49. Invisible Moves – Part 2
In the last post I promised to present a “fantastic example” for an invisible move. Let’s see, whether this announcement is backed by numbers. Our invisible move is 9..b5!. It [...]
48. Invisible Moves – Part 1
Invisible moves mainly exist in the realm of possibility, as they are only very rarely executed. Basically, they are overlooked in the brainstorm phase of the decision-making process by getting [...]
47. Beating your Inferiors with Black
The following short overview is an explanation for my clients why I refrain from offering the normal move 6..Bb4 in favor of 6..d6, which leads to the Classical Scheveningen. It serves as a good [...]
46. The Diversity Principle
In blog post 42 I presented My Principles for composing a generic Opening Repertoire. Obviously, such a generic approach has to cater to the biggest possible number of users. Finding an [...]
42. Active Learning
In the previous post I described the traps you can fall victim to when studying openings in a superficial and passive way. Such warnings are important, but only half as valuable, if not [...]
41: The 4 principal mistakes when learning an opening
There are many pitfalls when it comes to learning an opening. Some exist on the repertoire level: Picking bad quality lines Not taking into account one’s style Not taking into account [...]
34. The value of the first move
The question how much advantage the right of the first move implies has always been of interest for philosophical minds. But there is also a lot of practical importance in finding the right [...]
32. Solving Exercises
This is a general guide for my students with the aim to make them solve my exercises in the most efficient way. Of course, it is also useful for exercises which are solved independent of my [...]
25. 18 Reasons to play the English Opening
Most of my students are normal club players. They don’t have a vast amount of time and are forced to follow the rules of pragmatism. Studying sharp and complex main lines normally is not an [...]