making tactical magic on the board with this comprehensive Deep Dive into the King’s Gambit.
1.e4 e5 Beating Sidelines & Gambits with Black
Capablanca, Karpov and even the champion himself, Magnus Carlsen — all of them have relied upon 1…e5 as a key weapon to completely neutralize the aggressive intentions of 1.e4 players.
Even blood-thirsty attackers like Kasparov and Tal have been abruptly stopped in their tracks by a skilfully played 1…e5 defense.
But things are slightly different at the club level, right?
At club level, you’ll need to face openings like the King’s Gambit, Vienna, Danish Gambit and other bone-chilling attacks and gambits…and against a strong tactical player, this could end in disaster.
But, not for you.
This very course is dedicated to crushing these openings and features Grandmaster Damian Lemos calmly dismantling each one of them — showing you exactly how to do the same in your games.
The French Defense
This flexible reply to 1.e4 is one of the most trusted chess openings of all time, popular from beginner level right up to the top.
Not only is the French Defense considered one of the most successful openings for Black, it is also an opening that does not force you to learn an endless amount of theory. You can play it if you understand the key strategic ideas and plans.
GM Damian Lemos is here to give you that crucial knowledge in this 7-hour Deep Dive into the French Defense.
This is an opening you can use for the rest of your chess life with good results, and it is flexible enough that you can play it in the style you prefer – solid and resilient, or dangerous and attacking!
And that’s not all – understanding the French Defense not only gives you a solid opening repertoire for Black, the various pawn structures that arise also helps you to become a better overall strategic player.
No need to fear 1.e4 anymore; add the French Defense to your repertoire and you’ll soon be dominating the whole board.
Have you ever had an opening you can really call your own? One that makes you feel super- confident and at ease, effortlessly getting winning positions while your opponent sweats under the pressure, eating up time on their clock?
Make this a reality by getting the inside track on one or more of Damian Lemos’ Deep Dive series: GM repertoires based on easy-to-learn strategies.
By the time you have completed each course, you will be playing at a level far superior to your rivals.
The Complete French Defense Bundle for Tournament Players
The French Defense has been a favorite opening of many of the world’s top players, including former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik and the legendary Viktor Korchnoi.
Today, Wesley So, Ding Liren and Alexander Grischuk all rely on the French Defense as one of their major opening weapons.
Now you can learn this powerful opening from several world-renowned experts, French GM Fabien Libiszewski, GM Damian Lemos, and GM Mihail Marin.
You get 32 hours of very rich and deep content, fully dedicated to teaching you the strategic ideas of the French Defense, and also the tactical patterns that you should be aware of so that there’s no way your opponent can surprise you in this opening.
You will learn grandmaster strategies that will turn your initial cramped position into total domination of the board, plus discover sneaky ways to lure your rivals into tempting but deadly traps that give you quick wins.
The Complete French Defense Bundle works perfectly as both a complete training course on one of the oldest openings, and as an invaluable reference guide. The French Defense is an opening you can play for life, at whatever level you are, so studying it is time well spent.
About the Authors:
GM Fabien Libiszewski
Fabien Libiszewski is a French chess International Grandmaster. He obtained his grandmaster title at the age of 25, in the year 2009. He is also a leading expert on the French Defense.
He learned chess from his father when he was a child, and he started competing in 1992 but he really only got seriously involved with chess in 2002. When he decided to become a professional chess player, it wasn’t long before he started to obtain some great victories in tournaments and championship as well as international events.
GM Damian Lemos
Damian Lemos is a grandmaster from Argentina with a peak rating of 2559 Elo.
In his lessons, Damian works closely with students to first identify the flaws and weaknesses in their games so that they can be properly evaluated and corrected.
By developing specifically-tailored training regimens for every one of his students, Grandmaster Lemos is able to achieve results that other chess coaches dream of.
GM Mihail Marin
Mihail Marin is a Romanian chess Grandmaster and a very popular chess coach and author. Marin’s first major success in international chess was qualifying for the Interzonal in 1987.
He has won the Romanian Championship on three occasions and has played in Chess Olympiads ten times, winning a bronze individual medal in 1988. For several years he was an editor of the magazine Chess Extra press.
GM Mihail Marin is one of the most respected coaches in the world today having trained the young Judit Polgar and being praised for his ability to explain deep chess truths in a way improving players can understand.
How do I benefit from this bundle?
If you’re looking for a reliable chess opening for Black against 1.e4, there are several reasons why you should consider playing the French Defense:
First of all, the French Defense is considered to be one of the most successful openings and has an excellent score in chess databases. That means that by playing it, you are automatically maximizing your winning chances statistically.
Secondly, playing the French Defense can be a vital alternative for all Black players who are tired of repeatedly entering the highly theoretical terrain of all the absolute main lines such as the sharp Open Sicilians or the Ruy Lopez.
Playing the French Defense does not force you to learn an endless amount of theory. It’s much more important to know the key strategic ideas and plans.
Every successful player has openings they can always rely on.
One they know inside-out. One that generates killer attacks, is easy to defend and comes with a ton of positional advantages.
This is a complete GM repertoire for Black, combining theory, ideas and model games to give you an opening you understand perfectly. All brilliantly explained by some of the world’s top experts on the French Defense.
Here’s what we’ve included in this bundle:
The French Defense Deep Dive – GM Damian Lemos
GM Damian Lemos is here to give you your first knowledge of the French Defense in this 7-hour Deep Dive.
This is an opening you can use for the rest of your chess life with good results, and it is flexible enough that you can play it in the style you prefer – solid and resilient, or dangerous and attacking!
And that’s not all – understanding the French Defense not only gives you a solid opening repertoire for Black, the various pawn structures that arise also helps you to become a better overall strategic player.
No need to fear 1.e4 anymore; add the French Defense to your repertoire and you’ll soon be dominating the whole board.
GM Lemos introduces you to the main ideas and plans behind the French Defense so you can start playing it in your own games without having to rely on boring memorization of variations.
The Bulletproof French Defense (The Libiszewski Method)
Now you’re familiar with the key ideas, it’s time for this ultimate study of the French Defense. Over the course of 17 hours, Fabien reveals how to counter all of White’s setups from the main lines to the dangerous gambits and offbeat deviations. He leaves no stone unturned.
GM Libiszewski takes a holistic 3 step approach to teach you this opening:
You get a great explanation of the plans for both sides.
You see them in action with instructive model games, cementing the ideas in your memory.
Fabien upgrades your repertoire to master level with killer lines against all White’s tries.
Here’s what you’ll get with this course:
More wins as Black.
GM-backed lines will get you dominant positions… ready for you to convert ruthlessly with the strategic and tactical insights you learn here.
Rich in resources.
Knowing your opening inside-out means you save time and nervous energy during your first 15-20 moves… while your rival panics in the face of your super-strong moves!
Attacks you’ll love to play.
GM Fabien Libiszewski reveals a ton of killer attacks that will stun and destroy your rivals! Take down the Tarrasch with this f-file battery: 28….Qd1+!! 29.Kf2 Rxf4+! (Diagram)
Study this course and you will have an opening you can rely on in the biggest moments of your chess career.
80/20 Tactics Multiplier: Chess Tactics in The French Defense
Openings get you good positions, but tactics win games! Every opening has its own stock of tactical motifs. Therefore, you also have to know the typical tactical patterns which frequently occur in your opening.
GM Mihail Marin’s course on the essential patterns in the French Defense gives you a complete understanding of typical tactical and strategic patterns for both sides.
Here’s part of what you’ll learn with this course:
White’s Thematic f4-f5 Plan
One of the most characteristic pawn structures of the French Defense arises after the moves 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 (see the diagram below).
We’ve reached a pawn structure where the position is closed. White has a space advantage in the center of the board due to his advanced e5-pawn.
However, Black’s pawn structure is solid and without any weaknesses. Both sides have their own pawn chains, White’s being c3-d4-e5 and Black’s being f7-e6-d5.
White’s pawn chain points towards the kingside, which indicates on which side of the board he should play. White often gets good attacking prospects on the kingside.
A typical idea for White is to carry out the advance of the f-pawn with f2-f4-f5, putting pressure on the Black pawn chain.
The Blocked Center – Black’s Strategic and Tactical Ideas
According to GM Mihail Marin, there are two principled reactions for Black when he is confronted with a White f-pawn on the fifth rank.
One idea for Black is to capture on f5 with his e-pawn and to bring a knight to e6. Due to the fact that knights are excellent blockading pieces, the knight is perfectly placed on e6.
Black can sometimes keep his extra pawn on f5 for some time or even support it with …g6. What’s more, the move …exf5 allows Black to free his problem piece, the light-squared bishop, which then can be activated via c8.
However, one should remember that …exf5 is only reliable when there are no good immediate breaks for White with e5-e6 in sight.
White’s Kingside Piece Sacrifices
The structure with a closed center in the French Defense offers White another attacking plan. If the Black king has already castled kingside, a piece sacrifice on the kingside becomes an option for White.
With Black pawns on h7 g7 and f7, White has three targets for a sacrifice. The f7-square is usually well defended by a Black rook which decreases White’s chances for a successful sacrifice. Yet, with the Black king still in the center, a sacrifice on f7 becomes an option.
A sacrifice on h7 is possible on some special occasions. Usually, this sacrifice involves a White bishop on the b1-h7 diagonal, a White knight on f3 which can come to g5 with a check and a White queen which then joins the action on the kingside.
A key target for a White piece sacrifice is g7. The g7-pawn has the important task to cover the squares h6 and f6. Once it is no longer there, White gets access to these squares – often with decisive effect.
The aim of this course is to improve your understanding of the typical tactical and strategic themes in the French Defense, as well as to practice them in the included quizzes featuring carefully selected test positions.
Thanks to the asymmetrical pawn structure which arises from most variations, the French Defense is an excellent opening to play when you’re looking for a win with the black pieces.
GM Damian Lemos, GM Fabien Libiszewski, and GM Mihail Marin, will show you everything you need to know in order to play the French Defense like an expert and dominate your opponents.
The Club Players Repertoire: The French Defense & The London System
If you want to move up to master level in chess, there comes a time when you must start building an opening repertoire.
Today we present to you a super collection of high-quality chess videos on two of the best chess openings that you can always rely on: The London System and The French Defense.
Don’t waste time learning some strange off-beat opening you’ll have to change in a couple of years. Why do all the work twice? The French Defense and the London System are openings that will last you your entire chess life – solid openings that don’t require endless memorization or weekly theoretical updates!
With this bundle, you get 63 hours of highly instructive chess content, fully dedicated to teaching you the strategic ideas of the French Defense and the London System, as well as the tactical patterns that you should always be aware of.
The London System
The London System is a chess opening for White that usually starts with the moves 1.d4 and 2.Bf4 (or 2.Nf3 first, followed by 3.Bf4) by White.
This flexible chess opening is a weapon that you can use against virtually any Black defense and has a smaller body of theory than many other openings.
The London System is a chess opening for White that begins with the move 1.d4, but doesn’t continue with the Queen’s Gambit. It normally results in a closed game.
This makes it the perfect choice for busy club players who prefer to understand key strategic and tactical ideas instead of having to memorize an endless number of theoretical variations.
For a long time, the London System was considered to be a dry and boring opening, used by players who just wanted to get a playable position out of the opening. Nowadays, thanks to developments in theory, it has become a popular choice for club players and top-level grandmasters alike due to the winning chances it offers. The three London System courses you get in this bundle perfectly complement each other. Start with the Deep Dive course and you’ll be introduced to the general ideas and plans with GM Damian Lemos. GM Ron Henley’s Master Method then takes your repertoire to the next level, looking at all the different setups you’ll face and making sure you’re set even against the toughest opposition. IM Eric Rosen will show you all the killer tactics that you’ll find at your fingertips once you start playing the London System in your own games.
The French Defense
The French Defense has been a favorite opening of many of the world’s top players, including former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik and the legendary Viktor Korchnoi.
In the modern days, Wesley So, Ding Liren and Alexander Grischuk all rely on the French Defense as one of their major opening weapons.
Now you can learn this powerful opening from several world-renowned experts, French GM Fabien Libiszewski, GM Damian Lemos, and GM Mihail Marin.
If you’re looking for a reliable chess opening for Black against 1.e4, here are several reasons why you should consider playing the French Defense:
First of all, the French Defense is considered to be one of the most successful openings and has an excellent score in chess databases. That means that by playing it, you are automatically maximizing your winning chances statistically.
Secondly, playing the French Defense can be a vital alternative for all Black players who are tired of repeatedly entering the highly theoretical terrain of all the absolute main lines such as the sharp Open Sicilians or the Ruy Lopez.
You will learn grandmaster strategies that will turn your initial cramped position into total domination of the board, plus discover sneak ways to lure your rivals into tempting but deadly traps that give you quick wins.
Again, start with the Deep Dive course with GM Damian Lemos who will show you the key plans and ideas you need to be aware of. Then, GM Fabien Libiszewski’s 17 hour Master Method is the most comprehensive French Defense course out there, and teaches you how to counter all of White’s setups from the main lines to the dangerous gambits and offbeat deviations, giving you a bulletproof repertoire. GM Mihail Marin takes 8 hours to show you the multitude of amazing tactics at your disposal in this dynamic opening – and tactics win games!
How do I benefit from this?
The London System Bundle
If you are a serious chess player, you need an opening repertoire that you can always rely on. You need a repertoire that helps you steer the game in a direction you are familiar with, where you know the tactics, plans, and middlegame strategies.
A clever opening system for the White pieces that even top players like Kramnik turned to, The London System is definitely one of the best chess openings for White that you can play.
GM Ron W. Henley, GM Damian Lemos, and IM Eric Rosen will show you that the London System is an underestimated opening system – even if it has become fashionable nowadays. More and more top players include it in their repertoire.
The main move order to reach this opening system is 1.d4 d5 2.Bf4. This opening system is the perfect choice for busy players who prefer to understand key strategic and tactical ideas instead of having to memorize an endless number of theoretical variations.
The material in this bundle is designed to give you the best return on your training time by hitting 3 areas at once:
Mastering The London System by observing games from some of the strongest players in the world.
Understanding Tactical patterns.
Calculation.
Here are the London System courses included in this bundle:
Also, for the Black pieces, you must have a weapon against 1.e4. Thanks to the asymmetrical pawn structure which arises from most variations, the French Defense is an excellent opening to play when you’re looking for a win with the black pieces.
Here are the French Defense courses included in this bundle:
We’ve put this bundle together in order to help you arm yourself with two opening systems that you can always rely on.
Get trained by the world’s leading experts in these two opening systems and you’ll be ready to start dominating your opponents with superior opening knowledge and more comfortable middlegame positions.
Mastering 1.e4 The Open Game: Sicilian, Spanish, and French
GM Melikset Khachiyan is here again to provide you with some incredible opening ideas for 1.e4 open games, so that you can be more prepared when the Sicilian, Spanish, and French Defense pop up on the board.
In the first part of this bundle, GM Khachiyan talks about Sicilian methods. He analyzes some tournament games in order to illustrate the great impact of the e4-e5 push in the Sicilian Defense.
He clearly explains the reasons for moves in this line, showing for example why Black develops their queen knight to c6 or d7.
Then he moves on to share with us one of four games he played in an important mainline of the Italian game… in one tournament!! He includes his recommendations for opening lines, explanations of key middlegame maneuvers and concepts, advice for your thought process, and more.
GM Khachiyan also introduces a very important strategic consideration in the Ruy Lopez (Chigorin lines): the Black knight which can get stuck on a5. He shows a classic example of White taking advantage of that piece, and teaches several other strategic lessons along the way.
About the Author:
Melikset Khachiyan is an Armenian-American Grandmaster, originally from Azerbaijan. Khachiyan began playing chess at the age of eight. Two years later he won the Baku Junior Championship.
When he was twelve years old he became a Soviet Candidate Master. Among his early coaches was the 9th World Champion, Tigran Petrosian, as well as Aleksander S Nikitin and Alexander Shakarov, who are well known for their coaching and analytical work with the 13th World Champion, Garry Kasparov.
Grandmaster Khachiyan’s student roster has also included some of the top junior players in the US, including 2010 World Youth Champion GM Steven Zierk, 2012 World Youth Champion GM Kayden Troff, 2017 World Youth Champion WIM Annie Wang, and multiple US national and state youth chess champions.
Is this course for me?
In this 23-hour bundle, GM Melikset Khachiyan makes use of his own tournament games to illustrate how to face some of the most common defense systems that Black players use against 1.e4, the Sicilian Defense, The Ruy Lopez, and The French Defense. This isn’t a database dump where he simply tells you move after move – the ideas and plans are all explained in a way that helps you play the position because you’ll understand it.
Here’s part of what you’ll see:
Crazy Chess Sacrifice in The Sicilian
GM Melikset Khachiyan shows us an interesting pawn sacrifice in the early stages of the Classical Sicilian, Rauzer Variation. He estimates that the bishop pair and his dark-squared control should be enough compensation.
Not only is he right, but his patience in executing his “long-term” compensation in the endgame is quite astonishing. Maybe his sacrifice wasn’t so crazy after all?
Playing vs The Maroczy Bind
GM Khachiyan reviews his win against Grandmaster Alex Lenderman from the 2010 U.S. Championship.
Although the game itself is very instructive and climaxes in a very well-played rook endgame , the main topic of this video lecture is how to play against the Maroczy Bind from the Black side of the Accelerated Dragon.
Melik has his own “original recipe” when it comes to this, and he sure does make it look good!
Practical Pawn Play The Reverse Benoni
Grandmaster Khachiyan covers the subject of recognizing and then exploiting your opponent’s sub-par positional (pawn play) understanding.
Here we see his young opponent walk into a reverse Benoni. Pay attention to Melik’s thought process and how it quickly led to a much better position for White (the Nh4-f5 and f4-pawn break being the key ideas).
Absorb the knowledge provided by GM Khachiyan in this superb bundle, and you’ll even be able to outplay higher-rated opponents when playing these openings.
This is a 10-hour training from IM Milovan Ratkovic… a master-level Caro-Kann repertoire that builds up from general strategies to cutting-edge novelties. Want to get better positions out of the opening and know exactly what to do in the resulting middlegames? This course is for you!
Perhaps you’re not getting the kind of positions you like or you just feel it’s time to really master an opening and get the edge every time you play it.
Super-coach IM Milovan Ratkovic is ready to reveal to you his whole Master-Level Caro-Kann repertoire, going all the way from general comprehension of the opening to cutting-edge novelties you will be able to implement in your games.
This enables you to tackle 1.e4 once and for all!
About the Author:
IM Milovan Ratkovic has a wide experience as a chess coach and a player – this can be seen in his resume which includes diverse accolades such as being Serbian Junior Champion. Some of his top students have been able to reach 2400 Elo! IM Ratkovic is an active tournament player and one of his near-future goals is obtaining the Grandmaster title.
His dedication to the game and eagerness to share his knowledge makes him one of the best chess coaches out there.
How is this course going to help me?
Why play the Caro-Kann at all?
It’s an ideas-based opening – no need to memorize 600 pages of theory.
Your opponents hate facing it. Play it properly and it’s very hard for White to get anything going.
You get easy development – unlike the French where the light-squared bishop gets caged in.
You get active positions (this is contrary to what many people think. If you end up with a passive position, you went wrong somewhere!)
It’s flexible. Don’t worry about your opponents preparing for you. You can switch things up in a number of ways, including castling on either side!
Caro-Kann expert IM Ratkovic gets you up to speed in just 10 hours:
Principled. Understand the big ideas in the Caro-Kann, how the pawn structure affects both sides’ plans, and you will always know what you should be doing.
Comprehensive. IM Ratkovic gives his tried and tested recommendations for every variation, from the classical 3.Nc3 to the Fantasy variation (3.f3!?) Correct strategy + killer ideas = quick wins.
Aggressive. Generate attacks in every situation with Milovan’s middlegame attacks. Discover how to use White’s plans against them and get dominant free-flowing attacks like this one (diagram).
Make sure you’re ready for the new chess season with a master-level opening that you know inside out.
This course is everything you need to master the Caro-Kann, even if you’ve never played it before.
What makes the difference between a regular club player, and those who go on to become chess masters? Grandmaster Ibro Saric has used his years of experience to answer this crucial question, and has come up with a number of “sweet spots” that make all the difference…
Now GM Saric reveals those well-kept secrets in this 10-hour, 20-chapter course, showing you how to win with the 9 elements of advanced positional play. This is a course for players in the 1200-1800 Elo range looking to reach 2000-2200 Elo and beyond..
About the Author:
Ibro Saric is an International Grandmaster from Bosnia & Herzegovina. He is a professional chess player and coach – teaching chess for many years. GM Saric believes that the most important thing is to develop the right way of chess thinking, focusing on typical positions, middlegame plans, and pawn structures. His favorite quote is “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” – Bruce Lee. He perfectly translates it into his playing and teaching style to make sure his students can and will apply all the theory into practice.
How is this course going to help me?
When asked what skill or knowledge is usually lacking in club players, and the main reason that prevents them from propelling to chess mastery, GM Saric’s answer was quick and clear: positional play.
Why does positional play stop club player’s progress?
Too many players hold themselves back by ignoring the positional side of the game. They make excuses like “I’m a tactical player” or “I just launch an attack and play from there”.
These players soon find that tactics and attacks aren’t always available… As Fischer said, “tactics flow from a superior position”.
The truth is… tactics are the finishing blow, the positional play gets you the winning set-up in the first place.
If you’re finding attacks hard to come by against stronger players, if you find more games ending in blocked or symmetrical positions, it’s time to learn the advanced secrets of positional play. You’ll learn about all these crucial chess concepts in a practical way:
Isolated pawn. That uncomfortable situation when your or your rival’s Queen’s pawn has no support from any adjacent pawn, well fear no more! GM Saric will show you how to play with and against the IQP.
Hanging pawns. A term coined by the great Steinitz, this pawn formation has strengths and weaknesses that will be thoroughly covered in this course.
Backward pawns. A pawn placed behind it’s neighboring pawns that can’t be protected by another pawn.
Doubled Pawns. Two pawns on the same file can sometimes can be helpful, but most of the time it is a weakness – discover how to spot the difference.
Space advantage. One of the key aspects of positional chess is to learn how to exploit a space advantage.
Prophylactic thinking. What do you do when there is no way to improve your position without messing up everything? GM Saric will teach you how to develop prophylactic thinking and wait until your opponent reveals his cards.
And that’s not all…
Strength in weakness. Let your opponents give you “weaknesses” like the isolated pawn… then blow them off the board with your higher knowledge of the hidden strengths of these positions! (Basically a high-level, long-term positional trap!)
Disarmament. One of Karpov’s favorite plans was to suck the life out of one of his opponent’s pieces, leaving it like an unarmed man in a gunfight. Offside knights, bad bishops, trapped rooks… Ibro Saric reveals strategies like Karpov’s Ba7!! in chapter 15.
Space-time continuum. Many openings give you an early space advantage (French, Caro-Kann, KID…) but how do you take advantage? Black’s setup is usually solid and early attacks are doomed to fail. Ibro gives you a step-by-step plan for optimizing your pieces, piling on the pressure and ultimately striking a hammer blow without allowing your rival time for any counterplay.
Grandmaster Chess Strategy Guide: The Chess World Mega Bundle
The Chess World Mega Bundle
The Chess World‘s chess courses have gained an outstanding reputation in a very short time. Featuring top coaches like former World Junior Champion GM Alex Ipatov and IM Valeri Lilov, they cover a lot of topics rarely spoken about.
Each chess course strengthens your play and gives you a secret weapon to surprise and destroy your opponents with.
Topics include How to Dominate in Open Positions: GM Mikhalevski (peak 2611 Elo) teaches you the skills you need to control space, increase activity, push your opponent back and overload them with attack after attack.
Whereas many chess courses just show you what to do in a specific position, these rules will help you wth any open position!
Then you have GM Misa Pap explaining Grandmaster Chess Strategy, how GMs evaluate positions. Subtle principles that tell masters how to get long-term edges that snowball into an overwhelming advantage. This course contains the secret to the powerful play of GMs.
How about GM Tiberiu Georgescu’s Grandmaster Level Psychology? Knowing how to stay strong mentally and get a psychological edge over your opponent is hugely important in chess.
Just look at how Kasparov used to dominate his world-class rivals. It was his supreme awareness of the kind of psychological tricks revealed here.
And that’s just a few of the rating boosting lessons you’ll learn from The Chess World Mega Bundle, available together for the first time in a great value pack.
How can this product help me?
Karpov was once asked what the difference between the World Champion and the other elite players was. He replied that they were very close in strength, but the World Champion was usually 1% better than his rivals in most areas of the game.
The sum of all these small edges became decisive.
Now, this exclusive chess training program by our friends at The Chess World will help you improve on the 5 most important skills to develop a Grandmaster Chess Strategy: openings, prophylaxis, middlegame mastery, attacking play and endgame strategy.
In this video, England’s top grandmaster Daniel Gormally, a calculation expert, shares the insider’s secrets of how one should proceed about calculating variations in the most complicated positions that often arise over-the-board.
GM Gormally breaks down the entire calculation process into a few simple bites that virtually anyone can understand and master.
GM Gormally does a superb job explaining in great detail, backing up with Grandmaster chess examples, how one should proceed about calculating the moves.
Positional sacrifice is a very delicate, yet very powerful technique that most advanced chess players perform. Some of the greatest chess minds in the history of the game employed the positional sacrifice as the weapon of choice to win tournaments, matches, and even World Championship titles.
Number one chess player and the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen is no exception. He proves over and over again, against the toughest competition that the positional sacrifice is something that can blow up an otherwise equally looking position and score a crucial win.
The amateur players typically DO NOT understand the relative value of chess pieces well enough and prefer to simply keep the material.
In this 3-hour long video course, GM Sipke Ernst, a strong attacking player himself, will teach you the art of attacking chess. He goes in great detail analyzing the attacking techniques that players such as Magnus Carlsen, Vishy Anand, Mikhail Tal, Sergey Karjakin, Boris Spassky, and Veselin Topalov have successfully used to win games.
GM Ernst will show exactly how Grandmasters think in complex, razor-sharp positions when everything depends on a single move. In such positions, any little inaccuracy can cause a defeat.
It’s like walking on the minefield, along with your opponent, and waiting for someone to make a single wrong step.
The good news is that after going over this course you will have a map in your mind that will guide you through the labyrinth of move choices reducing the possibility of mistakes. That’s something your opponent may not have.
International Master Valeri Lilov assumes you know nothing about the game. And I mean NOTHING. He teaches you everything you need to know for becoming a club strength player from the ground up in the most efficient way.
Indeed, that won’t happen overnight, and you will need to play practice games, do homework and so on. Trust me; this is by far the quickest shortcut you can take to go from absolute zero to club player strength!
IM Lilov starts with the most basic things and dives into advanced stuff when you’re ready.
Others spend months if not years learning those things the hard way… we give you a complete course covering it all in just 10 hours of video!
Chess openings are the foundation of every game. If you are behind in development, with your king stuck in the center and under attack… chances are you won’t be able to demonstrate your superior middlegame or superb endgame skills.
You got to know the openings you play.
The problem is…
Many video courses and chess opening theory books only CONFUSE you with the abundance of information. They give you all the possible responses to opening lines, hundreds of variations and sub-lines making it nearly impossible for a club player to digest and even less likely to apply it.
“The more, the better” principle is clearly NOT something you need in order to master your openings.
GM Petrov gives you a complete repertoire for beating the most popular Black responses to 1.e4, the move described as “best by test” by Bobby Fischer. 10 hours training on easy-to-remember but powerful e4 openings.
Middlegame masterclass with IM Paschall is a 10-hour video course covering “everything middlegame” for under 2200 rated player must know.
It allows players to get an instant edge in the middlegame by following the correct plan, precisely utilizing the fundamental principles of the game and making sound decisions.
Even when the positions are complex and unclear it is possible to break it down into the easy-to-understand parts and proceed with the strongest continuation [don’t worry, you will learn how].
We will start learning the static concepts and work our way to the dynamic ones. In the first several chapters we will start with pawn structure, then continue with strategic concepts laid out by Nimzowitsch, and then proceed with coordination of pieces and pawns, space advantage, exchanges, king’s safety and so on.
Prophylactic thinking is the habit of constantly asking yourself “what does my opponent want to do?” and the ability to find a good reply that prevents the opponent from carrying out that plan.
Right now, there are thousands of chess players out there who have no idea how much they are being held BACK by having poor prophylactic skills.
It’s sad but true. Think about it this way:
Chess prophylaxis is the art & science of preventing your opponents’ threats.
It is a fundamental skill that is equally important regardless of the level you’re at. Prophylaxis is like dribbling in basketball. If you play the game, it is essential that you know how to dribble!
From stopping your opponent’s tactical ideas to cutting off his positional play, prophylaxis plays a HUGE role in every single move!
In this 10-hour masterclass, IM Alex Battey shares his blueprint for launching powerful attacks with maximum ease and near perfect execution!
You DON’T need to be a chess genius or have a photographic memory to use those. You also don’t need to spend 8 hours a day on training.
Once you get a hang of it, you’ll feel like the attacks are happening on autopilot!
Here’s what you will learn with this course:
How to identify and use the “Focal Points” in your attack – all great players know that focusing your forces into a single point creates an immensely powerful attack which is very difficult to counter for your opponent.
The mating nets – done right – How to save your time and energy over the board while setting up the traps that will do the work for you!
So your opponent has survived this far? Make sure you get the point you deserve with IM Kolosovski’s 10-hour training on converting the most common endgames.
Nearly 50 hours of GM/IM coaching on the skills that win games, all at a huge discount until Sunday night.
Besides all of the above, you also get a ton of bonus material too, including annotated PGNs, live blitz videos and access to the online practical section.
As you can probably guess from the title, this course examines attack and defense in chess at the same time – they are, after all, 2 sides of the same coin.
By showing how some threats can be defended – and how to counter those ideas – GM Marian Petrov builds up the sophistication of your attacks into laser-accurate combinations.
This is a complete masterclass divided into two sections. The first section trains you in attacking the king — no matter where he is located… in the center, the kingside, queenside, opposite side…no matter where — there’s an attacking plan for smashing through to checkmate him!
The second half of this course is dedicated to training you to defend against such attacks… You’ll be able to identify threats from far away and stop them in their tracks.
You’ll get access to a FULL and dangerous opening repertoire for white, with 10 hours of strong ideas against all black responses from the Sicilian and French, to the Caro Kann and 1…e5 — nothing black tries will come as a surprise and you’ll ALWAYS emerge with an edge!
This is not a “theoretical course” but a purely practical guide on how to use this chess opening preparation to win games.
It is developed with practical chess players in mind, who want to spend the minimum time studying the opening ideas yet aim to get maximum RESULTS from applying it to win games.
You will learn how to play the highest quality moves against any under-2200 rated opponent in the least possible time.
This is your 10.5-hour guide to queen’s pawn MASTERY. No matter which side of the board you’re on, you’ll be knowledgeable in the theory, plans, pawn structures and attacking plans…of EVERY 1.d4 opening.
Whether it’s the King’s Indian, Queen’s Gambit, Dutch or anything in between… GM Marian Petrov covers them in a crystal clear way that only a professional trainer can!
You will know exactly how to play against and beat players in the 10 most widely played openings after 1.d4: London System, Queen’s Gambit Accepted, Queen’s Gambit Declined, Slav Defense, Benoni Defense, Kings Indian Defense, Nimzo Indian Defense, Grunfeld Defense, Dutch Defense, Tarrasch and Chigorin Defense!
You’ll get access to a 7-hour course covering all of the strategic imbalances in chess. In 14 chapters, GM Petrov teaches you themes like pawn structure, the bishop pair, attacking the king, dominating open files — and he even gives you a basic opening repertoire for BOTH black and white.
GM Petrov takes a very different perspective on improving your positional understanding. Instead of taking a usual route of learning “moves” and “lines”, he teaches “positions” and “patterns“.
This approach is proven to work for many of GM Petrov’s private students. It gives you a clear understanding of when to attack, defend or go into an endgame. This kind of thinking is the key difference between 1400 and 2500 rated players.
Smashing 1.d4 Players with The Kings Indian Defense – GM Bryan Smith
The King’s Indian Defense is a dynamic attacking response to 1.d4 and was favored by historical legends such as Bronstein, Fischer, Tal, and Kasparov.
In a counterintuitive approach, you’ll happily allow white to occupy the center with a massive pawn wall, only to target it later with your own pawn strikes that blow open the position to your benefit.
The best thing is that when playing this opening, you’ll attack with all the aggression you feel necessary, and score your black wins via devastating piece sacrifices, pawn storms and kingside invasions that lead to fast checkmates.
In a word: there is never a boring game!
In this course, Grandmaster Bryan Smith reveals how you can use this opening to storm the enemy king, fend off and swat away white’s positional squeeze play and win your games in brilliant style.
And to assure that you’re fully prepared and armed to the teeth, GM Smith covers ALL modern theory in detail, provides detailed strategic plans, reveals the typical piece sacrifices and even shares the “spirit” you should play your games in.
About the Author:
Bryan Smith is an American Grandmaster and chess coach. GM Smith has won many international tournaments including Limpedea Cup (Romania), Citta di Erba (Italy), Easter International (Serbia), Philadelphia International, National Chess Congress, US Masters, etc.
Grandmaster Bryan Smith grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and currently lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
How is this course going to help me?
In this comprehensive 4-hour Empire Chess course, GM Bryan Smith shares with you the know-how of the KID, preparing you to parry each of the possible plans from white.
Here’s what you’ll learn with this course:
The Basic Ideas Behind the King’s Indian Defense
Learn why black allows white to get a HUGE center pawn-formation as if they were neglecting the opening principle of the controlling the central squares!
After getting an idea of how this hypermodern opening relies on moves such as …d6, …c5 or …e5 you will already be on your way to King’s Indian Defense domination.
Black Neutralizes White’s Attempts to Gain the Initiative.
White has tried numerous ways to seize the initiative in the King’s Indian Defense, via many central pawn moves.
You will see that black’s strong position is more than enough to stop these futile attempts.
Closed Center? Time to Move Fast!
When playing on the flanks, we have to be careful our opponent doesn’t have dangerous counterplay in the center. That’s why we will only attempt attacks on the flank after the center has been blocked or stabilized. GM Bryan Smith will show you when and how!
Don’t fall into the temptation of a premature attack that will leave you with passive and inferior positions.
How to Parry White’s Diverse Plans and Ideas
As a defense that has been present in professional practice for so long, it’s not strange that white has tried in many different ways to find a weak spot in the King’s Indian Defense. But don’t worry! The KID is here to stay in your repertoire forever! You just have to learn the fine details and differences in each of the different lines that White plays, such as The Classical, The Samisch, The Averbakh, 6.h3 systems, the Four Pawns Attack, Fianchetto lines, Smyslov System, etc… all of which are covered in this course.
And like most of our courses, you’ll also get Complete PGN file of all covered games/examples, Challenging Puzzles for testing your knowledge, plus, a Comprehensive Summary PDF that’ll be your reference guide and blueprint for the course.
GM Bryan Smith’s course arms you once and for all to confidently fight against 1.d4 players.
This is the largest collection of high-quality chess videos anywhere!
The iChess team started producing the Empire Chess DVD series in October 2012.
In little over a year, the Empire Chess video series became the most popular chess DVD series of the 21st century with 110 DVDs featuring the best players and coaches in the world!
Now our extended series of chess videos present an incredible collection of footage containing more than 250 hours of premium content from a variety of well-known players.
The series is intended for chess players of all levels, as the content is extremely diverse and covers a wide range of topics from specific chess openings to general topics like positional sacrifices and developing tactical awareness.
The Grandmasters were encouraged to provide instruction on topics where they were most knowledgeable and could display their highest level of expertise.
How is this bundle different from others?
When we created Empire Chess, our primary goal was to destroy the obstacles standing between chess improvers like yourself and your true chess potential.
We aim to give you a genuine chance at mastery with our unique content strategy comprising of:
Video Lessons –Pause and re-watch lessons; benefits visual and auditory learners; no need to set up
a board.
GM/IM Coaches – Save years of hard effort by learning directly from proven masters and seasoned
professionals.
All key topics covered – Become strong in the opening, endgame, tactically and strategically with
hundreds of hours of master level coaching.
Challenging Puzzles – Test your newly acquired knowledge with puzzles relevant to each topic.
And to make things even easier for you, you can work your way through the Empire Chess library at your own pace, focusing “buffet style” only on the areas you most want to improve at any given time.
Although there are no shortcuts in chess, absorbing the details as our team of GMs reveal their unique winning methods is as close as you could ever get.
Is this Chess Video Course for me?
Beginner players will find exceptional value in the 10 DVD, 30-hour course presented by Argentine Grandmaster Damian Lemos in Empire Chess Volumes 21-30.
Intermediate players will get huge value from “The Club Player’s Manifesto,” GM Lemos’ superb course which teaches you all the key concepts and practical tricks, tips, and strategies to accelerate your chess development and launch you into the 2000 Elo range.
The Manifesto comes in 3 parts, Empire Chess volumes 51-60, 71-80, and 91-100. These courses make sure there are no holes in your game.
And for more advanced players, we would highly recommend the chess videos produced by Grandmasters Sam Shankland, Leonid Kritz, and Victor Mikhalevski.
This 109 DVD chess course is guaranteed to improve your game via the highest-quality instruction and level of products available in today’s global market.
The Empire Chess Mega Bundle represents a complete chess education giving you everything you need to catapult from a humble club player to a 2300 master and beyond.
How is this going to help me?
Viewers will not only learn the ¨best¨ and ¨most accurate¨ move orders in the early opening, but viewers will also be instructed on the reasons behind the moves in the opening.
Our extensive team of Grandmaster and presenters have made a point to focus on a holistic approach to learning chess. Studying openings will increase your understanding of the game and improve your rating, but the material must be presented in a comprehensive manner with respect to other phases of the game.
In Volumes 1-10 of the Empire Chess DVD Series, viewers of all skill levels (Beginner, Club/Intermediate, and Advanced) can find DVDs that are relevant to their current rating.
The star-studded cast of presenters includes Grandmasters Gregory Kaidanov, Sam Shankland, Leonid Kritz, Eugene Perelshteyn, Damian Lemos, and Michal Krasenkow.
How to Build a Million Dollar Attack! – IM Keaton Kiewra
Keaton Kiewra is on the charge! With more than 24 hours of pure attacking chess enlightenment meant to make you a strong attacking player!
If you are a fan of Sicilian Dragons, be ready to take in one hell of a ride! Through the teaching of many must-know lines, Keaton is devoted to make you a feared player with the Dragon.
You will also witness some of the most famous miniatures, mating attacks and several positions that have become part of the classical knowledge a chess student must have.
About the Author:
Keaton Kiewra is an American International Master and a professional chess instructor. He was Nebraska’s State Champion for 9 consecutive years, plus a 6 times National Scholastic Champion, attended at UTD on a Chess Scholarship.
Keaton holds 2 Grandmaster norms, but has dedicated himself to chess training upon his graduation in 2009, among his students are several USA National Scholastic champions, National Top-ranked players and in the many many names, Jeffery Xiong is the most famous of them all.
He is also the founder and manager of the San Diego Surfers team for the PRO Chess League, with famous chess teammates as GM Alexey Dreev, GM Melik Khachiyan, and WGM Tatev Abrahamyan.
Is this course for me?
“How to Build a Million Dollar Attack!” dedicates every single minute to make you a killer checkmating machine! From unleashing Fighting Dragons to witnessing ultra miniatures, Blitz Mayhem and even a position with 5 Queens on the board!
If you want to polish your attacking skills you must first learn how to build the ideal position from where attacks can flow smoothly and how to perform them!
Tactics flow from a superior position. -Bobby Fischer.
Here’s part of what you’ll see:
Fighting Dragon
Ever felt your rivals have figured out a safe winning line against your Dragon and you are about to leave it for good? Well, you still have a lot to learn! Let IM Kiewra show you plenty of paths to keep torturing your opponents for a long time.
Show your rivals there is no such thing as a safe Dragon!
High-level Entertainment
If top games nowadays sound more like a dull, safety first 6-7 hour grind finishing on a shy handshake and a draw worth forgetting, you must know that there was a time when players went at it swinging with everything they had. Their honor was at stake!
Due to this, we can enjoy a game that if you were told a 5th Queen appeared in the board by move 20 you could think this was a beginner’s game, but it’s a World Championship game!
3 More Entertaining Zugzwang Endgames You Need to Know!
Zugzwang is a hard word to learn but an easy concept to remember, he who is in turn, loses, however sometimes the ideas behind a zugzwang can be of great depth and complexity.
And there is no better way to learn than to go over examples that will help you assimilate the concept.
This only a portion of what you’ll enjoy in the 24 hours of top-notch training material that will make you a devastating attacker!
We’ve all been there. Your opponent has a couple of badly placed pieces and his king has no flight square. Your spider-sense tells you there’s something in the position… but you just can’t find it. In the end you either settle for something boring or rush into a tactic you knew didn’t quite work.
If only you knew the correct method…
IM Porper’s course shows you how to capitalize on all types of weakness – tactical and strategic – using his step-by-step systems.
Want to become ruthless at exploiting your rivals’ weaknesses? Take advantage of your opponents’ mistakes and bring the full point home!
About the Author:
Edward Porper is an International Master, and a 2012 Canadian Olympic Team Member. He became an IM in 1991. He is a professional chess player and coach – teaching chess for many years. IM Porper has won multiple national and international chess tournaments during his 30+ year career, such as: 2011 1st place 1st Holiday Open, San Bernardino, Switzerland; 2009 1st place Canadian Open Championship; 2006 1st place Mannheim Germany; 2006 1st place 32nd Guernsey Chess Festival; 2004 Grandmaster Norm for winning the Liechtenstein Open; 2002 1st place Rajka Open Austria.
How is this course going to help me?
Below GM level, every game has weaknesses for at least one side. Your job is to spot them, attack them and take advantage of them.
This course shows you how to do all of those things… even showing you how to create weaknesses if none exist.
Over the course of 10 hours, you will learn:
• How to calculate long variations without losing track of any of the pieces. Would you find the win for White in this position? (Note that Black threatens mate in 1!)
• The 1700 slayer. Chapter 15 covers the simple, bloodless way to slay 80% of players rated 1700 or below – just trade off their best pieces and watch their position fall apart! There’s a catch though – their “best” piece is the one that fits Edward’s very specific criteria.
• The trick to “target zoning” – instant recognition of a weak point in your opponent’s position.
IM Porper has managed to create a chess course that is one-of-a-kind: a clearly explained collection of winning techniques and strategies. If you want to exploit a misplaced piece as easily as you would a weak back rank, study this material. It will repay your effort hundreds of times over.
This course also includes:
Complete Course PGNs
Downloadable, complete game database of everything covered so that you can analyze it at your own pace and convenience. A must-have a treasure chest for any serious player.
Access to Practicum
Train the important attacking motifs with a set of specifically designed tasks and challenges. The practical part is an important element of the course.
Video Summary
Video summary of the key points covered in the course for quick reference and reviewing. Use it as a quick refresher after studying the course or skim through it before an important tournament!
So, take the chance of getting this superb course and get rid of the “what-ifs” from your tournament practice!
Whether you prefer quiet strategic positions or wild tactical positions, the Modern Defense (1.e4 g6) gives you the flexibility to push the game in a direction where you feel totally comfortable.
And to be able to do this — without memorizing too much theory — as Black…is huge!
That’s why GMs like Aronian and Andreikin have really taken notice and are adopting this opening, often winning beautiful games in the process.
In this course, Volume #16 in his Deep Dive collection, Grandmaster Damian Lemos demystifies the Modern Defense — breaking down all of the theory, strategic plans and attacking ideas at your disposal.
GM Lemos also points out the critical strategic differences that distinguish this opening from the Pirc Defense, revealing how you could even combine the two openings to create the ultimate repertoire against 1.e4.
Your 6 hours training with Damian will fly by quickly as you soak up more and more weapons and add them to your arsenal — you’ll be dying to unleash them on unsuspecting 1.e4 players in your next tournament.
About the Author:
Damian Lemos is a grandmaster from Argentina with a peak rating of 2559 Elo.
In his lessons, Damian works closely with students to first identify the flaws and weaknesses in their games so that they can be properly evaluated and corrected.
By developing specifically-tailored training regimens for every one of his students, Grandmaster Lemos is able to achieve results that other chess coaches dream of.
Is this course for me?
The Modern Defense is a hyper-modern chess opening where you will let White occupy the center with pawns while waiting for the right moment to undermine it later on.
Controlling the center at the distance and pawn-bombing white’s e4-d4 center is a lot of fun and will give your opponents constant headaches.
Closely related to The Pirc Defense, there are numerous transpositions between them you can even end up playing a King’s Indian Defense by transposition, so if you are a fan of the Kingside fianchetto, this course is a must-have!
Here’s part of what this course is going to teach you:
The Modern Defense – White goes for the kill! 2.h4
In the main sideline idea, white tries to prove black wrong and threatens to go for blood with 1.e4 g6 2.h4 which could take you by surprise.
Fair enough, if GM Lemos is going to take you into the Modern Defense waters, he always makes sure that aggressive sidelines like this one are covered.
That’s why GM Lemos offers his favorite line 2…Nf6?! putting early pressure on white’s center where careful play is needed as there are several natural moves that simply gives black a better endgame.
If white tries to go for an early pawn storm you will know how to repel white’s over-aggressive play and gain the advantage for yourself.
The Modern Defense – White plays e4-d4-c4
In this variation, black allows white to get a huge center after 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.c4 (Diagram) then plays 3…d6.
This seems like a simple transposition to a King’s Indian Defense but keep in mind the knight is still on g8 and that means we keep the position flexible.
GM Damian Lemos will show you everything you need to know in order to understand these positions and play the Modern Defense with confidence.
Bulletproof Bg7 Openings for Black by GM Damian Lemos
If you are a tournament player looking for a definitive repertoire for Black that will be based more on positional understanding and strategical thinking and less on memorizing tons of theory, this is the bundle for you!
In around 30 hours of deep content, GM Damian Lemos is fully dedicated to teaching you the strategic ideas of the Pirc, Modern, Accelerated Dragon, and King’s Indian Defense – four openings that share ideas and themes, and play often transposes between them. This is a complete repertoire for Black.
You will learn grandmaster strategies that will turn your position into total domination of the a1-h8 diagonal, plus many other ideas to give your opponents hell.
Bulletproof Bg7 Openings for Black by GM Damian Lemos works perfectly as both a complete training course on each of the chess openings, and as an invaluable reference guide for the many advantageous transpositions that there are. The Kingside Fianchetto is a resource you can play for life, at whatever level you are, so studying several openings that employ it is time well spent.
About the Author:
GM Damian Lemos
Damian Lemos is a grandmaster from Argentina with a peak rating of 2559 Elo.
In his lessons, Damian works closely with students to first identify the flaws and weaknesses in their games so that they can be properly evaluated and corrected.
By developing specifically-tailored training regimens for every one of his students, Grandmaster Lemos is able to achieve results that other chess coaches dream of.
How do I benefit from this bundle?
If you’re looking to finally solve what you will play as Black 1.e4 and 1.d4, there are several reasons why you should consider playing the openings that include a fianchettoed Bishop on g7:
Posting a bishop in the long diagonal poses several discovery threats that are the delight of players, but are as sound as they come – both intermediate and advanced players handle this set up successfully at their level, and even while playing against higher rated players!
If you don’t like to get dragged into long theoretical preparation in the most common openings where you will have to play cautiously while your opponent doesn’t even think and just fires one move after another, this is the solution.
Every successful player has openings they can always rely on.
One they know inside-out. One that generates killer attacks, are easy to defend and come with a ton of positional advantages.
This is a complete GM repertoire for Black, combining theory, ideas and model games to give you a set up that you understand perfectly. All brilliantly explained by one of the world’s top trainers.
Here’s what we’ve included in this bundle:
The King’s Indian Defense Deep Dive – GM Damian Lemos
The King’s Indian Defense – The Ultimate Guide To A Dynamic Chess Opening
Put your opponent on the defensive with the classic counter-attacking weapon against 1.d4 – the King’s Indian Defense – the choice of World Champions from Bobby Fischer to Garry Kasparov.
In this comprehensive 9 hour Deep Dive course, GM Damian Lemos reveals all you need to know to become an expert in the King’s Indian Defense (1.d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7), demonstrating how to combat each of the main White variations in turn.
The active King’s Indian Defense repertoire recommended by GM Lemos will frustrate White players used to trying their pet lines while giving Black excellent chances to play for a win in all variations.
The King’s Indian Defense is the definitive answer to 1.d4 and will serve you well for the whole of your playing career. If you want an opening system that your opponents will fear and will produce attacking wins by the bucket-load, master the King’s Indian Defense with GM Damian Lemos’ Deep Dive course!
The Pirc Defense Deep Dive – GM Damian Lemos
The Pirc Defense – GM Damian Lemos
In this comprehensive 8-hour Deep Dive course, GM Damian Lemos builds up your knowledge on one of the most dynamic chess openings for Black, the Pirc Defense.
Put your opponents on the defensive with a classic counter-attacking weapon against 1.e4, the Pirc Defense (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6).
With Super GMs like Grischuk, Ivanchuk, and Kramnik adopting this opening, you’re in an excellent company and can enjoy being a master of one of the most exciting opening options available to Black.
As well as a huge theory section covering all reasonable setups White might try against the Pirc, GM Lemos shows how these ideas play out in practice through the analysis of instructive games, making sure you’re ready with the most powerful reply!
This is a great way to frustrate your rivals who are used to playing their pet lines as they will end up getting lost in the Pirc’s complexities. The Pirc Defense gives you excellent winning chances as it’s a highly flexible, tricky, and double-edged opening with which Black can avoid premature simplifications and confidently go for the full point.
The Modern Defense Deep Dive – GM Damian Lemos
Whether you prefer quiet strategic positions or wild tactical positions, the Modern Defense (1.e4 g6) gives you the flexibility to push the game in a direction where you feel totally comfortable.
And to be able to do this — without memorizing too much theory — as Black…is huge!
That’s why GMs like Aronian and Andreikin have really taken notice and are adopting this opening, often winning beautiful games in the process.
In this course, Grandmaster Damian Lemos demystifies the Modern Defense — breaking down all of the theory, strategic plans and attacking ideas at your disposal.
GM Lemos also points out the critical strategic differences that distinguish this opening from the Pirc Defense, revealing how you could even combine the two openings to create the ultimate repertoire against 1.e4.
Your 6 hours training with Damian will fly by quickly as you soak up more and more weapons and add them to your arsenal — you’ll be dying to unleash them on unsuspecting 1.e4 players in your next tournament.
The Accelerated Dragon in the Sicilian Defense – GM Damian Lemos
The Accelerated Dragon – Lemos Deep Dive
The Accelerated Dragon is a great choice for players who want an aggressive opening they can play against a number of White set-ups. Know what you’re doing and you have fast development, great activity and a tough to crack position.
In this 8 hour Deep Dive course, GM Damian Lemos builds up your knowledge of this powerful opening weapon, starting with the main ideas and delving into the hidden nuances which will allow you to claim the full point against 1.e4 players.
GM Lemos covers all of White’s main options, pinpoints all the things to watch out for, gives his most trusted suggestions and shows how they play out in practice by analyzing memorable model games.
With players like Carlsen, Kasparov, Ivanchuk and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave adopting this opening, you’re in an excellent company and can enjoy being a master of one of the most exciting opening options available to Black.
How to Think Like a Chess Master – IM Danny Rensch
Danny Rensch is BACK again…this time with 29 more hours of invaluable chess training showing you the thinking procedure a Master employs whenever he evaluates a position or calculates a certain line.
Starting with his now-famous Live Sessions, IM Rensch shows us how to assess and stand up to the diverse difficulties that might arise in any game we play.
Whether it’s a King’s Gambit, a Blumenfeld Gambit, Nimzo-Indian, etc… Come and learn the thinking process a chess master must have in order to succeed.
IM Danny Rensch also goes over chess dot com member games. He highlights the most important errors on both sides of the board and provides solutions for improvement.
About the Author:
Danny Rensch is an American International Master, event organizer, and commentator. He holds the Arizona State record for the youngest national master at the age of 14 years old. The National Master title is awarded by the US Chess Federation when a player’s rating surpasses 2200 on the USCF rating system.
Rensch obtained his final IM norm at Susan Polgar’s SPICE CUP tournament, by achieving a draw against then-Grandmaster candidate Ray Robson.
Rensch is best known for his coverage of the GM Blitz Battles. His live shows at chess.com/tv include “Man vs Machine,” “Call of the Wild,” and “Bullet Brawls.”
Is this course for me?
“How to Think Like a Chess Master by IM Danny Rensch” has been specifically developed to help you improve your game by learning the fine aspects of the game you should evaluate before choosing a plan. You will also benefit by looking at the most common mistakes you and your opponent usually make when playing a game.
Find the answer to the questions: How do chess masters seemingly find incredible tactics effortlessly? How do they win complex looking endgames with ease? How many moves in advance do you have to calculate in order to be a player of “master-level”?
Join IM Danny Rensch and get the answers…
Here’s part of what you’ll see:
Live sessions
Strange Material Balances. Danny makes things more exciting for the viewer by sacrificing his queen on move 6! An exciting game ensues where he gives a lot of good advice on how to handle positions with strange material imbalances.
Beating Mediocre Openings.Danny sits down and faces a strong opponent who chooses a “less-than-stellar” opening. After struggling to find a clear win Danny gives his philosophy on how to approach such situations.
Theory of Dynamic Compensation. Time for Danny to employ one of his favorite openings. He must rely on the “dynamic tension” in the position in order to find compensation for a sacrificed pawn. When White’s pieces can’t find good squares, he eventually lashes out, allowing Danny to “stick a thorn” into white’s position.
Amateur Game Review: Chess Crimes
IM Rensch kicks off a series analyzing the games of lower-rated players where he seeks to provide useful advice that you can apply to your own chess game and your own studies. There is a focus on proper psychology with the introduction of mental discipline, but also some good chess lessons about playing in the opening.
How to Analyze Your Own Games
If you really want to improve, you need to go over your own games! IM Daniel Rensch joins you in the task of reviewing and critiquing your own play, searching for mistakes and patterns along the way, with the ultimate goal of finding chess improvement.
This only a portion of what you’ll enjoy in the 29 hours of high-quality training material!
Complete Ruy Lopez Repertoire with GM Marian Petrov
GM Marian Petrov is back with his complete guide to this fascinating opening. His 10-hour Complete Ruy Lopez walks you through every major variation, explaining how the different choices change the dynamic of the game.
The crazy must-know line in the Berlin
The concept of the pawn square will tell you the answer every single time without requiring you to expend energy trying to calculate the moves out.
IM Kiewra provides you with valuable guiding principles that will serve you well during chess games for years to come.
A large majority of club players are weak when playing the endgame in chess. They usually don’t get found out because their opponents also lack the necessary skills.
In 21st Century Chess Endgame Technique, 
Whether you love or hate endgames, serious chess players need this endgame knowledge in order to improve…and Anna’s Essential Endgames Course is the simplest way to cram the ideas into your brain and begin using them immediately.
Beginner players will find exceptional value in the 10 DVD, 30-hour course presented by Argentine Grandmaster Damian Lemos in Empire Chess Volumes 21-30.
What do super-GMs Wesley So, Ding Liren and Alexander Grischuk have in common? They all frequently rely on the French Defense!
In the Exchange Variation of the French Defense, White trades the pawns with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5.
This is one of the main lines where white opts to advance his e-pawn with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5.
GM Lemos’ Deep Dive Collection – Vol. 01 – 15
Playing the English Opening can be a vital alternative for all 1.e4- and 1.d4-players who are tired of repeatedly entering the highly theoretical terrain of all the main lines Black can choose from.
The King’s Gambit has fascinated the greatest chess players throughout all of chess history.
The French Defense has been a favorite opening of many of the world’s top players, including former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik and the legendary Viktor Korchnoi.
You’ll get access to a 7-hour course covering all of the strategic imbalances in chess. In 14 chapters, GM Petrov teaches you themes like pawn structure, the bishop pair, attacking the king, dominating open files — and he even gives you a basic opening repertoire for BOTH black and white.
