Opening Traps & A New Course in Spanish

NOW it’s the last chance to sign yourself up for the upcoming webinar“Chess Opening Disasters and Traps” (Sunday, 21 September).

• You’ll learn how to eliminate opening troubles in your games.
• IM Alex Kundin will reveal some of the most effective opening traps your opponents will likely fall for!

•  You can read all the details, and sign up for the webinar here:LINK

Let’s have a little test of your skills right now.

After the moves 1.e4-e5 2.Nf3-Nc6 3.Bc4, Black – seeking simplification – can blunder away a pawn with 3…Nd4. What would be your initial impulse with White?

How would you play here as White?

Although this trap is pretty simple, you can’t imagine how often White players fall right into it! According to my database, 4.Ne5 is the 2^nd most popular choice! 198 Players played 4.Nd4, while 155 overly optimistic guys captured the pawn with 4.Ne5.

After 4.Ne5-Qg5 White realizes what’s wrong, but now it’s too late…

Surprisingly, White is lost!

I will not analyze the position thoroughly – it’s pretty simple and you can work out the details yourself. The most natural game continuation is 5.Nf7-Qg2 6.Rf1-Qe4 7.Be2-Nf3#

White was mated in 7 moves!  

Being a chess coach, I must teach students to play properly and avoid tricky lines. However, I do agree that some opening traps work very well, especially in blitz games and/or against club players.

You can learn another nice example of an opening catastrophe from a free video lesson, “Chess Opening Disasters”, prepared by our guest coach IM Alex Kundin:LINK

If you wish to get some nice victories right at the starting phase of a game, you may join our Sunday’s webinar: LINK

There’s good news for Spanish-speaking students. The course, “An Endgame Expert”, is now available in Spanish language:

<< Get the Course in SPANISH Now >>

I’m not sure why, but very often I receive messages from Spanish-speaking students, who ask me to provide the courses into their mother tongue. Hence, I’m glad to present this new translation for you.

By the way, three other courses have been translated to SPANISH already:

• “The Grandmaster’s Secrets“: LINK
• “The Grandmaster’s Openings Laboratory“: LINK 
• “How to Beat Titled Players“: LINK 

Each additional language pack for a course that you already own is only $7. For example, if you own an English version of the course, “The Grandmaster’s Secrets”, you can get its Spanish version for just $7. Get your Language Pack here: LINK

If you don’t even have an English version of the course, “An Endgame Expert“, this might be a good time to study it!

<< Get the Course in ENGLISH Now >>

With this one course, you’ll learn everything you need to become an expert in endgames. 

I do receive messages from students all the time. In the past I used to publish them regularly, but then I stopped because there were simply too many of them.

Still, it might be interesting for you to know about the experiences of other students. Hence, I’ll provide a few right here.

I bought my first course back in November, and I was immediately hooked. I own dozens of chess books, read dozens more, and I learned more in that one course than all of them combined…

 This week I beat an opponent 250 rating points higher than me, and in doing so I achieved my highest online rating ever. Before my rating was padded from playing lots of weaker competition; now I’m doing it against players I never thought I’d consistently beat!

 Johnathan Petit

I have purchased and trained every course and I am now enjoying the benefit of no-nonse chess knowledge. So far I have only lost a single serious game last year and none this year, so my rating will raise as I continue to win. The courses by Igor Smirnov is by far my best investment.

Richard

Hello sir,

I am a chess player from India rated 2250.

I have studied your Dvd’s and improved a lot in all stages of the game. Last time after studying Endgame Expert, I improved a lot and won some games too in serious tournaments.

Praneeth Surya, India

 LINK SUMMARY

• Webinar “Chess Opening Disasters and Traps”: LINK
• Free video lesson “Chess Opening Disasters”: LINK
• “An Endgame Expert” in English: LINK
• “An Endgame Expert” in Spanish: LINK 

 There’s simply NO way for you NOT to become a strong chess player… 

2nd Webinar : The Art of the Endgame

Golden opportunity to end your endgame troubles

I am happy to announce that I will be conducting the second webinar on Sunday 27th July at 5 p.m. (17:00) BST – London time (you can check it on this LINK).

The topic of the webinar, “The Art of the Endgame”, will be confined to “ENDGAMES ONLY”.

<< Register for the Webinar >>

Since places are limited, please hurry up and register!

Participants may send me one or two games in .pgn format, with their comments and questions or troubles related to the endgame only. I will explain and clear your doubts.

During the webinar each position will be analysed on a first come, first servedbasis. Hence, you should sign up for the webinar as early as possible!

NOTE: This is optional to send your games or questions. If you have no specific questions, you are still welcome to join the webinar!

The first webinar was conducted on 6^th July 2014 on the topic “The Art of Defence in Chess”. The response and interest shown by the students were overwhelming and fascinating.

 Also Get the ENDGAME EXPERT chess course now - HERE

The entry fee for this webinar, “The Art of the Endgame”, is $20 USD. After you have registered for the webinar, you’ll be given the chance to submit your games and questions. Since places are limited, please hurry up and register!

<< Register for the Webinar >> 

NOTE: The registration for the webinar will be closed 2 hours before the start of the webinar.

Rook Endgames

Today we will talk about rook endgames.

Even if MOST endgames are rook endgames, a majority of players make lots of mistakes in these situations. That’s why we took a typical position that can help you in your future games (when you’ll meet similar positions).

In the example we will show you, it is a rook endgame played by the famous French champion Etienne Bacrot and the Russian Grand Master Pavel Tregubov. Bacrot with White and 100 points ELO over his opponent seems to be the favourite, but rook endgames are always very difficult, as you’ll see in this lesson.

Barcot, E – Tregubov, PWhite’s Turn

Take few minutes and think about this position. Rook endgames tend to be drawish pretty often. But you’ll see that, in practice, this is not easy at all.

In this case, you must analyse the position and find:

-         What is Black’s plan to play for a win?

-         How should White defend?

After that, please click the LINK to observe the actual game with comments.

If you wish to improve your endgame skills, you should study PRACTICAL examples. Endgame books, unfortunately, are filled with theoretical positions that may never happen in YOUR games.

Another important thing is to know the typical endgame PLANS. You are probably well versed in some middle game plans (attack on the kingside/king, pawn minority attack, etc.) but what about an endgame?

One of my friends (he’s a Russian GM) told me: “Once we reach an equal endgame, they all offer me a draw. And after I reject it, they do not know what to do”. 

Sadly, this is true of most intermediate players. If you want to overcome them, you may study the course “An Endgame Expert”. This single course will bring you to the ADVANCED level in endgames.

Click here to get ENDGAME EXPERT chess course!

Become an Endgame Expert

Get the course : http://chess-teacher.com/affiliates/idevaffiliate.php?id=1511_9_3_9

How to win in modern chess?

In a chess game you should attack an opponent’s weakest square. Likewise in a preparation you should “attack” an opponent’s weakest side.

Hit in the WEAKEST point!

The majority of modern chess players do NOT have a real (deep) strategic understanding. They can attack and use tactics. However, even titled players are often weak in strategic positions.

Computer engines can show you the move, but they cannot EXPLAIN it. That’s why players know how to play, but don’t UNDERSTAND it! Smile

So, how do we use our opponents’ low level of chess understanding to our advantage?You should go into an endgame!

An Endgame Is A Clear Strategy!

In the opening and middlegame stage concrete (sudden) tactical variations often determine the situation. In an endgame you should use only your strategic understanding.
That is why a majority of players do NOT know what to do in an endgame at all! 
Even modern Grandmasters have tremendous problems here.

An Endgame Improvement
Amplifies Your Positional Play Automatically.

This all has to do with a strategic understanding.

Remember the famous endgame masters: Capablanca, Flohr, Smyslov, Karpov, Kramnik…They all have a crystal-clear caliber of playing.They all almost never make mistakes. They all almost never lose games in the opening.

Their deep strategic understanding prevents them from making mistakes! They attained this understanding while perfecting the endgame skills!

That is whyCapablanca recommended to start learning chess from the endgame phase!Endgame expertise bears positive influence on all other parts of your game as well.

Get the course : http://chess-teacher.com/affiliates/idevaffiliate.php?id=1511_9_3_9