How to play an opening?

Firstly, we are now sending the newsletter from another system. We tried ourbest to keep all of our contacts from our database, but due to some technical problems, some of them might have been lost.

• If that’s the case, please accept our sincere apologies and we kindly ask you to subscribe to our newsletter: LINK
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Currently, we’re conducting a competition “Christmas Day Bonanza” – Games Festival (LINK), where you your skills in finding the best game in a given topic and your ability to understand the position and annotate the same will be judged.

Since some of our students asked for more time to submit their games, we’reextending the last date for entry/submitting games to 15 December. 

If you didn’t know about this competition till now, then this is the 2nd chance forYOU. You have 5 more days to submit your annotated games!

Don’t miss this great opportunity! More info about the event, prizes: LINK

Let me start the lesson with a question. Do you know what determines yourWIN/LOSS in a chess game?

Whether you win or lose is determined by your:

• opening preparation
• middlegame skills
• endgame technique

It’s quite obvious that the opening phase is MORE important, because if you don’t play it well, you will lose before you can demonstrate your middlegame/endgame skills.

Then, here’s the next question you need to think about – how do you play an opening properly?

In order to play the opening properly, a lot of people believe that one should just study a lot of opening variations and typical ideas/tricks.

Although this is partly correct, there’s actually a huge hole here. Let me give you an example.

White’s turn

Above, we see the starting position of the Scheveningen variation of the Sicilian Defence. What move can White play here?

Almost anything! For instance: Be2, Bc4, g3, Be3, f4, g4, Bg5, f3, Qf3 and the list goes on.

Do you really need to study all these lines? Of course NOT!

The opening stage lasts for 15-20 moves and on every move both opponents can play around 10 different logical moves. Ultimately, this generates many thousands (perhaps millions) of variations.

Obviously, there’s no way for us to analyse and remember them all.

Therefore, we should learn the most logical moves only. For example, in the Scheveningen variation, Black certainly should know some theory in the main lines, like 6.Be2, 6.g4, 6.Be3, 6.Bc4.

But what about other possible options for White? Should Black learn the lines arising from 6.Bb5, 6.Nb3, 6.Qf3, 6.h3, etc.?

 NO! You can’t learn it all anyway. If you dig too deep in your opening study, you will not have time for mastering other vitally importantskills: calculation, tactics, positional play, etc.

Therefore, there can be two situations in an opening:

• You play a theoretical variation based on your home preparation.
• Your game turns into a sideline or your opponent surprises you with an unexpected move. An unknown position appears and you need to find correct moves by yourself.

These two situations will happen equally often. Again, let’s be realistic. You can’t learn all possible opening variations – it’s an unworkable aspiration.

FINAL CONCLUSION: how do you play an opening successfully?

•  You need to choose the right opening variations (your opening repertoire) and learn the NECESSARY lines within them.
• You need to know the general rules/principles of opening play and how you can find correct moves in unknown opening positions.

If you’ve watched the video I published a few years ago, “Professional Opening Preparation” (LINK), that’s good for you!

Regarding the opening variations – there are a lot of existing chess books/DVDs about virtually any opening you can think of.

Some of these tutorials are even pretty good. However, there are still some problems here:

• Studying various opening variations takes a lot of your time.
• As we’ve already discussed, you can’t learn everything anyway.
• Your opponents have access to the same tutorials you have.
• There are opening tutorials about all possible opening variations and you don’t know what will work best for YOU.

As for the general rules/principles of opening play – this topic is almost completely missing!

Yes, there are some well-known opening rules like “develop pieces”, “fight for the centre” and so on, but these are very basic rules. Even beginners know such ideas and, in many positions, they simply cannot help you.

Let me emphasise this with another example.

White’s turn

Above we see a very popular variation of the Ruy Lopez. How should White play here?

As you can see, the basic opening rules don’t help here. For example, it is true that“we should fight for the centre”, but he’s already fighting. So what should he do? 

Most modern openings lead to complex positions, where you need to use moreadvanced rules. Surprisingly, this topic is almost completely missing in opening tutorials.

So what is the solution?

To overcome these difficulties, I recommend you to study the opening courses I’ve prepared for YOU. You’ll find solutions to all these questions in the courses

• GM’s Opening Laboratory – 1 (LINK)
• GM’s Opening Laboratory – 2 (LINK)

Some of my students have already studied these courses. Moreover, after studying them, they had some questions and sent them to me. Therefore, I have answered them all in the BONUS pack (LINK).

If you really want to have SUCCESSFUL opening play, I recommend you to buy the“Opening Bundle” which has both parts of the Opening Lab course, including theBONUS pack.

<<Get the Opening Bundle NOW>>

In this case, you will get both of the courses and the bonus pack for just $143 andSAVE $33 – DISCOUNT!

P.S. We’re nearing the festive season – Christmas and New Year. As usual, there will be some huge OFFERS and DISCOUNTS for you.  Stay tuned for the updates.

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Anand VS Carlsen 2014 - Highlights

NOW is the FINAL reminder for you to sign up for the upcoming webinar,“My Thinking System”, which will be conducted by ME on Saturday 6 December at 3 P.M. GMT (check timings here: LINK). Join now: Standard or Premium

RCA’s Special Offers in honour of reaching 1 MILLION views on YouTube have finished!

Thanks everyone for your support! Most importantly, let me congratulate all theWINNERS! 

Below is the list of students who got a free course from RCA:

• 1. Vikas, India
• 2. Lim, Singapore
• 3. Mahen, Pakistan
• 4. Francesco, italy
• 5. Jose, Brazil
• 6. Rosauro Gordon, Philippines
• 7. Antonio, Italy
• 8. Gerardo, Argentina
• 9. Leonardo, USA
• 10. Per Ivar, Norway

* For privacy purposes, we state only the first name of the winners on the website. All winners were contacted. In addition to that, other students have got a free webinar!

Congratulations to all WINNERS! I’m sure you’ll enjoy your prize! 

For those who missed this event, please don’t be upset. You can take part in our future events, including the “Christmas Day Bonanza” (LINK). 

We’ve also prepared a video for you explaining the event. Check it now here: LINK

NOTE: The last date for entry for the “Christmas Day Bonanza” is 10.12.2014, so you have a period of less than a week. If you really want to win BIG PRIZES, you need to start collecting the games and annotating them at your very BEST LEVEL! For details about the event, click here: LINK. Good luck! 

We all witnessed a great World Chess Championship match this year. It was truly atough competition for the players and Carlsen has justified the odds.

Therefore, your ‘favorite’ guest coach of RCA, IM Valeri Lilov, has prepared avideo for YOU, where he explains the highlights and the critical and instructive situations of the recent World Championship match.

Watch the video now.

Finally, let me remind you that we’re conducting a survey as we’re planning to provide RCA branded products for you. For instance, a T-shirt that has the RCA logo on it can be added to our shop.

But not only that, we’re planning to provide many products for you. And that’s why, you need to let us know what you want by taking part in the survey: LINK

You might get a T-shirt like this one in the future. 

P.S. I have an idea to visit Austria in the coming months. If you live in this country – please, send me an e-mail to gm.smirnov2014@gmail.com. We might get a chance to meet personally 

Advantage Conversion and Quick Winning

I have received a couple of interesting games and questions from the STUDENTSduring the last several days. We’ll be analyzing your questions tomorrow, on my webinar “How to Win a Won Game?”

In addition to that, of course I’ll share with you some practical recommendations from my coaching & playing experience. All in all, I’m sure on Saturday webinar you’ll learn a lot of useful ideas, and we’ll certainly have fun as well 

For those who have not registered for the webinar yet, you still can do so NOW.

<< Sign up for GM Smirnov’s webinar >>

This time you have a unique opportunity to join the webinar for FREE. All the other webinars was and will be paid. Hence, this is a 1-time opportunity, don’t miss it out!

• The registration for the webinar is now working flawlessly.

After I’ve published info about this webinar a few days ago – we got thousands of people trying to register. Frankly, we did not expect such a massive audience. The web-page went down due to high traffic, and some of the students were unable to sign up. I’m really sorry about that.

I’m glad to let you know that all the technical troubles are resolved, and now you can register for the webinar flawlessly.

• The webinar’s recording will NOT be published afterwards.

The only way to get it is to register for the webinar now. Then – no matter if you attend the live webinar or not – you will get the webinar’s recording.

While observing the games you’ve sent me, I’ve noticed that pretty often students made mistakes in time trouble. Indeed, it’s easy to spoil even a very advantageous position when you have to play every move within a few seconds.

This brings us to 2 main questions:

1.     How to find proper moves QUICKLY (preventing time troubles)?
2.     What should you do if you got into time trouble already (or if you play a blitz game)?

Let me remind you that I’ve developed a special mini-course dedicated to this topic – “Quick Success in Chess”.

QUICK SUCCESS IN CHESS 

<< Learn “Quick Success in Chess” (it’s FREE) >>

P.S. I look forward to talk to you tomorrow (Saturday, 27 September) at my webinar “How to Win a Won Game” ! We still have a few seats available – hurry up! Details and registration: LINK

How to get the Olympic chess medals?

Before we go to the main topic, let me remind you that now it’s the last chance to register for the webinar of GM Vadim Milov (former #22 in the world!). This is a unique opportunity to clarify your questions and to get hints from the world top-level player. Learn more: LINK

In the meanwhile you may test yourself in the following really cool position from Milov’s game.

Pavel Smirnov – Vadim MilovBlack’s turn

Is there any way for Black to survive? Of course you should not just guess a move but to calculate the following lines as well.

Once you came up with your decision, please, check the commented game here:LINK

I’m striving to make the most useful webinars for you. Please, take part in a 3-questions survey to help me understand your preferences.

Your answers will help me to develop future lessons and webinars according toYOUR WISHES. Thank you in advance!

In the recent World Chess Olympiad (in Tromso, Norway) an Indian team got bronze medal – for the 1^st time in the century!  This is especially surprising taking into account their 19^th place in the starting rank, and plenty of really strong rivals.

Indian Team, Olympic Award Presentation

What are the secrets of success of the Indian team? Luckily, we have lots of students from India. Some of the best Indian coaches work in our Remote Chess Academy as well. Hence I know the situation pretty well, and will share my findings with you.

• Secret #1: Regular chess practice.

During the past few years the quantity of chess tournaments in India got increased. Therefore Indian players got regular practice of playing against strong opponents.

You should strive for the same if you want to get massive chess advancement. You can’t progress while playing against equal (or weaker) opponents.

Celebration of bronze medals in India, 4th September at Russian Cultural Center,Chennai

• Secret #2: Communication with strong players

You may have noticed that the Indian Olympic team was mostly made of youngsters (they all are 22-25 years old). This facilitates communication between players. That’s how Sasikiran (the highest rated player in the Team) was able to give valuable hints to his less experienced teammates.

Imitation is the easiest way of learning. That’s how kids learn tons of skills within a few years. In the same way you can hasten your chess progress a lot if you have regular communication with players at least 200 rating points ahead of you.

• Secret #3:Effective training methods.

It’s not enough to spend time learning chess, your training should be proper and effective.

Indian coaches have successfully implemented the teaching methods of the Russian chess school and… left the Russian team behind in the recent Olympiad! 

So it’s not just a sudden lucky result in the Olympiad (as some people think); Indian chess players are getting stronger!

Karthikeyan Murali (on the right) – World under-16 champion,  just got his final GM norm!

By the way, Mr. Manikandaswamy (2^nd person from left side on the photo) is working in our Remote Chess Academy. You should thank this great coach for some of the wonderful lessons we’ve prepared for you!

Test your skills in a brilliant example from Karthikeyan’s game.

Karthikeyan – KrishnaWhite’s turn

In this dynamic position White has a powerful way to overcome in this battle. Can you detect it?

Then you may check the commented game and check yourself: LINK

P.S. If you enjoyed the article, please, “like” it on Facebook / Twitter by clicking the button on the left-side panel. Thank you!

The Power of a Chess Game

GM Igor Smirnov is back with an article. So go ahead and read it now!

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When I have a conversation with a stranger, usually the first questions he/she asks are:

 What’s your name? > Where are you from? > What’s your profession?

Up to this moment, the conversation has been going seamlessly. However, after I say that my profession relates to chess, the interlocutor often takes a pause to think.. 

During the following chat, he/she asks about a chess game and why people play this game. Maybe you’ve had a similar experience. Hence I’ve decided to write a short article about it.

So, why do people play chess? What’s the useful effect of this game?

1.    It trains your brain.

While physical exercises improve your body, chess, as an intellectual sport, sharpens your mind.

Some time ago I saw statistics about the hobbies of the richest people on the planet. Chess was in 4^th place on this list.

Also, chess helps you cultivate your champion psychology. Of course, there are lots of other kinds of sport, but they carry a serious risk of trauma.

Maybe this is the reason why even famous boxers enjoy playing chess.

BBC News Magazine provided this photo and wrote: “The former world heavyweight champion, Lennox Lewis, is now more likely to be seen hunched over the chess board than in the boxing ring.”

That’s why chess is  great training tool FOR KIDS. Children can train to acquire lots of useful skills without any risk.

FOR MATURE PEOPLE, chess helps slow down ageing and keep them in good shape.

2.    Chess can be a pleasant pastime or a job.

One may enjoy playing chess in one’s spare time. For others, chess may become a nice job, where you get paid for your hobby!

Unfortunately, lots of people have to take a job they dislike completely (just to make a living). That said, it’s really great if you can get money from something you enjoy and believe in. I’m happy to be in this situation 

In addition to that, chess does not have any real restrictions in terms of requirements. Almost everyone can play it. You don’t need to visit a special training hall or to buy expensive equipment. People can play chess starting from 4 years old and without any top age limit.

Nowadays, thanks to the Internet, one can study chess effectively from any place on the planet. This is especially important for people from developing countries and for the areas without “chess infrastructure” (clubs, teachers, etc.).

3.    Chess can support your traveling around the world.

Even during my schoolboy era, I visited so many countries (while playing in tournaments) that my international passport was completely filled with visas.

These days I still enjoy traveling. It’s easy to do so because I have students or other chess friends in almost every country 

Last (in this article) but not least:

4.    Chess helps you meet good friends and intelligent people.

Thanks to chess, I’ve met a lot of very nice and interesting people from various countries.

Recently I got married.

The very first time I met my future wife was… at the age of 9, in a local chess tournament for kids 

Of course, there are lots of other advantages to playing chess. But I don’t want to make this article endless, so let’s finish at this point.

Now, if someone asks you about chess, you may resend this article to him/her 

So let’s test your skills in a position from the recent game between two top GMs.

Radjabov T. – Karjakin S.Black’s turn

Black’s position is critical. Can you find the way to escape?

Solution : 46...Rb6+! Instead of protecting the pawn, Black is forcing White to capture it!

 Black's position looks critical. The only way to protect f5-pawn is46...Rb5 However, after 47.Kf6 Black is in zugzwang. Of course Black may not move his king: 46...Kg6 47.Rg8+ Kh748.b8Q+- 47.Kxf5 Rxb7! That's the point; it leads to a stalemate. 48.Rxb7 Game drawn½–½

In order to let you have some fun, I’ll share a few photos from my recent trip.

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So enjoyed the article from GM Smirnov? And now you know the power of a chess game. So why don't you try reading his chess courses! Go to the page where you want the chess course ( You are currently in HOME page ). Good Luck!

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