Courses (261)

For years, 1.d4 players have struggled against one of Black’s most trusted defenses — the Ragozin. Solid, flexible, and endlessly playable, it’s been a favorite of Carlsen, Aronian, Gukesh, and Firouzja. But now, the tide turns. In 1.d4 According to Lucas Van Foreest – Fight the Ragozin, GMs Lucas Van Foreest and Pier Luigi Basso present a complete and modern system built around the critical 6.Bg5, the line that puts Black’s entire setup under both strategic and tactical pressure.

When Adolph Albin first played 2...e5 against the Queen’s Gambit in 1893, he introduced an opening that embodied risk, creativity, and defiance. For more than a century, theory dismissed his idea as a relic of the romantic era—until now. In The Albin Countergambit, GM Baadur Jobava and GM Pier Luigi Basso reveal the discovery that brings this opening back to life: the spectacular and deeply underestimated move 5.a3 g6!!.

More than half of all rook endgames at master level finish with the wrong result. Wins become draws. Draws slip into losses. Not because of blunders, but because of systematic misunderstanding. While modern players dedicate hundreds of hours to opening preparation, the phase that decides more games than any debut—the rook endgame—remains dangerously undertrained. Dreev University – Rook Endgames – Part 2 addresses this gap with surgical precision, transforming theoretical knowledge into practical winning technique.

For decades, 1.e4 e5 players prepared their Marshall, their Berlin, their Open Spanish—only to face 5.d3 on move five. What was once dismissed as a “safe” sideline has quietly become White’s second most popular choice, appearing nearly as often as 5.O-O in elite practice. The landscape has shifted: you can no longer afford to treat these deviations as afterthoughts. Ruy Lopez for Black – Jospem’s Repertoire against the Sidelines addresses this modern reality head-on, offering a unified solution to every sideline White throws at you before castling kingside.

For years, Grandmaster Alexey Dreev searched for the ideal Sicilian Defense — one that combined strategic depth with practical clarity, free from the endless theoretical arms races that define the Dragon or Najdorf.
He found his answer in the Four Knights Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6) — an opening that delivers rich, fighting positions without demanding decades of Sicilian experience.

Most opening repertoires ask: “What should I play against this move?”
GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy and GM Pier Luigi Basso ask something different:
“What does White’s first move tell us about what he cannot play?”
Their new course, 1.Nf3 b6 According to Bernadskiy – Complete Repertoire for Black, is built on a simple positional insight:
once White commits to Nf3, he loses access to the e4–d4–Bd3 setup that makes 1.e4 b6 questionable.
This isn’t a theoretical loophole — it’s a structural reality that transforms 1...b6 from a sideline into a legitimate, fighting system.

The 1...d6 setup—once dismissed as passive—has been reborn through engine analysis and high-level practice as a flexible, resilient system that poses concrete problems even at the elite level.
The Modern Philidor Defense – 2025, by GM Baadur Jobava and GM Pier Luigi Basso, now enhanced by the distinguished addition of GM Vladimir Malakhov, represents the defense’s full evolution: not merely solid, but strategically rich and tactically dangerous.

When Alexey Dreev first adopted the Semi-Slav as a young Soviet master in the mid-1980s, the opening was respected but predictable. Forty years later, having played it through every phase of modern chess—from Soviet training halls to the engine era—Dreev has transformed his relationship with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 from passive study into active co-authorship.

This new course, created together with GM Pier Luigi Basso, represents not just a repertoire but a living record of how the Semi-Slav has evolved—and how the two authors have shaped that evolution over the past decade.

For decades, the Open Spanish carried a particular stigma—Black played for a draw, White squeezed for fifty moves, and the outcome was predictable. Between 2019 and 2024, GM Jose Martinez Alcantara and GM Pier Luigi Basso dismantled that narrative with a weapon that transforms Black's position as early as move six: 6...Be7 in the Open Spanish. This isn't a sideline curiosity—it's a complete repertoire built on sharp, unbalanced structures that leave opponents unprepared.

GM Pier Luigi Basso and GM Luca Moroni complete their ambitious French Defense project with the release of French Defense According to Moroni - Tarrasch, Advance, and Exchange Variations. This course serves as the essential companion to their previous work, French Defense According to Moroni - Play the Steinitz Variation, providing Black with a complete and fighting repertoire against 1.e4.