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.
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1h and 51min PGN Download Memory Booster Interactive Tests Video Content
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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.
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3h and 13min PGN Download Memory Booster Interactive Tests Computer Practice Video Content
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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.
Sequence: Universal Pawn Structures »
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5h and 17min PGN Download Interactive Tests Video Content
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When GM Gata Kamsky began employing 1.d4 Nc6 against the London System, he demonstrated a fundamental truth: positional systems can be turned against their practitioners. IM Kushager Krishnater takes this concept further in his latest course, Jobava London Reversed – Complete Repertoire for Black, presenting 2...Nc6 as Black's weapon against 1.Nf3 and g3 setups. The leitmotif here is elegant in its simplicity—White's comfortable development scheme becomes Black's tool for seizing early initiative, transforming a typically solid opening into fighting, dynamic positions where Black dictates the character of the struggle.
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3h PGN Download Memory Booster Interactive Tests Video Content
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The Queen's Gambit Declined has always been a fortress of classical chess—solid, principled, and theoretically demanding. But what if you could sidestep the theoretical marathons of the countless variations while maintaining all the strategic richness? GM Szymon Gumularz and GM Pier Luigi Basso propose exactly that: 4...Nbd7, a flexible system that deliberately avoids the main theoretical highways while delivering complex, ambitious middlegames.
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2h and 58min PGN Download Memory Booster Interactive Tests Video Content
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The Steinitz Variation occupies a fascinating niche in the French Defense landscape. While classical French players navigate the complex tactical waters of the Winawer (3...Bb4), the Steinitz presents a fundamentally different strategic proposition: Black accepts the advanced e5-pawn and prepares systematic counterplay against White's center. This course by GM Petar Arnaudov, GM Michael Roiz, and IM Nikola Nikolovski examines the Steinitz through a practical lens—not as a passive defensive system, but as a serious repertoire weapon built on understanding typical structures rather than memorizing endless variations.
Sequence: French Defense According to Roiz »
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3h and 42min PGN Download Memory Booster Interactive Tests Video Content
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The course's distinguishing feature lies in its approach to White's entire spectrum of fourth-move options. While 4.Nc3 can be White's most irritating try, demanding precise handling, Dreev introduces a revolutionary new idea that neutralizes it completely. The trendy 4.g4 receives a fresh practical solution. Modern systems like Rapport's 6.h4!? in the 4.Nd2 lines are met with concrete responses. Even the ambitious 4.c4, leading to the modern 4...e6 5.Nc3 Bb4, is explored with flexible, independent thinking that challenges established approaches. Each variation receives treatment proportional to its practical importance, organized from most frequent to rarest.
Sequence: Caro-Kann According to Dreev »
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3h and 53min PGN Download Memory Booster Interactive Tests Video Content
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The Ruy Lopez has always been defined by Black's choice of defense. The Berlin offers structural resilience, the Marshall brings immediate tactical complications, the Breyer provides strategic maneuvering room. But one system stayed outside mainstream consideration for years: 3...Nge7, the Cozio Defense.
Developing the knight to e7 looked unnatural—classical principles insisted on quick development to active squares. What changed? Players like Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Hikaru Nakamura, and Levon Aronian recognized something essential: this disrupts White's standard regrouping plans from move three.
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2h and 38min PGN Download Memory Booster Interactive Tests Video Content
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When GM Felix Blohberger began searching for a practical weapon against the Grünfeld and King's Indian Defense, he wasn't looking to compete with mainline theory. Instead, he identified a subtle move order shift that changes the entire character of the position: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nbd2. By developing the knight to d2 rather than c3, White sidesteps decades of established theory while maintaining concrete advantages in the resulting structures.
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1h and 34min PGN Download Memory Booster Interactive Tests Video Content
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When Captain William Davies Evans introduced his gambit in 1827, he couldn't have imagined that nearly two centuries later, elite players like Hikaru Nakamura would employ the same ideas at the highest level. The Evans Gambit—4.b4 against the Italian Game—represents one of chess history's most audacious concepts: sacrificing material for rapid development and central control. Now, IM Kushager Krishnater revives this romantic weapon with modern precision in Italian Game for White - Evans Gambit, offering a complete repertoire that balances classical aggression with contemporary theoretical rigor.
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3h and 10min PGN Download Memory Booster Interactive Tests Video Content
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