Courses (10)

The minor defences are the lines 1.e4 players tend to neglect — the Philidor, the Scandinavian, the Alekhine, the Nimzowitsch, the Owen. Against most repertoires, reaching a comfortable, roughly level position counts as success. This course sets a higher bar and holds to it from the first chapter to the last.
The recommendation follows a single idea across every defence: occupy the centre, castle long where the position allows, and play for the attack rather than a quiet plus. The Old Philidor tabiya is the clearest expression of the method. After 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 exd4 5.Nxd4 Be7, White uncorks 6.Bf4!, follows with Qd2, and castles queenside — the exact setup Abdusattorov faced, now examined from the side that presses for the full point.

Modern Chess presents Jobava and Jospem's 1.e4 Blitz Repertoire – Part 1, a collaboration between GM Baadur Jobava and GM Jose Martinez Alcantara examining opening choices suited to rapid and blitz play.
GM Baadur Jobava has maintained consistent performance across time controls, while GM Jose Martinez Alcantara brings extensive online chess experience. Both authors have selected lines they regularly employ in their own games, providing insight into their practical decision-making process.

Modern Chess proudly announces the release of "The Revamped Alekhine Defense - Jobava's Repertoire," a groundbreaking chess course authored by GM Baadur Jobava and GM Pier Luigi Basso. This comprehensive opening course transforms one of chess's most provocative defenses into a sharp, practical weapon for ambitious players.

We are happy to announce another exciting project by the tandem GM Baadur Jobava and GM Pier Luigi Basso - 1.e4 According to Jobava - Beat the Minor Lines. This course completes Jobava's 1.e4 repertoire.
In this course, you will find straightforward solutions to openings such as Pirc Defence, Modern Defence, Alekhine Defence, Scandinavian Defence, and other rare options such as 1...Nc6. The suggested lines are usually based on rare and less explored ideas. Hence, the repertoire is very suitable for the needs of the practical players.

Back in 2015, GM Daniil Yuffa started playing the Alekhine Defense. Daniil has been crushing it, taking down 2600+ rated GMs and boasting a 64% win rate with the Black Pieces (and an insane 90% win rate against under 2300!).

Partner Course:

The camp of GM Papaioannou Practical 1.e4 Repertoire for White 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 10.5 hours of video and a PGN database, which includes 262 files!

After his excellent two databases on French Defence and Caro-Kann, GM Arjun Kalyan keeps building his 1.e4 repertoire. In his newest project, besides the ever-topical Pirc and Modern, the Indian GM also covers Alekhine, Philidor, Scandinavian, and Sidelines.
Even though the suggested systems are extensively analyzed with very strong engines, the repertoire does not require a lot of memorization. This practical approach makes the entire course very suitable for a practical play.

This is one of the most thorough courses on the Alekhine Defence that you will ever see. This database provides something more that usual opening repertoire.
In the introduction, Marin writes, "This time I adopted a different approach than in all my previous courses published by Modern Chess. Usually, I examine one line against all the opponent's systems. This time, I have analyzed two or more alternatives for Black, whenever the case was given (not in the minor lines, though). I had two main reasons for that. First of all, the way I built this database can offer a reliable repertoire for a long time."

IM David Fitzsimons is here with his brand-new course “Carlsen’s Alekhine Defence”, where he dissects Carlsen’s most popular games in the Alekhine Defence—and finds out the secret behind his wins against his super-strong and highly prepared opponents.

Partner Course:

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.