Hi, My name is Sagar Shah and i am rated 2359. I played a very interesting game against Sofranov Velizar, in june 2013 and with the help of this game I would like to explain the importance of recognizing patterns in the middlegame and using them effectively.
In this video we'll analyze some important practical rules for playing gambits (and for counteracting gambits). We'll be analyzing quite an unknown gambit that you can play against Sicilian defense. You'll test your skills trying to guess right moves in a really cool game! Enjoy it! :)
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One of the questions we receive from players who are starting in the game and others with more experience as well is ''what should I play?'' It feels like one must decide and “marry” a set of openings for white and black in order to be a serious chess player, something close to being “an expert” on something.
No doubt this approach was very popular years ago, with super strong players making tons of points out of the same openings over and over again. However, times have changed and unfortunately (?) having a narrow repertoire is no longer the way most Grandmasters operate these days.
This is of course done for a clear reason. In times where everyone has access to all of your games, it becomes extremely difficult to beat a well prepared opponent, even if he is 200 rating points lower. After all, you won't be really facing him, but his excellent homework. That is why nowadays if you want to hit first you have to constantly keep playing new openings and going where your opponent expects less.
Still, there a few positive things about having a narrow repertoire and we have created a list in order to compare.
Narrow repertoire (1 or 2 systems with white/black)
Positive points:
Becoming an expert of your favorite opening system boosts your confidence and gives you a feeling of safety during the game; you'll be walking in well known land.
Less chances that you get surprised in the opening. With only one or two systems to study, one can actually learn all its secrets, or at least most of them.
More time to focus on other aspects of training like technique or tactical skills.
Sounds great, but now let's see the negative things about always playing the same.
Negative points:
You'll get caught, eventually. This will happen, sooner or later. With all the information available (all your games), engines and coaches. Chances are very high that your opening gets busted once or twice forcing you to repair it. Then it will get busted again.
You miss extra competitive weapons such as surprising your opponent with something new. Even if your Najdorf (for example) is in great shape, your opponent will be in a comfortable zone, he has been expecting it and preparing for it.
Narrows your chess too! By playing the same positions all the time you miss many forms chess can be played. You don’t expand your understanding.
Now that we are through with the comparison between the two styles of approaching openings, we leave the choice to you on which road you prefer to go, but our advice is that you become a much more uncomfortable player to face if you play 3 openings or more with each side.
The answer is clear, a recent look at strong Opens like Gibraltar, Qatar, or Reykjavik shows how using different systems is the trend nowadays. Kramnik for example, starts by 1.Nf3 as white, followed by 2.g3 and 3.0-0, but then you can't really tell if he will get into the Catalan or Reti or will simply do something else. In another game he tried the London system, and so on. Another clear example is the case of Peter Svidler, a well known attacking player, who has switched from his main 1.e4 to 1.d4, 1.Nf3, 1.c4 or even 1.g3. This makes him a more unpredictable player and therefore more difficult to prepare against.
To finish our article we will show you now three games by well known players employing rather unusual opening systems and winning convincingly.
The first game we will examine was played between the former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler. Kramnik's creative opening choice was meant to avoid Svidler's knowledge in the Grunfeld defense. Despite starting by 1.Nf3 and 2.g3, white took over the initiative at a very early stage of the game.
ur conclusion is that openings are very important, but not the most important. As we can see from the examples shown above, you can obtain a playable and interesting position with almost anything. Even if something is dubious, if your opponent is not prepared he won't remember the refutations. He can be spending time trying to remember something and in the end, when the time for important decisions comes, he will be short on the clock.
If you want to improve your chess level, you need to have a clear study plan. If you aim for a dramatic improvement at chess you need to work on all of the elements of the game in a systematic way:
tactics
positional play
attacking skills
endgame technique
classical games analysis
psychological preparation
and much more
That seems to be like a lot of things, and that is. But no worries, we have made it easy for you. Our comprehensive training course covers it all and much more. Sign up for 21 Day Training right now!
All chess players want to become masters, but only 1% succeed and the other 99% fail. Is that because they don’t have talent, necessary IQ level or some other master traits? Nope. The 99%don't reach the master level for a completely different set of reasons. Curious to find out why?
Most chess players don’t reach the master level for the following reasons:
1. They Don't Set Goals
Setting goals is very important part of achieving them. By setting a goal and a deadline for when it should be achieved you will keep yourself motivated and increase your chances of success by as much as 500%. Keep in mind that the goals should be realistic, meaning you shouldn't set a goal of becoming a Grandmaster in 3 month if you're currently 1400 rated. Nor should you set a goal of learning all 1000 endgames from the endgame manual by heart in a week or two.
The goal is there to motivate you, not to kill you. That's why picking an achievable goal is a very important step. After you have picked a realistic goal, you should document it. Take a piece of paper and write what your goal is, when you will achieve it and what happens if you don't achieve it on time.
For example, you can write that your goal is to solve no less than 3 tactics problems per day, every day for one month of time, starting month/day/year.
If you don't do that you will donate an extra 100$ (if that does not motivate you, you can go for 500 or 1000$) to the charity of your choice, won't be able to use your phone for specified number of day, watch your favorite TV show or some similar “punishment”.
By simply having a realistic, written goal, deadline and consequences in case you fail to achieve it you will set yourself for success.
2. They Don't Plan Their Training
Most chess players are training spontaneously, by randomly working on different aspects of chess that they feel comfortable with. Nothing is wrong with this approach, except that it usually doesn't lead to improvement.
Wouldn't it be great to improve your tactical vision so that you could see all of the threats 10 moves ahead?
Wouldn't it be nice to study the endgames so that you don't have to take chances when playing those Rook and Pawn endings?
Wouldn't it be helpful to learn some positional game ideas as well as some attacking techniques? And indeed it would be nice to brush off your opening preparation, so that you don't end up in these losing middlegames.
Surprisingly most chess players know what they need to be doing, but somehow they don't do it. Having a precise study plan, that will keep you motivated and focused while providing you with the right resources will help you to become a better player.
3. They Don't Schedule Their Time
Once you have the goal and the training plan it does not mean that you will automatically improve your game. You need to put the work first. And in order to do that, you need to schedule your day, so that you always have time to stick to the plan.
You will be much more likely to commit to a certain activity like jogging, weight-lifting or becoming a chess master if you schedule when you will do that. For example, you may train for 5 days per week from 8 to 9 am. Being consistent and working on chess in step-by-step manner will get you where you need to be.
4. They Don't Track Progress
Having some sort of analytics or in other words tracking your chess improvement progress is very important if you want to become a stronger player. Writing down what problems you did, which ones you've solved correctly and which ones you didn't is very important for realizing what you understand and what you don't.
The same goes to the games you play. You need to track in what kind of openings/middlegames/endgames you perform best and worst at. Then, you need to make appropriate adjustments to fix your weaknesses and build on your strengths.
5. They Don't Make Changes
Last, but not least, alternating your training routine once a month or so will help you to avoid the plateau in your chess. Have you noticed how easy it is to improve at first? While you're lower rated, you can easily pickup as many as 200-300 points in matter of months.
Then, when you get stronger at chess, improving tends to become more difficult, partly because your brain gets used to the exercises you typically perform. Therefore, alternating your routine is crucial to avoid plateauing on the certain level.
If you want to improve your chess level, you need to have a clear study plan. If you aim for a dramatic improvement at chessyou need to work on all of the elements of the game in a systematic way:
tactics
positional play
attacking skills
endgame technique
classical games analysis
psychological preparation
and much more
That seems to be like a lot of things, and that is. But no worries, we have made it easy for you. Our comprehensive training course covers it all and much more. Sign up for 21 Day Training right now!
there will be a MASSIVE 30% discount on all the RCA products! This discount is valid from today until Saturday, 31 October (inclusive). You can use the coupon “igor28” when making your purchase. Check here if you don’t know how to use a discount code. Second, we have released the second part of the premium video “Killer Endgames” by GM Nick Pert (a premium video from our partner, GM Simon Williams).
We released “Killer Endgames Part-1” for you, in the month of August. We received a lot of feedback from the students – many students (someone like YOU) liked the premium video. So, we have made the best foot forward and continue to provide you with what you like.
Don’t forget that you can get this premium video with the above-mentioned 30% discount! Just use the coupon “igor28”.
Moreover, there is another special offer, you can get. If you purchase the premium video, “Killer Endgames Part-2” by GM Nick Pert, you will get the RCA premium video, “Typical Mistakes in Practical Middlegame and Endings” (worth $15) completely FREE.
Additionally, we are doing our best to make the paper version of my book, A Promoted Pawn: My Chess Journey, available, and most likely it will be so. Since there are special offers in honor of my birthday, you will be able to purchase the book with a good discount.
Note: if you have already purchased the book in e-book format, you will just have to pay for the paper version (i.e. You need NOT pay for the actual book’s cost)
Also, we’re planning to sell the book during my next seminar in Trissur. You can get the book from me along with my autograph. If you would like to attend my seminar, just reserve your seat now here.
All chess players know that grandmasters can calculate many moves ahead, evaluate the position, and deliver the final blow. How do they do that? Is there a way an ordinary chess player can learn to calculate many moves ahead like masters do? In this article, we will answer those questions and show you a simple schematic that will tremendously help at calculating moves.
Step 1. Knowing when and what to calculate
The most important step in move calculation is actually to know when you need to calculate the variation and when you don’t.Chess players, even very strong Grandmasters, are not machines. They cannot simply calculate all lines and come up with the best continuation.
That’s why it is very important to realize when you need to calculate the line. The primary difference between a strong and a weak player is not how much each player calculates. The main difference between the two is in the ability of each player to find the right moves to calculate in the first place.
There are no general guidelines as of when and what you need to calculate. But I will try to give you some basic suggestions that will help you at deciding when you should calculate the variation:
1. When your own king or your opponent’s king is under attack, you should calculate the possibilities to end or continue the attack.
2. When there are many pieces/pawns under attack you should calculate the possibilities to win/save the pieces/pawns.
3. When the position is unstable (possible exchanges, pawns structure changes, simplifications etc.) you should calculate how you can benefit the most from it.
Step 2. Finding the candidate moves
After figuring out what and when to calculate you should find the so-called candidate moves. These are the moves that will most likely lead to the most favorable outcome. They generally make sense based on the current positional evaluation. After identifying3-4 candidate moves you should start calculating the lines, starting with what you think is the strongest candidate move.
The ability to calculate these lines solely depends on your calculation and visualization skills that can be enhanced by special exercises.
Ready to start systematic training that actually works?
After you have finished calculating the line based on selected candidate moves, you have arrived to a certain final position. In order to judge if the move was a good one or not, it is necessary to evaluate this position and to understand if you’ve achieved some improvement on the board.
This evaluation possesses additional challenges because you cannot see the position on the board, and need to evaluate it only based on your visualization ability.
Step 4. Using method of elimination
In order to make your life simpler, it is crucial to decrease the number of moves and variations that you need to calculate and analyze. If you start calculation of the line and notice that there are already many problems after move 3, there is no need to continue the calculation. Save some time and use it where it needed the most.
Chess is not a game for a perfectionist, by rather for a player who knows how to spend his resources wisely. You goal is to eliminate all bad possibilities and to calculate/play only the good moves.
Step 5. Making the final decision
The final step is probably the easiest of all five. You need to critically look at your analysis and select a single best move to play in the game. If you encounter two or more moves which are about the same quality, you can go ahead and play any of the two. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but it should be a good move.
After you have selected the move you will play, it makes sense to double check the line and to make sure that you are not making a mistake. When that is done, you can go ahead and play the move. If you did everything correctly, your position should slightly improve.
Many chess players wish to know if they will ever become Grandmasters. There are many exams available that can estimate your current strength, but none can tell you whether you can become a GM or not. Today we have compiled a short list of very important signs that may suggest you have a real potential for obtaining the highest chess title. Curious to find out if that’s about you? Read on!
1. Well-developed chess intuition
All grandmasters have a well-developed chess intuition. That means even without analyzing the position, GMs already know what's happening on the board, what side is winning and what move each player should play.
That won't be a 100% accurate analysis, like you will get if you calculate all of the variations or plug in the position into an engine. Nevertheless, it is a fairly accurate evaluation that can be used to make decisions during the game.
Another sign that you have a well-developed chess intuition is ability of guessing GM's moves during the game. It is very easy to check. Start watching any high level chess game and try guessing what moves one or another player will make. If the percentage of the moves you’ve guessed correctly is high, congratulations, you already may have a well-developed chess intuition.
2. Great memory for chess positions and patterns
Another very important thing for a strong player is a good memory for chess positions and patterns. Many grandmasters keep 100s if not 1000s of classical games in their heads.
Ability to memorize positions and games is extremely useful when it comes to preparation of openings, endgames or playing a typical middlegames. Grandmasters remember many classical games dealing with all sorts of pawn structures, endgames, tactical motifs, weaknesses, attacking schemes and so on.
If you have a good chess memory, you can put yourself a big plus on the potential grandmasters' checklist.
3. Superior visualization skills
Visualization is probably the single most important skill that a grandmaster needs because it is directly related to tactics. Without the ability to visualize positions, after certain moves are made and some pieces are captures, it is next to impossible to become a strong tactical player.
Visualization skills help tremendously at finding the correct tactics, calculating lines, planning the game and even finishing off the simple endgames. If you have strong visualization skills, your chances of becoming a grandmaster are much higher than for those who don't.
4. Ability to work on chess for hours
Even if you have all necessary prerequisites for becoming a grandmaster, you won't become one unless you spend a lot of time working on chess and perfecting your game. You see, even the most gifted chess players such as Magnus Carlsen, need to spend years to develop their talent.
That's why the ability to work on the game consistently, without getting bored and tired is crucial for becoming an elite chess player.
5. High level of competitiveness
Without a high level of competitiveness and a strong drive for becoming a better chess player it is not possible to progress. Some of the most competitive chess players such as Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov are also the most successful ones in history of the game.
If you want to become a grandmaster you must be competitive, you must try to win every single position against every single opponent you face. You should take each defeat as an opportunity to patch your preparation holes, to return and win.
6. Ability to stay focused for extended periods of time
Chess matches can be long, extremely long. Any grandmaster has played games which lasted for 6-7 hours non-stop. These kinds of games are exhausting and drain you both mentally and physically. In order to win such games you need to preserve energy and stay focused for the whole time. Any mistake can end the game not in your favor.
If you want to become a grandmaster you should be able to stay focused for very long periods of time. You need to learn making the best moves, even when you're tired or totally exhausted. Only then you can win games against stronger competition and be on your way to breaking that magical 2500.
7. Ability to perform well under pressure
It is a fact that defending in chess is much harder than attacking. There is a lot more at stake when your king is under pressure. You can get checkmated and the game will be over instantly. Any chess player ends up in terrible position sooner or later. It takes a true talent and courage not to give up and to pull yourself out of the losing position.
It is not possible to become a grandmaster without the ability to save lost games. You need to learn playing your best chess under pressure, even when you are down in material or under a serious attack. That will save you many games, and will gain you plenty of rating points.
Is it enough for becoming a grandmaster? It is no way to know. But if you can do it, the chances are you can become a GM someday.
If you want to improve your chess level, you need to have a clear study plan. If you aim for a dramatic improvement at chess you need to work on all of the elements of the game in a systematic way:
tactics
positional play
attacking skills
endgame technique
classical games analysis
psychological preparation
and much more...
This book is not about how I became a Grandmaster..
First, let me ask you a few questions – have you ever played blitz chesstournaments in your club or on the Internet? Have you won some good gamesand tournaments in blitz? Were you finding a steady increase in your progress?
If your answer is “No” or uncertain – then your results will be unstable.
That is because you need to have a sharp mind to calculate a lot of moves within a few seconds. And this can be done only by repetitive practice and experience.
Not even all grandmasters have stable results – there are only few GMs like Fischer, Morphy, Tal, Capablanca and Anand who can be recognised as a ‘Blitz Master’.
Only the person who has more knowledge on a certain topic, an expert on that topic, can teach it. Therefore, we’ve invited a ‘Blitz Master’ to teach you thoseskills; you can learn and, more importantly, incorporate them into your games and become a ‘Blitz Master’ too!
I’m very glad to announce that the next webinar will be conducted by GM Maxim Dlugy (the main author of the new course) on Friday 30 Jan. at 3 p.m. GMT (check timings here: LINK).
Yes, GM Dlugy is an extraordinary blitz player – he has an incredible top rating of 2731 in blitz! Also, GM Dlugy was the world’s highest ranked in blitz, according to WBCA ratings, a ranking he held for four consecutive years!
In Friday’s webinar, “How to become a Blitz Master?”, GM Dlugy will teach you the 26 secrets of playing blitz well, while analysing his victories against the best players in the world.
In the previous article, I shared with you a short introductory video on the new course, “Unlocking the Grandmaster’s Mind”, and revealed almost everything about the course (if you missed that, check it now: LINK).
Today, I’ve something exciting for you. As I promised that the new course would be ready this month, I’m very glad to announce that it will be released on 29thJan!
But wait, I still have something good for you – yes, I’m going to provide you with some great discounts and special offersto celebrate this special occasion! :)
DISCOUNT:
I’m going to provide you with two discount coupons this time!
The first 100 buyers will be offered a 30% DISCOUNT on the new course! Subsequent buyers will get a 20% DISCOUNTonly.
Also, a few hours in advance I’ll reveal the discount coupon to those students who have subscribed to our newsletter – Quick Success in Chess (LINK). So if you are asubscriber, you have more chances to be among the first 100 buyers and get a30% discount!
If you haven’t yet subscribed to us, you can surely do so now: LINK
NOTE: the discount coupon is valid from 29th Jan. to 1st Feb. (inclusive) only. To learn how to use a discount code, see here: LINK
SPECIAL OFFER:
Do you want to attend the above-mentioned GM Dlugy’s webinar on Friday 30 Jan for FREE? Yes, you can get FREE attendance for the webinar!
If you buy the course, “Unlocking the Grandmaster’s Mind”, on 29 Jan., you can attend GM Dlugy’s webinar, “How to become a ‘Blitz Master?”, on the 30th forFREE!
I’ve also prepared a video explaining the offers in detail. You can watch it below:
Check 
Second, we have released the 
Note: if you have already purchased the book in e-book format, you will just have to pay for the paper version (i.e. You need NOT pay for the actual book’s cost)
