Courses (358)

The Trompovsky Attack and especially the London System have become quite popular openings in recent years. This should not come as a surprise. In our computer age, when most of the forced lines lead to a drawn outcome, top chess players began to look for ways to play for a win in less studied and forced openings. Veresov Attack is also an interesting try to reach fresh and unexplored positions. It can be quite dangerous if you are not prepared. GM Pavel Eljanov proposes a universal way to deal with these openings. In his concept, the main idea is to fight for the center as well as to limit the activity of White's bishops through exchanges or the threat of exchanges (and we know that the threat is often stronger than its execution).
The repertoire is based on solid positional grounds and the author is trying to offer similar setups against all three openings.

The system based on an early h2-h3 is named after the Soviet International Master Vladimir Makogonov who has used it with success more than half a century ago. Spassky revealed the essence of this opening very clearly: "White prepares the bishop's development to e3 by defending against the threat of ...Ng4. Besides, he has g2-g4 in mind, when unlike in the Saemisch attack, the f3-square is available for the knight". In this system, Black should know very well what he is doing in order not to find himself in a strategically lost position. In Makagonov, the understanding of the positional ideas is a way more important than the knowledge of concrete lines. That is the reason why besides the theoretical knowledge, Mihail Marin provides a complete overview of the arising structures as well as 30 strategical tests.

The so-called Romanishin Variation is getting very popular recently. White goes for a flexible setup with the idea to build a long-term positional pressure. The fact that Black has plenty of ways to meet the Romanishin Variation makes its preparation arduous. Black’s available lines are fluctuating from solid equalizing attempts to highly complex and risky tries. As we can see Black faces an annoying dilemma, playing solid aiming for equality would mean in practice being under pressure for several moves. On the other hand, the interesting unbalanced lines tend to be risky. This line was first played by Akiba Rubinstein, later by Alekhine and much later in the 70s Oleg Romanishin used it extensively and with success, but perhaps the most important milestone for the variation came in 1985 when Kasparov used it successfully to beat Karpov. Nowadays, it is employed by the World’s best players occasionally.

In the second installment of 'Repertoire for Black against 1.d4', GM Kuljasevic suggests an opening repertoire against 3.Nf3 based on the Ragozin Defense (4...Bb4) and Modern Queen's Gambit (4...a6). Similarly to the Repertoire against the Catalan, the idea is to have one equalizing opening system that you would be comfortable playing against strong opponents, as well as one sharp system that you would use to imbalance the game, get your opponent out of his comfort zone, or just get a playable game without much opening theory, hoping to outplay him in the long run.
In this database, the Ragozin Defense will have the role of a solid equalizing weapon, while the Modern Queen's Gambit will be the sharp one.

This database features a powerful weapon against the Modern Benoni - the Taimanov Attack. Being able to effectively cope with this very popular defense is crucial for the success of a 1.d4 player. The repertoire covered in this database provides the required knowledge to achieve an opening edge.

In his first database for Modern Chess, the Dutch GM Sipke Ernst examines one of the most topical weapons against the King's Indian Defence - Bayonet Attack. The fact that this system is the most principled way to fight the KID makes it popular even at the highest level.

In this database, GM Davorin Kuljasevic provides a complete repertoire against the Catalan Opening. Nowadays, such a repertoire is very important since you can face the Catalan at every level. For practical purposes, the author provides 2 alternative repertoires - solid and sharp. Armed with this knowledge, you can always play the system which is required by your tournament situation.

In this database, IM Renato Quintillano is dealing with some of the most aggressive and ambitious openings after 1.d4.
He provides a repertoire against Tarrasch Defence, Semi-Tarasch Defence, Albin Countergambit, Chigorin Defence, Baltic Defence, and the exotic Australian Defence (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c5!?).

The current database completes GM Mihail Marins' Catalan project. This time, he focuses on Black's attempts to avoid the Catalan.
After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3, the author deals with two highly popular moves - 3...Bb4+ and 3...c5.
True to his approach, in this database, Marin advocates positionally sound but not necessarily fashionable lines. That makes the suggested repertoire valuable from a practical point of view. By following Marin's recommendations, we have good chances to surprise our opponents.

GM Mihail Marin continues with the examination of the theoretical subtleties of the Catalan. The current database contains 1 article about the typical Catalan Endgame, 12 theoretical chapters, and 20 Test positions.
After reading the current database, the reader will learn how to deal with Black's absolute main line against the Catalan. The author provides a number of important novelties.