Courses (424)

“Milking a cow.” This is how once Bronstein described the Ruy Lopez opening. Despite the heavily explored lines this remains one of the most colourful and rich openings ever. The complex nature of the arising positions, the huge variety of tactical and positional ideas make it a must for every chess player.
The more we study and the deeper we dive into the Ruy Lopez the more and more secrets will be revealed and the better the understanding of the structure and the typical ideas would become.

Partner Course:

The Caro-Kann is one of the most popular and reliable openings nowadays.
The current camp is designed to provide you with all key concepts related to the Caro-Kann. Due to the variety of possible pawn structures, the knowledge of this opening will contribute to the improvement of your general chess understanding.

Zahar Efimenko prepared a database for White against the Alekhine Defence (1.e4 Nf6) and Scandinavian Defence (1.e4 d5).
Both are relatively rare but quite provocative openings in the sense that Black lures White into pushing his central pawns in the opening, only to attack and undermine them later. Such an approach is often dangerous in shorter time controls as Black gives up some space in the centre and then tries to launch a counter-attack while waiting for White's mistake as he is defending his central pawns.

Another similarity between the two is that in both cases Black puts a piece on d5 (a knight in the Alekhine and typically the queen in the Scandinavian Defence) as early as move 2. In some cases, there are even overlaps in the type of position that arises out of the opening, such as the Scandinavian gambit (2.exd5 Nf6) which can lead to an Alekhine-Defence type of position once Black recaptures on d5 with the knight.
The database, which consists of 15 chapters and 15 test positions, can naturally be divided into two parts.

In this video course, the Indian GM Swapnil Dhopade provides a complete Caro-Kann repertoire or Black. Being a Caro-Kann expert himself, GM Dhopade shares all his analysis and understanding. All the lines are based on a solid positional foundation. After watching the course, you will be able to start playing the Caro-Kann successfully.

This product is provided by the Chess Pathshala company. It includes Video and PDF (without PGN).

After writing his trilogy for the Anti-Sicilian approach, GM Neiksans decided to write something similar about the ever-tough Caro-Kann as well. He suggests an easy-to-learn setup which according to several Caro-Kann experts is the most annoying system for a Caro-Kann player to face!
The database contains 10 theoretical chapters and 18 interactive test positions.

As the author explains, “The first game that featured this line was played, according to my database, back in 1952! But, the next one took place only in 1983, and generally, this line was considered lame and never saw the spotlight until 2018-2019, where all the elite players suddenly picked it up! White is tempting Black to trade queens and go for the endgame. This endgame will be very similar to the Philidor endgame and to the Anti-Grunfeld one, but with some additional perks for White as ...c7-c6 proves a rather weakening move. ”
This is a very compact and practical piece of research.
The current database consists of 8 theoretical chapters, 2 model games and 8 test positions.

Zahar Efimenko is not only an extremely strong GM but also a famous coach and Vladimir Kramnik's former second. His theoretical research is known for its profoundness as well as the amplitude of fresh ideas.
In his current database, which happens to be his second work for Modern Chess, he comes up with a solution to a very significant issue – how to meet the Anti-Sicilians?
Any Najdorf, Dragon and whatnot player studies his favourite Open Sicilian variations and learns them by heart. But, what to do when it comes to the nasty 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 or 3.Bb5+? This is what this work is about.
The current database consists of 12 theoretical chapters and 15 interactive test positions

This is the second part of the repertoire – in Part 1, he analyzed 3...dxe4 and 3...Nf6.
In this database, Ruslan covers such sidelines as 3...Nc6 and 3...h6 before moving on to the dreaded Winaver Variation 3...Bb4.
His current work consists of 9 theoretical chapters and 2 model games that would allow you to deepen your positional understanding of the standard plans, ideas and manoeuvres while also recalling and learning the tactical nuances. Additionally, in the Test Section, you will find 15 interactive test positions.

This pawn structure usually arises after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 from one of the following lines:
A) 3... a6 4.Bxc6 (Exchange Spanish)
B) 3...a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.Bxc6 or 5.0-0 Be7 6 Bxc6 (Delayed Exchange Spanish)
C) 3...Nf6 4.Bxc6 (Anti-Berlin)
In the introduction, GM Aleksander Delchev writes: n my survey, I deal with this position both from White and Black's perspective. Besides improving your play in the abovementioned theoretical lines, this material is designed to improve your general chess understanding as well. Hopefully, you will get a better feeling of the following strategical aspects: play with and against a bishop pair, find the right plan and execute the right pawn break in static structures, the importance of the space advantage, play positions with opposite castles. Additionally, I am sure that this database will help you to increase your endgame technique since I provide a number of instructive examples.

The so-called Advance Variation is White's most ambitious way to meet the Caro-Kann. The e5-pawn gives White a long-term space advantage and makes it difficult for Black to develop his kingside pieces. There are many possible setups and transpositions. Some of the lines are not concrete and you just need to know the typical plans and ideas. On the other hand, there are lines in which Black is trying to achieve immediate equality. In such lines, the play is getting pretty forced and concrete knowledge is required. GM Efimenko tried to make the repertoire as practical as possible. That is the reason why he provides you with a number of rare and almost unexplored lines and concepts.