About 10 months ago, Nery approached me. We already knew each other; Nery had been my student in group online classes for about 2 years. Nery’s main goal and desire is to help chess lovers like himself. Let’s say we don’t know the theory beyond moves 8-10 and, in many cases, after 5-6 moves we find it difficult to make the right choice. We are also not interested in studying all these complex and long variations, it does not bring us pleasure, and we only want to understand the criteria that we can rely on in choosing a move or plan in opening positions that are critical for us. Nery came to this idea thanks to numerous positions from many of his games in which he found it difficult to make a quick and correct decision. The analysis of these positions after the game, and the conclusions made together with his coach or the computer, or even independently, brought invaluable experience for making further correct decisions in the opening.
Dear chess friends, he wants to share this experience with you.
I’m sure you will enjoy reading this book. Play chess and love chess!!!
We live in era of computers (unfortunately!) and we are simply forced to use them often and widely. Chess is no exclusion – it is impossible even to imagine modern chess without computers, engines, databases, online platforms, etc. Modern generations have their first connection with chess through computers, not books, and that is wrong of course! Young players prefer to memorize than to understand; they follow some fashionable line even if they do not know what is going on!
That motivated me to write this book – logic must be included in the process of chess education! Moreover, logic must be the most important part of that education process. Youngsters often neglect logic and not surprisingly they get surprised when their “well-remembered” variation doesn’t work.
Experienced players often lead the game out of theory, to places where understanding will prevail over memory and energy. That is my favorite concept against youngsters –setting static situations on the board – because young players usually go for dynamics, because they are good at calculating and memorizing. Understanding and logic are everything you need with statics on the board.
You can hardly find a more unconventional idea than pushing your g-pawn 2 squares down the board.
Some may say it belongs to a backroom chess game in a café, some may say it belongs to olden times - back when the King's Gambit was the main line after 1.e4 e5. But we are seeing more and more occurrences at the top-level.
Is it a coincidence ??
It's safe to say that g2-g4 (or ...g7-g5) is one of the most weakening moves available. As a matter of fact, the objectively worst first-move happens to be 1.g4, accompanied by an evaluation of -1.30 when running Stockfish 15 on low-depth (we did not see the point on letting it run in this position, it will probably get lower, that's not good advertising).
Now, there are quite a few positions where g2-g4 (or ...g7-g5) makes more sense and brings an interesting fight. The player has to be willing to take some considerable amount of risk, and that may be too much for some of us. The resulting positions often get messy and veer very much away from traditional paths, which means the expected number of mistakes gets higher, thus decreasing the drawing percentage.
Still, it's important to remain somewhat objective and not to get too excited by the thrill of an upcoming attack. Yes, g-pawn pushes are aggressive, but can also very quickly turn out to have disastrous consequences. "I wish I could play g4-g2", is usually a sign the experiment has gone wrong. The book is aimed at covering a wide range of chess openings. We decided to showcase the different categories of g4 (...g5) one may meet in the early stage of the opening, no matter if the idea is strong, interesting or quite unadvisable (bad, you may also say).
Most of the time, g4 (...g5) won't be the best move, but we will try to show that the value of surprise and the tendency of players to react solidly to aggression can matter as well. Also, we have decided not to include any Sicilians, as the g2-g4 push has become so frequent there, and in many variations deeply analyzed already.
Over the 50 games that we picked, the 3 main reasons why the g-pawn is being launched are: 1) Attacking a short-castled king with a hook created by h2-h3 (or ...h7-h6) 2) Challenging the stable position of a Nf3 (or ...Nf6). It becomes stronger when the knight doesn't have a good square to hop to. 3) Seizing space on the kingside.
The more you dive into the examples, the more you'll see that it's a mix of the 3, with one reason prevailing. We wish you happy reading and hope that you'll implement some of these lines into your play!
Although the London System has been known for a long time, it has only surged in popularity in the last decade or so. This rise can likely be attributed to many players’ desire to focus more on the practical aspects of chess, emphasizing positional understanding over the heavy use of engines and memorization of long theoretical lines. The London System has seen not just an increase in the number of games but also a deeper understanding of the positions it produces. Historically, it was sporadically used, with only a few regular practitioners, such as grandmasters Milorad Knezevic and Vlado Kovacevic from the former Yugoslavia, and the English GM Tony Miles.
Today, players like Gata Kamsky and Magnus Carlsen frequently employ the London System, and it has become a staple in the repertoires of many other grandmasters and non-grandmasters alike. The system’s various move orders and the resulting transpositions make it unique, adding a layer of complexity not as prevalent in other openings.
My personal experience with the London System has been mixed. After losing a game to Grandmaster Volkov in the Rilton Cup, I initially decided that the resulting positions were not to my liking. However, in 2019, I revisited the London System during a game in a World Senior tournament and played exceptionally well. Like any opening, it can lead to both good and bad games, but the London System has undeniably become a significant part of 1.d4 theory.
Dragoljub Velimirovic was a former Yugoslav - Serbian, chess grandmaster whose international career was handicapped by political intrigues and his outspoken temperament. During the heyday of the USSR as the greatest national chess power, the former Yugoslavia was capable of running the Soviet Union a good second. Dragoljub Velimirovic posed a real threat to the men from Moscow.
Velimirovic was born in 1942 to a prominent family from Valjevo, in the former Yugoslavia. He was introduced to chess at the age of seven by his mother, Jovanka Velimirovic, one of Yugoslavia's leading female chess players. He died at the age 72, being one of the last players to develop a system or strategy that is so inventive it bears its creator's name. It is a feat that is unlikely to be repeated in the modern era, when computer-based games and databases so thoroughly dominate competition that it is almost impossible to come up with something new. That does not mean that players were more talented or courageous in the decades when Velimirovic was in his prime. Velimirovic, who became a grandmaster in 1973, was never among the 20 top-ranked players in the world. And that was when there were only 200 or so grandmasters; today, there are about 2,400.
What does it take to become an expert in opening preparation?
How can we learn the secret methods which allow the top players to dominate everyone else in the opening?
Books can hardly be useful in this regard because modern books on openings, regardless of the level of the author, are very standard and straightforward. The title of this book claims to answer this question. Your author will then back up his claim with proof in the form of analysis from a strong engine. You are then left to decide whether or not to include these ideas in your opening repertoire.
What is missing is some sort of guidance and advice relating to what sorts of tournaments and against what sorts of players this idea should be employed. Moreover, every one of you has likely noticed that even the best opening idea still has a relatively short life span and can hardly be used in more than a few games. So far I have published about 10 books on openings and for me it is not a problem to publish another 10 or even more. However, in the modern era I believe the lifespan of an opening book is incredibly short as new games are constantly being played and new ideas are being found. I feel it would be much more useful to you if I uncover a new approach to opening preparation, which will be more long-lasting and will improve your play as well.
The method of opening preparation I have used throughout my entire chess-playing career (1997 – 2018) allowed me, with relatively little effort, to be unpredictable the re by winning the psychological battle of the opening. Luring my opponents into prepared opening tricks and traps was great fun!
In the method which I will introduce you to in this book, the first and most important aspect is adapting your approach to each individual opponent and perfect prediction of the opponent’s opening choice, to the smallest details.
The Semi-Slav Defense transcends its classification as a mere defensive response to 1.d4.
It embodies a dynamic and multifaceted system that offers Black not only solidity in defense but also active counterplay and strategic flexibility. Here's why the Semi-Slav is more than just a defense:
Rather than passively defending, the Semi-Slav allows Black to counterattack in the center and on the flanks. Moves like ...e6-e5 and ...c6-c5 often lead to sharp, tactical positions where Black can seize the initiative.
By delaying the development of the knight to f6, Black achieves a solid pawn structure with pawns on d5, e6, and c6. This structure provides a firm foundation for Black's pieces and restricts White's options for pawn breaks.
The history of the Queen's Gambit is connected with the very beginnings of modern chess, the opening being cited in the earliest published books on the science game, such as the Göttingen manuscript (1490) and the books of Ruy Lopez (1561) and Salvio (1604). The so-called Queen's Gambit Declined - or refused - is, together with the Slav, the main defense in the universe of Queenside openings, and shares with the aforementioned defense a well earned reputation for being a reliable and very solid scheme.
To make a book considering each and every possibility arising from the opening position of the Queen's Gambit Declined is a cyclopean task that would demand many volumes like the present one. Instead, my aim was to present a simpler repertoire, with no more than one or two variation options for each important position (in the latter case I generally present a more positional and a more aggressive line, although in many cases these boundaries are blurred).
The last section of the book is devoted to the other possible schemes starting from different white moves on their third or fourth move. Here the chapters on the Catalan order 3.g3, which is among the fashionable lines at the master level, and the move 4.e3 (preceded by a knight move to the third rank) are highlighted.
Each section presented here is composed of several chapters in which theory is developed with an emphasis on the most modern choices in practice. At the end of each chapter the author presented analyzed games that expose the most common ideas in middlegames. We hope that by the end of reading this material the reader will not only have incorporated some new ideas into his repertoire - and perhaps changed the idea that the Queen's Gambit Declined is a passive defense - but also have contributed to his general knowledge of chess.
• The author has presented a complete opening repertoire for White.
• After 1.Nc3, the game can take various trans-positional paths.
• The opening move 1.Nc3 aims to control the center indirectly, and it allows for a flexible development of the pieces.
• The move prepares for subsequent development, and the game might transpose into various other openings depending on the subsequent moves by both players.
• While 1.Nc3 is not as popular or mainstream as some other first moves (like 1.e4 or 1.d4), it can be an interesting choice for players who want to steer the game away from well-known theoretical lines early on and enter into positions that might be less studied.
• As with any opening, understanding the resulting pawn structures, piece placements, and plans is crucial for successful play.
DragonMasters volume 1 charts the history of the most exciting and dangerous opening known to chess - the Dragon Variation of the Sicilian Defense.
Unlike almost all other books on the Dragon, the focus is not purely on theoretical development. Instead, the author has combined the most historically important games, the famous players who chose to fight either side (sometimes both sides!) of the opening, and the most unexpected and interesting stories featuring the Dragon. World Champions, contenders of the crown, code-breakers, revolutionaries in every sense of the world - all feature in this remarkable and entirely unique look into the history of an opening variation. as the ancient may say: Here be Dragons!
Given the changes in the chess world over the last few years I feel that we badly need an update of how to prepare and out-prepare your opponent during a chess tournament.
The pandemic giving rise to vastly underrated junior and amateur players. Online chess taking a much more prominent role. Accusations of cheating making the headlines. Social media being used as a tool to educate the chess masses. All these have lead to a different landscape, but some things stay the same. The player who is willing to analyse and work on chess harder than the rest will still separate his or herself from their peers. In my view, at least 90 percent of success in tournament play will come down to how good your calculation and analysis is. Because that is the bread and butter of tournament play. This is what I will try to get across in this book, that a chess player will often stand or fall on the quality of analysis and I will discuss the positive and negative role that working with computers has on a players overall strength. I will also try to explain why my chess fell into a torpor because of an over reliance on computers and how I have recently come to realize that technical deficiencies have often held me back from reaching the higher echelons of the game. And in doing so, and looking at the chess world and trying to explain it from my point of view while following my own progress and that of others I will try to put together a tournament battle plan.