What are our thoughts on this series? I've seen 1800 FIDEs studying this, but my 2400 friend I sometimes speak to has just started this series as a whole, and a few guys at the club (all IMs/GMs) think this book is way too hard for a 2200 like me.

I am in time trouble every game I play. Regularly I play on increment whilst my opponents still have 1hr plus. I spend all my time in the first 15-20 moves every game. I feel like every move I make is an extremely important decision, and I spent a lot of time thinking about them. Any advice for me?

Hi! Am I missing anything? Can I just avoid learning vienna theory if I just play Nc6, and Na5?

Do I get move-ordered somewhere? I play the Two Knights defense.

Example line:

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Na5 5. f4 Nxc4 6. dxc4 Bb4 7. Qd3 Bxc3+ 8. Qxc3 d6 9. fxe5 Nxe4 10. Qd4 Qh4+ 11. g3 dxe5 12. Qxe5+ Qe7 13. Qxe7+ Kxe7 14. Nf3

Position after 4. Na5

So to start off Im 1550 rapid FIDE and peak 2070 CDC rapid and have been playing 1.D4 for while , though due to disappointing results I have resorted to switch my main opening from the Jobava London to the QGA and QG exchange as white to better suit how I am much better at playing positional and solid with the caro kann. But I only have prep vs d5 , e6 , c6 , c5. So I need some suggestions on what openings I might want to have a look at , I am not outright rejecting unconventional openings but would prefer solid simple play which offers good middlegame and endgame chances practically. I am not afraid to learn theory and can even learning 20 or so moves of theory for a mainline but it would be nice if it is on the lower end of theory memorising spectrum.

Looking for a 2000 rated chess blitz player for a short training session. Got a tournament coming up and feel like I still have a few blindspots

We play one blitz game and then briefly go through the game/mistakes afterward. Around 20–30 minutes total.

Paying $30. DM me your chess profile if interested.

Looking for a chess tutor in and around siruseri...if any one knows someone pls point me towards the person...kindly share with your friends

Thanks

Good Morning All,

I think it would be fun and rewarding to learn by studying games chronologically, starting with Steinitz. I'm sure there are some good romantic era games but I prefer the positional style, so...somewhat arbitrary but I won't be looking at Morphy or La Bourdonnais.

What are your favorite Steinitz games? What games of his do you feel you learned from or were able to lose yourselves in?

Thanks for reading,

Sophia

My goal is to play something I can keep for a long time and bingo flexible enough to make some small changes if needed

White 1.e4

Spanish, Martínez Variation (Grand Ruy)

Open Sicilian (Bg5 against Najdorf and Classical, 9.O-O-O dragon, 7.a3 Taimanov, 9.Nd5 Svesh, Maroczy Kan, Ndb5 Four Knights)

3.Nc3 French

Two Knights Caro

Black

1. e5

Marshall attack

Two Knights Italian (Ulvestad and 4.Be7 against d3)

Two Knights Scotch

1.d5 QGD

Modern Carlsbad against exchange

Tartakower Bondarevsky Makagonov against Bg5

4.a6 against Three Knights (Probably a Carlsbad)

4.dxc4 against Catalan and 5.c5

Sielecki KIS against 1.c4 and 1.Nf3

Can you tell us about your federation and how the tournaments are and what do you think is different or needs improvement?

Hello everybody,

i am currently looking for a reasonable response against the KID since i wasnt quite happy with my repertoire.

I woul describe myself as a very solid, positional player with a knack for opening theory and endgames. In my search, i analized the repertoires of two of my favourite players. Karpov and So. I was suprised to see that both of them played the Sämisch a lot against the KID. This suprised me since i was always under the impression that it was a rather aggresive system. Yet. ive come to discover that a lot of positionally minded GMs prefer it. Of course, im aware that the top GMs can play anything regardless of style but the frequency with wich it as played still suprised me. I have no problem with learning a lot of theory but i wanted to get a second opinion first before i throw myself in such a theoretical line. Do you think it would fit my playstile?

This is a warning I guess. I started going to a local chess club for the first time in about 10 years. I had the following position as white in a casual game yesterday. It is black to move.

I was paying attention to the game next to me and not really paying attention to the board when my opponent slammed down his rook and took my f4 pawn, but also his h pawn was now on h2 and I'm lost. I played Kg2, he took my knight, I took the h2 pawn, he won my remaining pawns and won the game.

It wasn't until this morning I realized what had happened and he actually made two moves: h2 and Rxf4. If his pawn had been on h2 before he took on f4 I would have just taken it. This was the second time he made two moves in one during our mini-match. The first time was a previous game and his king crossed two files in one move to try and escort his passed pawn. I caught that, thinking it was an honest mistake. I now think he's just a dishonest player who tries to get away with cheating. It didn't even occur to me that people would stoop so low in over the board games.

Next time I see him I'll bring it up. It's really frustrating. My advice is to keep your guard up because cheating isn't limited to online or computer assistance I guess. https://lichess.org/analysis/fromPosition/2k5/8/1P1p4/8/2P2PrB/5N1p/5K2/8_b_-_-_0_3?color=white

I am a 2500+ chess.com blitz player who has been working on a Sicilian Dragon repertoire on Chessable and have been digging pretty deeply into the current theory, particularly the Yugoslav Attack.

The critical position I've been looking at is:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9.O-O-O d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4.

The only way to keep enough activity seems to be

12...e5! 13.Bc5 Be6 14.Ne4! Re8 15.h4 h5!

I think 15...h5! is a very important resource for Black here. Mikhail Golubev introduced the move in 1993, but it seems to have been largely overlooked for a long time. However, it has been played at the top level recently. World no. 5 Nodribek Abdusattorov played it against Dominguez Perez in Saint Louis in 2024, and Lagarde played it this month in the final of the French Championship.

I'm curious what other Dragon players think of this position.

I've also been looking at the Soltis and Topalov in considerable depth and have found some interesting ideas in several of the critical positions. I would be interested to hear what other players think.

I know this sounds a noob. Please help me how to study openings and build a repertoire. For instance, do I need to study ruy lopez, giuco piano and vienna game or just focus on my favorite opening which is scotch game? For black against d4, do I need to focus on nimzo- ragozin or explore other options? How do you choose an opening that is suitable for you?

Interesting difference I’m noticing between chess group commenters on Reddit vs Facebook.

For the endless stream of puzzle positions I see on Facebook, almost every commenter (98%+ by my guess) posts moves they worked out on their own. Most of their solutions may be wrong, even stupidly lazy (i.e., giving a correct first move that conveys no meaningful information about the puzzle’s solution)… but at least everyone looks at the puzzle for themselves at the outset.

On Reddit, about half the comments to the last puzzle position I posted (which was also probably my first — I’m still pretty new here) came from people who admitted they got the answer from an engine.

Is that experience typical of how Redditors in chess groups respond to challenging position diagrams? (Note that I did NOT share my position in r/beginners, because it is about as far from a beginner’s puzzle as you could possibly imagine. I posted it in r/chess, in this group, and in 2 or 3 groups whose names contain “chess” plus “puzzle” or “quiz.”)

Hello,

Next year I am going to take chess a bit more seriously. And a good friend of mine wants to be a part of this journey. So we decided to call each other a couple of times each week to help each other studie and to keep each other accountable. We are looking for things you can do together easily and online. One problem is our levels are quite a bit of. ( like 1800 online vs 2100) So just playing games can be depressing and not motivating. What do you guys reccomend. We thought to warm up alone with some puzzles, and then find go alone and find some nice concepts and teach each other these things and maybe end the call with a nice bughouse game. What do you guys think?

I've recently wanted to start looking into the kings indian defense but want to get an idea of how many Mainlines or Major sidelines there are because I don't want to be surprised by a line I never seen before if the line is actually dangerous and not some weak and not dangerous one​, thanks

I played over 50 offline rated games, probably more than 100 if I include friendly/unrated matches.

I also played more than 5 thousand games of blitz and rapid games, and it both fluctuates around 2200 in both time controls.

However, I am still rated FIDE 1600 after all those years.

Are there other players who had a hard time on standard matches? How did you improve?

For now, I only play blitz(3+0) & rapid(10+0) backed up with chess.c*m reviews and chesstempo puzzles.

I even tried private tutoring around 2100, but that didn't really help much.

Completely paralyzed

I've recently been playing quite a few games with the French and have encountered an absurd amount of games featuring the exchange by White. I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for what material/books/courses could be useful that offer practical chances for Black against the exchange.

Hey ,

I’m a heavy Sicilian player against e4 .

Against d4 , Mostly Catalan I have no good approach.

I used to play c4 and go for a benoni structure, but as I’m getting higher in ratings a lot of people are able to easily penetrate it using h4 and then h5 ideas , also benoni attacks are super slow and predictable which removes the surprise aspect and the gotchu attacking ideas

Would appreciate some good openings that share the Sicilian structures , as am looking to invest a lot of time into studying and settling with one !

Hint: the correct answer requires more than simply following a sequence of captures to the end and counting the pieces that remain.

The moderators in their infinite wisdom (?) have decreed that links to replay the game and/or read a fully annotated version must be relegated to the comment thread. So I will keep you on tenterhookd for awhile before I comment with those.

Hi I'm 2100 elo rating in lichess blitz. Please recommend me opening against d4 and the insightful resources (chessable, speedrun series, model games, database etc.) to study and master it.

Looking for a more ambitious way to play against the QGD as White, mainly for league games against IMs and lower-rated GMs.

My problem with the usual systems is that Black often gets a very familiar, comfortable position. Against Bf4, the ...Nbd7 and ...c5 setups seem very well worked out. Against Bg5, Black has ...b6 or ...Nbd7 and ...c5. In the Bxf6 lines, ...dxc4 often looks like an easy solution. Even the Exchange and Catalan feel quite solid and easy to play for Black nowadays.

I’m not looking for an unsound surprise weapon, but for something that creates a more unbalanced, difficult game where Black cannot just play the first 10–15 moves from general knowledge.

For comparison, I have had very good practical results with the early h4 idea against the Grünfeld that had been recommended here. Is there something similar against the QGD: sound, less common, and practically challenging?

I normally enter via 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 or 3.Nc3 nimzo's, if that matters. Specific lines or repertoire suggestions would be appreciated.