Courses (364)

GM Boris Avrukh introduces his suggestion in the following way: "Thе move 5.Nge2 is usually considered merely as a surprise weapon against the KID, but it actually contains more venom than it might seem. I was quite sceptical about it at first because the knight does not seem to belong on g3 square when Black already has a pawn on g6. However, one of my students had great results with this system (often called Hungarian System) as White, so I decided to check it more deeply. After careful analysis, I came to the conclusion that this is indeed a very playable system for White that could even form a base for a long-term repertoire and not only a temporary weapon. Black needs to show very good home preparation not to be worse out of the opening, which can be seen in the analysis below."

This partner product is based on a video group lecture by GM Avrukh.

Partner Course:

In this project, he is launching a very ambitious series of databases devoted to the “queen of openings” - the Nimzo-Indian. Arguably, the Nimzo, alongside with the Ruy Lopez, are the two openings every single top-player and almost every single GM have played at some point of their careers. The Nimzo is so vastly popular due to its versatility and flexibility – you can get literally any type of position, such as IQP, hanging pawns, positions with the bishop pair, pawn chains, lead in development, etc. Both sides have a massive amount of choice almost on every move.

In the introduction to this product, GM Bojkov writes:
"With this new mini-video series I tried to bring in life my methodology of an in-depth preparation and help you build the bridge yourselves.
Because the better you understand the middlegame, the easier the transition between the chess phases will be, the quicker you will make your decisions and the better your play will become. You will never drift after the opening and will always know what to look for."

Partner Course:

While in Part 1, GM Eljanov was dealing with White's systems based on Bf4, the current database features all the alternatives, except 4.g3.
True to his approach, GM Eljanov provides in-depth analysis with a variety of new ideas. We can safely state that his repertoire can be employed even at the top level.
The database consists of 11 theoretical chapters and 15 interactive test positions.

The workshop dedicated to the Catalan Opening is already a digital product. This product includes all the videos from the workshop as well as the PGN file related to the training sessions. Overall, the material consists of approximately 7 hours of video and a PGN database which includes 60 files!
You will find the following lectures:
Typical Pawn Structures - GM Petar Arnaudov
Typical Attacking and Tactical Ideas - GM Mihail Marin
Modern Theoretical Trends - GM Boris Avrukh
Master the Catalan Endgames - GM Grigor Grigorov

In his third, final database on the Slav IM Quintillano focuses on the highly important and critical tabiya which arises after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5
As Renato himself admits, he did not except this position to be THIS theoretically demanding and challenging. To quote the author: “If I had been told before that the whole database would be required in order to cover one position, I would laugh hard. But, the arising positions turned out to be so complicated and interesting!
I am very happy with the result of this research as I believe I've done a great job and now the readers can be very confident about the opening outcome and the arising middlegame positions.”.

In this database, IM Renato Quintillano comes up with the second part of his three-part series on the Slav Defense.
As you know, the first part was devoted to sidelines and interesting attempts White can throw at Black early on.
The current work is dedicated to the very serious mainlines after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 as well as 4.Nc3.

In the introduction to the current database, GM Eljanov writes:

The Queen's Gambit Declined is truly a lifetime opening. Like no other it passed the test of centuries of chess practice. This opening was employed by almost all old maestros including Morphy, Chigorin and Steinitz as well as by modern super grandmasters like Carlsen, Ananda, Caruana and many others.

Different move orders were popular at different times. If in the old days it was considered safe to allow the Carlsbad Variation after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5, nowadays most modern maestros tend to avoid typical Carlsbad pawn chains with Black and opt for 3...d5 only in response to 3.Nf3.

Strangely enough, yours truly almost never played Queen's Gambit Declined with Black. Nevertheless, I suppose that it perfectly suits my style and chess philosophy. In this database, I decided to analyse Queen's Gambit Declined from Black's point of view and chose the most straightforward way to challenge the main move 5.Bf4 (after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4) with 6...c5!?. At some point, this move was a bit in the shadow of the solid 6...Nbd7 but recently it began to gain popularity again thanks to top GMs Nakamura, Caruana and Anand first of all.

Welcome to the second (and final) database dedicated to the Bogo-Indian Defence.
Our starting position arises after the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2
There is a small psychological paradox connected with this move. It is true that 4.Bd2 avoids any early commitments, and is likely to maintain the fluency of White's play. But at the same time we have seen that with a minimum of accuracy, Black usually obtains a rock-solid position with good chances of counterplay. After 4.Nbd2 things are more double-edged strategically. While the knight is not optimally placed on d2, White launches an open invitation to what he hopes to prove an improved Nimzo-Indian, by forcing the exchange on d2 with a2-a3, thus avoiding the doubled pawns on the c-file. But at the same time, the last move restricts White's choice of plans, allowing Black to more or less dictate the middlegame structure.

In his first database for Modern Chess, the Ukrainian FM Yuriy Krykun builds a very challenging yet underestimated weapon against the Grunfeld Defence. The first important position of his repertoire arises after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Bb5+