The Winning Academy 39: There is an Animal in the Trap!

11/5/2024 – Club players love to attack against the king. Perhaps it has something to do with the ancient hunting instincts. After all, most young footballers want to play strikers. Almost no one wants to defend. Grandmasters love to attack as well. However, they understand that there are many more creatures to be hunted, not only the king. Basically, every piece can become a prey! A professional chess player is hunting on the entire board. And he or she is satisfied with a knight or a rook if the monarch can’t be trapped. With a material advantage, the mate will come. Let us have a look at several examples in which a strong player traps and hunts down a piece of the opponent.

Shymkent GP: Goryachkina wins three in a row, grabs the lead

11/4/2024 – Aleksandra Goryachkina has taken the lead at the Shymkent Women’s Grand Prix with a stellar performance, securing her third consecutive win by defeating former co-leader Tan Zhongyi in round 5. Goryachkina now holds 4/5 points, a half-point ahead of Kazakhstan's own Bibisara Assaubayeva, who sits in second place after a strong win against Humpy Koneru. Tied for third are Tan, Humpy and Stavroula Tsolakidou, all remaining within striking distance. | Photo: Konstantin Chalabov

60m How to fight Queen's Pawn Openigns

After 1.d4 d5 many players with White avoid the great amount of theory in the Slav, Semi-Slav, QGA and Orthodox Queen's Gambit and do not therefore play 2.c4. This is not very ambitious, but the painful experience of many chess players has been that the Colle System, the Trompowsky Attack, the Torre Attack and the London System are nevertheless extremely dangerous. Black has to be prepared for each of these openings and IM Valeri Lilov offers you some help with his six instructive videos, in which he demonstrates for each single opening a relevant plan for Black. In addition to the openings mentioned, the Bulgarian trainer also delves into the Catalan, the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit and the Richter-Veresov Opening.