White	Black
1. e2 –e4	e7-e5
2. d2-d4	e5 X d4
3. Qd1 X d4…

White	Black
1. e2 –e4	e7-e5
2. d2-d4	e5 X d4
3. c2 – c3	d4 X c3
4. Bf1 – c4	c3 X b2
5. Bc1 X b2…

White	Black
1. e2 –e4	e7-e5
2. Bf1 – c4	Ng8 – f6
3. d2 – d3	c7 – c5!
4. f2 – f4	e5 X f4
5. Bc1 X f4	d7 – d5
6. e4 – d5	Nf6 X d5…

(Quiet Game) (Italian, Giuoco – game, piano – quiet.)

White	Black
1. e2 –e4	e7-e5
2. Ng1 – f3	Nb8 – c6
3. Bf1 – c4	Bf8 – c5
4. Nb1 – c3	Ng8 – f6
5. d2 – d3	d7 – d6…

For player who like open lines, bold attacks, and exciting piece play at the cost of a Pawn.

White	Black
1. e2 – e4	e7-e5
2. Ng1-f3	Nb8-f6
3. Bf1-c4	Bf8-c5
4. b2-b4....

Workhorse opening throughout 19th century and an excellent choice for players who like unbalanced, wide-open positions with dangerous attacking chances for both sides.

White	Black
1. e2 – e4	e7-e5
2. f2-f4	e5xf4
3. Ng1 – f3

A good choice if you want a closed game with slow steady pressure on Black’s position. It begins with both sides developing their Knights.

White	Black
1. e2 – e4	e7-e5
2. Ng1 – f3	Ng8 – c6
3. Nb1 – c3	Ng8 – f6
4. Bf1 – b5…

White	Black
1. e2 – e4	e7-e5
2. Nb1-c3...

Spanish Cleric considered the strongest player in the 16th century. Opening starts with these moves:

White	Black
1. e2 – e4	e7 – e5
2. Ng1 – f3	Nb8 – c6
3. Bf1 – b5!	a7 – a8…
4. Bb5 – a4	Ng8 – f6
5. 0-0	Bf8 – e7
6. Rf1 – e1	b7 – b5
7. Ba4 – b3	d7 – d6
8. c2 – c3…

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

This Pawn push (a7 – a8) is the most popular way of meeting the Ruy Lopez. It is known as the Morphy Defense after 19th century American genius Paul Morphy. RUY LOPEZ IS THE MOST POPULAR MODERN OPENING.

Related articles

•  Play the Ruy Lopez 
• Starting Out: the Ruy Lopez (Starting Out - Everyman Chess)
• Fighting the Ruy Lopez 
• Ruy Lopez Revisited, The 
• The Ruy Lopez: a Guide for Black 
• Old Kings, New Game (online.wsj.com)

White	Black
1. e2 – e4	d7 – d5
2. e4 X e5	Qd8 X d5
3. Nb1 – c3…

White	Black
3.	Qd5 – a5

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Center Counter Defense: The Portuguese Variation 
•  The Scandinavian, 2nd 
• The Essential Center Counter: A Practical Guide for Black 
• Jon Ludvig Hammer follows in Magnus Carlsen's footsteps as Norway gains in power | Leonard Barden (guardian.co.uk)
• Web Entrepreneur Captivates Chess Players with Launch of New Web site (prweb.com)

White	Black
1. e2 –e4	Ng8 – f6

White	Black
1. e2 –e4	Ng8 – f6
2. e4 – e5	Nf6 – d5
3. c2 – c4	Nd5 – b6
4. d2 – d4	d7 – d6
5. f2 – f4…

Grandmaster Secrets - The Caro-Kann

Chess Explained is a new series of books about chess openings. They are not theoretical works in the traditional sense, but more a series of lessons from a chess expert with extensive over-the-board experience with an opening. You will gain an understanding of the opening and the middlegames to which it leads, enabling you to find the right moves and plans in your own games. It is as if you were sitting at the board with a chess coach answering your questions about the plans for both sides, the ideas behind particular moves, and what specific knowledge you need to have.

GM Wells has written well regarded opening books before (Kasparov remarked positively on Wells' Semi-Slav book). In this work, he explains the current state of theory in every significant variation of the Caro-Kann.

Wells mentions that in his youth, he employed the Caro-Kann, and throughout the book enjoys pointing out lines where Black is doing well. But this book is certainly not a repertoire for the Black player, nor a one-sided treatise on winning with theCaro-Kann. It is an honest and mostly objective look at how GMs today view the main lines of the Caro.




Caro Kann Defence: Advance Variation and Gambit System (Batsford Chess Books)

I found the chapters on the Panov Attack and the Advance variation most interesting. Chapters on 4...Nd7, 4...Bf5 and 4...Nf6 as well as sections on the 2 Pawns Attack and various White tries like the KIA and 2 Knights variation all help anyone interested in the Caro-Kann from either side to gain insight. He gives explanations of the main ideas for BOTH sides of this classic defense. He does present the lastest theory but this is not a theoretical tome on the opening, but more like a textbook. If you play 1.e4, you need this book. If you play 1...c6, you probably already own it.

The most common question among chess players while starting out is, ‘How to Win At Chess?’

The answer is

Education – Read as many chess books as possible. I know most of the chess players are reluctant to agree that chess knowledge winds more games than talent alone, but this is a fact. A case in point being the recent emergence of the current world number one - GM Magnus Carlsen.

Everyone in the chess playing world agreed that Carlsen was a prodigy at chess. That he had it in him to be World champion. However after many years in the chess circuit he wasn’t able to defeat the top ranked chess players on a consistent basis. Only after he started to work on his repertoire with the Great Gary Kasparov have we seen him emerge as a consistent player at the highest level of chess.

Practice- Playing a lot of games gives you experience of being in the situation before. From here you can think of the variations played before and then experiment your way forwards towards the best possible outcome.

In the recently concluded world chess championship GM Boris Gelfand won the title against all odds. At the beginning of the tournament hardly a few chess aficionados would have given him a chance to win the title, let alone call him a favourite. After all this was a gruelling schedule for the 40 year old, a game every day for almost 45 days , with some days having as many as 4-5 blitz and rapid games in between. With the average age of the competing players being in the mid-20’s , to have won the championship shows the amount of practice and experience that makes a champion.

Attitude - Your goal in chess must be to always keep learning, playing interesting chess games and to understand chess rather than to humiliate your opponent. Express your personality through the game rather than through words. Two very good examples of this are the Current world champion GM Vishwanathan Anand and GM Vassily Ivanchuk. GM Anand always has a good word about his opponent, never indulging in controversial statements and plays only on the chess board. GM Ivanchuk on the other hand keeps an element of impish delight in his games, plays chess as though he were still in his teens and often is the sole entertainer in the tournaments.

Always keep at heart the foundations of theses great teachers.

How to Win Chess Games Quickly
Be a good sport - If you care only about winning, then you will just play mechanically and will not create interesting options. Also you will not be able to expand your repertoire. At the same time you should be uninhibited in your games, have a tactical drive. But most of all be a good sport. Winning and losing are part of the game. Do not unnecessarily spoil the atmosphere by charging your opponent or giving rash statements. This will make you an outcast and you might not be invited to many tournaments.

How to Win Chess Games Quickly

A solid and unpretentious defense. An excellent defense for players who want a game with a locked Pawn structure and a minimum of early tactics, combined with the possibility of strong counterattacking chances later in the game.

White	Black
1. e2 – e4	e7 – e6
2. d2 – d4	d7 – d5
3. Nb1 – c3	Ng8 – f6
4. Bc1 – g5	Bf8 – e7
5. e4 – e5	Nf6 – d7
6. Bg5 X e7	Qd8 X e7…

French Defence, Steinitz, Classical, and Other Systems - PSAKHIS



This book is one in a series of books by GM Lev Psakhis. His previous books for Batsford include The Complete French and The Complete Benoni, as well as other volumes.
The book presents a wealth of illustrative games by Viswanathan Anand, Alexei Shirov, Alexander Grischuk, Jan Timman, Viktor Korchnoi and other leaading players, critically annotated with the most up-to-date theoretical refinements. An enthusiastic devotee of the French Defence for over 20 years now, Psakhis remains strictly objective in his judgments, so whether you play the French for White or Black, this is the most authoritative and comprehensive guide available today.

The most popular opening for the past fifty years.

White	Black
1. e2 – e4	c7 – c5
2. Ng1 – f3	Nb8 – c6
3. d2 – d4

(The Sicilian Defense Demo)(hide chess board)

Standard play in the Sicilian Defence, White advances his d-Pawn, opening more space for his Queen and Queen Bishop.
(The Sicilian Defense Demo)(hide chess board)

White	Black
3.	c5 X d4
4. Nf3 X d4	Ng8 – f6
5. Nb1 – c3	d7 – d6
6. Bc1 – g5	a7 – a6…

A great book for players new to the Sicilian is, the one Co-authored by David N. L. Levy and Kevin O'Connel, titled - How to Play the Sicilian Defense. Levy and O'Connell do an excellent job of outlining strategies for White and Black in this wide-ranging opening including almost all the variations in this line. For those rated 1400-1800, this is a good introduction to the opening. Some other books in this opening are highlighted below:

Najdorf Variation: A favourite of Both Bobby Fischer and Gary Kasparov and one of the most complicated variations in chess.

White	Black
1. e2 – e4	c7 – c5
2. Ng1 – f3	d7 –d5

(The Sicilian Defense Demo - Najdorf Variation)(hide chess board)

Black has played a slightly different variation of the Sicilian Defense and this is called the Najdorf Variation.

White	Black
3. d2 – d4	c5 X d4
4. Nf3 X d4	Ng8 – f6
5. Nb1 – c3	a6 – a7…