Courses (1087)

Modern French preparation has narrowed. A handful of fashionable tabiyas now absorb most of White's attention, and the analysis around them runs deep. GM Felix Blohberger's second volume goes the other way — down older, classical roads that White players have quietly stopped studying.
That choice is the connective tissue of Part 2, which completes the repertoire begun in Practical French for Black — Part 1. Where the first volume handled 3.Nc3 and the early sidelines, this database covers everything that remains after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5: the Advance, the Tarrasch, and the Exchange.

For most of its history, 3.exd5 has been the move you play when you are happy to shake hands. Symmetrical pawn structure, an open centre, nothing structural to fight over — the Exchange French earned a reputation as the most peaceful reply to the French, the line you reach for on a tired afternoon. So it means something that one of the most inventive attacking players of his generation has built a serious repertoire with real winning chances.
In The Exchange French — Top-Level Repertoire for White, GM Baadur Jobava and GM Pier Luigi Basso set out to dismantle that cliché. The symmetry, they argue, is deceptive: beneath it lies a structure full of small, durable imbalances, and the better-prepared side can lean on them until they decide the game. This is the Exchange French as a fighting choice, not a truce.

A practical course on turning a material advantage into the full point in every form it takes. Part 3 of IM Baumegger's conversion series covers unbalanced material imbalances, converting extra pawns, endgame technique, and the typical mistakes that cost wins, with 60 test positions and detailed solutions.

Not all advantages are converted the same way: static edges reward patience, dynamic ones demand energy. Part 2 of IM Baumegger's conversion series teaches you to recognise which advantage you hold and choose the right method — covering static advantages, dynamic advantages, transformations, and the typical mistakes that cost the win — through 60 test positions with detailed solutions.

The first part of IM Siegfried Baumegger's series on turning better positions into the full point. Built around the four technical principles of conversion — preventing counterplay, not hurrying, creating a second weakness, and exchanging the right pieces — with 60 test positions and detailed solutions that train you to win won games with a master's precision.

For decades, the Vienna Variation asked Black to walk a tightrope. After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4, the classical road was 5...Bb4, holding the tension with the pin on c3 and the standing threat of ...Nxe4. It worked, but it came wrapped in a thick layer of forcing theory that every well-booked opponent had seen.
Alexander Grischuk reframed the question. Rather than creating and maintaining the tension, why not resolve it at once with 5...b5 — clamping down on the c4-pawn immediately, even before it is properly defended. The point is refreshingly direct: provoke e5, open the b7–h1 diagonal, and develop with ...Bb7 and ...Nc6 at full speed. Material becomes secondary; time, coordination, and pressure on d4 are what matter. The Neo-Vienna - A Dynamic Approach to the Queen's Gambit by GM S. P. Sethuraman is built around exactly this idea.

We are excited to introduce English Opening – Jobava’s Repertoire, the latest course by GM Baadur Jobava and GM Pier Luigi Basso. This course provides a complete and aggressive repertoire for Black against the English Opening, based on 1.c4 c5.

This course is the final piece in Jobava’s Full Repertoire for Black Against the Closed Openings, following his two highly successful courses:
1) The Ambitious Queen's Gambit Accepted
2) Jobava London Reversed – Top-Level Repertoire for Black
By combining these three courses, you will have a fully structured and practical repertoire against 1.d4, 1.c4, and all Closed Openings, crafted by one of the most creative and aggressive players of our time, GM Baadur Jobava.

The London System without the memorisation: GM Ioannis Papaioannou presents a practical, low-theory repertoire for White built on understanding the structures rather than recalling forced lines. Organised by Black's setup and taught through model games from elite practice — Carlsen, Ding Liren, Giri, Aronian and others — it gives club players a complete, ready-to-play weapon and stronger players a reliable, time-efficient addition to their 1.d4 arsenal.

The Open Sicilian has never really been a single opening. It is a dozen separate wars — the Najdorf, the Dragon, the Sveshnikov, the Taimanov — each with its own theory, its own tabiyas, its own library of grandmaster games. What ties them together in the hands of GM Pier Luigi Basso is one instruction, repeated from the opening moves of every system: go for the attack, period.
That sentence is the foundation of this course. Where most Open Sicilian repertoires ask you to memorize seven different philosophies, the Open Sicilian Express asks you to absorb one — and then shows you the concrete form it takes in each system: the Be3-and-g4 pawn storm against the Taimanov, the Yugoslav Attack against the Dragon, the immediate 7.Nd5 against the Sveshnikov, the modern f4-and-Nb3 plan against the Najdorf.

This course is the next step in our series offering a complete 1.e4 e5 repertoire for Black, following two related projects: Italian Game for Black — Deep Understanding and The Spanish Arkhangelsk with Early ...Bc5 — Deep Understanding. With the Scotch Game, the series now completes one of the most important parts of the 1.e4 e5 universe.
For many players, the Scotch is one of the most unpleasant openings to face. It often leads to irrational positions, where standard plans do not apply and concrete understanding becomes critical — exactly the type of position where preparation based on memorisation breaks down. This course offers a solution built on deep understanding of the arising structures, plans, and practical decisions.