Courses (1099)

IM Kushager Krishnater's Crushing The Sicilian - Grand Prix Attack offers a repertoire built on 2.Nc3, deliberately avoiding the main battlegrounds where Black's preparation runs deepest. This isn't a system for players seeking quiet games—it's a weapon for those who want to dictate the battle while their opponents navigate unfamiliar terrain. The course philosophy centers on aggressive setups grounded in sound positional principles, targeting practical players who understand that superior preparation often outweighs theoretical objectivity.

There is a principle in same-colored bishop endgames so deceptively simple that it often goes unspoken in theoretical texts: fix your opponent's pawns on the color of their bishop, and place your own on the opposite color. It sounds almost too general to be useful. And yet, game after game at the highest level, the player who internalizes this asymmetry — not merely knows it, but feels it — is the one who converts or survives when the clock pressure mounts. This is the starting point of Bishop Endgames – Essential Knowledge for the Practical Player, a new course by GM Felix Blohberger and GM Pier Luigi Basso.

The conventional wisdom in chess instruction maintains a clear separation: opening theory belongs to one category, endgame technique to another. Yet some of the most practical chess knowledge exists precisely at their intersection—positions where queens leave the board early, where theoretical preparation gives way to structural understanding, and where endgame skill becomes immediately relevant. GM Ioannis Papaioannou's latest course examines this neglected territory, presenting opening systems specifically chosen for their tendency to transition directly into endgames.

When GM Baadur Jobava first proposed analyzing 2...a6 in the French Defense, GM Pier Luigi Basso was skeptical. As an author committed to sound opening repertoires, Basso initially dismissed the move as too radical for serious consideration. He gave himself one hour to refute it. An hour later, convinced by concrete analysis rather than assumptions, he agreed to co-author this course. The result is a complete system that weaponizes psychology and precise move-order subtleties to neutralize White's theoretical advantage before the game truly begins.

Magnus Carlsen, Nihal Sarin, Hikaru Nakamura—when top players need a Sicilian that combines solidity with dynamic potential, they turn to 2...Nc6. This seemingly simple move order has quietly become one of the most sophisticated weapons in modern tournament practice, offering Black the strategic flexibility of the Sveshnikov. GM Brandon Jacobson's new course builds a complete repertoire around this pragmatic yet ambitious approach, showing how 2...Nc6 serves as the gateway to dynamic play in both the Open Sicilian and the Rossolimo.

The Catalan is a positional opening, yet its subtlest battles are decided by a single tempo. When Black plays 4...Bb4+ before retreating the bishop to d6, White's bishop lands on d2 instead of staying on c1. This seemingly modest difference—one extra tempo with an already developed piece—creates a web of tactical and strategic nuances that separate preparation from improvisation. GM Alexey Dreev and GM Pier Luigi Basso's Play the Catalan - Part 4 completes their comprehensive White repertoire by addressing precisely these modern defensive setups that have become the weapon of choice for elite players in recent years.

After 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6, White faces one of the most flexible yet underexplored junctures in modern opening theory. Black's natural King's Indian-style development signals ambitious plans, but White has the opportunity to steer the game toward Reti structures that reward deep positional understanding rather than theoretical confrontation.
In 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 for White - Deep Understanding, GM Ioannis Papaioannou presents a complete strategic framework for handling this system against all of Black's major setups. This is not a repertoire based on forcing lines—it is a deep positional journey into how strong players actually think in flexible Reti structures.

When Baadur Jobava plays 1.b3, he's not looking for a quiet game. The Georgian grandmaster has spent years transforming this seemingly modest first move into a weapon that forces opponents to navigate uncharted territory from move one. Together with Italian GM Pier Luigi Basso, Jobava now presents 1.b3 According to Jobava Refined - Part 1, a course that challenges the very notion of what a "sideline" can achieve. The central philosophy is simple but powerful: why memorize 30 moves of theory when you can create practical problems immediately? When Black responds with the ambitious 1...e5, White doesn't retreat—White strikes with 4.Bb5 and 5.f4, turning the position into a battlefield where understanding trumps memorization.

For decades, 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 has been White's most reliable route to a safe, structured game — a move order preferred precisely because it steers clear of chaos. The Blumenfeld Gambit refuses that contract. With 3...c5 4.d5 b5, Black sacrifices a pawn for dynamic central control and immediate counterplay. Employed at the elite level by Aronian, Mamedyarov, and more recently Arjun Erigaisi, it remains one of the least-charted territories in modern opening theory. That obscurity is precisely what makes it dangerous.

Nimzowitsch described the French Advance as a system of "blockade and squeeze." Botvinnik refined it. Petrosian made it his own. Karpov turned it into a weapon of precision. And yet, more than a century after the structure's first serious theoretical treatment in 1911, elite players are still discovering new ideas in positions defined by White's pawn on e5 and Black's formation on e6 and d5. That is not a coincidence — it is the mark of a genuinely deep structure. French Advance Pawn Structures – Expert Strategic Understanding by GM Vladimir Malakhov and GM Pier Luigi Basso is built on exactly that premise: that understanding why plans work is more valuable than just memorizing what they are.