Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: Queen's Gambit Declined

by Robert Ris
4/13/2026 – Sindarov's play at the Candidates Tournament is absolutely impressive and we have a look at his 10th round game against Praggnanandhaa. Did he take a lot of risks opting for a theoretical piece sacrifice in a sharp line of the Queen's Gambit Declined? Or was it actually a very clever practical decision, offering risk-free attacking chances against the opponent's king? In this episode I'll give you my take on his approach and discuss the current theoretical state of this opening variation.
This video course offers you a complete, clear repertoire for Black against the moves 1.Nf3 and 1.c4. The recommended variations are easy to learn and not difficult to remember, but also pose White serious challenges.

Sindarov's play at the Candidates Tournament is absolutely impressive and we have a look at his 10th round game against Praggnanandhaa. Did he take a lot of risks opting for a theoretical piece sacrifice in a sharp line of the Queen's Gambit Declined? Or was it actually a very clever practical decision, offering risk-free attacking chances against the opponent's king? In this episode I'll give you my take on his approach and discuss the current theoretical state of this opening variation.

In this DVD, Erwin l'Ami guides you through the fascinating Benko Gambit. As early as move three Black starts a fight for the initiative, a strategy that has proved to be successful in countless amateur and master level games.

Exercise: What did Praggnanandhaa overlook here? White to Play!/p>

Feel free to move the pieces on the live diagram!

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Topics: Fast and Furious
Robert is an International Master who mostly spends his time training and coaching talented youngsters. On the PlayChess server The Fast and the Furious is a popular show where he explains sharp opening lines for a wider audience. He is also a well-known ChessBase author who produced numerous DVDs and regularly contributes to ChessBase Magazine as well. Since 2015 he is the organizer of the Dutch Rapid Championships in his home town Amstelveen. He has started a YouTube channel with chess analysis as well.
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Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: Petroff with 4.Nc4

4/7/2026 – An exciting piece of home preparation was seen in the game Caruana-Bluebaum. Fabi introduced a new concept in the Petroff with 4.Nc4, followed by placing the knight on e3 and pushing the pawn to f5. Bluebaum was clearly caught by surprise and failed to come up with an adequate answer. In a position with opposite-castled kings White's attack was really fast and it was checkmate on move 28!

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Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: Viktor Korchnoi

3/27/2026 – Viktor Korchnoi's favorite opening used to be the French Defense, featuring some positionally risky lines with a lot of fighting spirit. That's what Viktor Lvovich loved to play and so we are going to have a look at some spectacular games he played in this opening.
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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.

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