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Many club players have their favourite pet opening variations which aren’t necessarily main lines. It’s important to know how to handle these variations as your opponent will...

When you begin your journey of building an opening repertoire, how nice would it be to get a glimpse of what each opening looks like through the eyes of a super GM. It would...

Opening a game with 1.g3 appears rather quiet and unpretentious yet many of the greatest players in history have chosen to play this way. Bent Larsen, Victor Korchnoi, Leonid...

There seems very little room to create new opening ideas in 2010 and the creative competitor must work hard to find new approaches which help to win games. Enter 1.f4, Bird’s...

The Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack with 1.b3 (or 1.Nf3 followed by 2.b3) is a system, rather neglected by theorists, which nevertheless can be a forceful weapon in the hands of an...

The Owens Defence, with 1...b6, is part of a nexus of systems that are both complex and little explored, offering practical players the opportunity to get out of the book early...

Many chess players have a desire to avoid theory, preferring to try to outplay the opponent from a sound, but uncommon opening position. 1 b4 might be the start of one such...

Over the years I have often heard Bird’s players (1.f4) labelled chess mavericks, “chancers”, too lazy to learn “proper” opening systems. Well, I am happy to say those days are...

“People did not take 1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 too seriously until recently, when online chess started becoming popular due to the pandemic, as this opening was used frequently. I...

The Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack with 1.b3 (or 1.Nf3 followed by 2.b3) is an opening system that has been rather neglected by the theoreticians but can prove deadly in the hands of...

The Black Knights’ Tango, also known as the Mexican Defence, is a bold and unconventional opening that puts White on edge from the very first moves. After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6!?,...

What looks like a clear mistake (hanging your rook on move 2), can turn out to be a powerful weapon to surprise your opponent. A setup that you would think only beginners would...

The White Sniper is characterised by three moves against any black setup: 1.g3 2.Bg2 and 3.c4 though not necessarily in that order. Think of The White Sniper as a Hyper-...

Tricks and traps, especially in the opening, are a dangerous reality of competitive chess. All sorts of surprises await the unwary player, from devastating sacrifices to cunning...

Play it like former World Champion Bobby Fischer! I have always loved the King’s Indian. My trainers, Ion Solonar and Vyacheslav Chebanenco, taught me to play it with Black, and...