8/5/2025 – Svitlana Demchenko’s Smart Moves show began in 2021 and has produced over 120 nearly weekly episodes on topics ranging from openings and endgames to tactics and all things chess. Now, she is speaking at the World Schools Summit in Washington, DC—fittingly named the Smart Moves Summit 2025! | Photo: ChessBase India Interview
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The Alapin Variation (1.e4 c5 2.c3) offers a simple yet highly effective solution to all major Sicilian lines, by sidestepping them with 2.c3. Facing the Sicilian doesn’t have to be complicated. The Alapin Variation (1.e4 c5 2.c3) offers a simple yet highly effective solution to all major Sicilian lines, by sidestepping them with 2.c3. Whether your opponent plays the Najdorf, Taimanov, or Dragon, the Alapin lets you take control of the game as early as move two.
Free video sample: Introduction
Free video sample: 2...g6
2025 European Championship with a German double victory and analyses by Bluebaum, Svane, Rodshtein, Yuffa, Navara and many more. Opening videos by Engel, King and Marin. Training sections “The Fortress”, “The Trap” and “Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" etc.
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Svitlana's Smart Moves in Washington!
The Smart Moves Summit in Washington, DC (August 4–5, 2025) is a global education conference uniting chess, cognition, and learning, held alongside the FIDE World Schools Team Championship.
Featuring top influencers, researchers, and educators, the event aims to inspire, connect, and transform the future of education through chess.
Promo video of the summit by FIDE
Svitlana Demchenko playing chess in Europe
Soon, Svitlana will begin studying medicine at the University of Ottawa. Before that, she took the opportunity to travel to Europe and compete in two strong chess tournaments. At the XLIV Open Internacional Villa de Benasque in Spain, she gained rating points and even defeated an FM rated 2357.
The 2100+ rated Open International d'Aix-en-Provence – Trophée Dole 2025 was one of the strongest events she has ever played. After starting with 0 out of 4, she made a strong comeback by winning two consecutive games and finished with hardly any rating loss.
Svitlana Demchenko has now reached an Elo rating of 2156.
After her short European tour, she headed to Washington for the Smart Moves Summit 2025, where she participated not only as a speaker but also played a simul match against a group of brave schoolchildren.
Besides in-depth theory and exciting tactical exercises in the Scotch Game, this video course also includes a bonus section on the Scotch Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Bc4), a lively variation often leading to very dynamic positions.
The Leningrad Dutch Defence is a dynamic and aggressive opening choice for Black, perfect for players who want to add some adventure and spice to their repertoire.
The course includes structured explanations, model games, and interactive training tools to help you confidently master the Alapin and outplay your opponents.
The Alapin Variation (1.e4 c5 2.c3) offers a simple yet highly effective solution to all major Sicilian lines, by sidestepping them with 2.c3. Facing the Sicilian doesn’t have to be complicated. The Alapin Variation (1.e4 c5 2.c3) offers a simple yet highly effective solution to all major Sicilian lines, by sidestepping them with 2.c3. Whether your opponent plays the Najdorf, Taimanov, or Dragon, the Alapin lets you take control of the game as early as move two.
Free video sample: Introduction
Free video sample: 2...g6
In France, Svitlana was interviewed by ChessBase India
Arne KaehlerArne Kaehler, a creative mind who is passionate about board games in general, was born in Hamburg and learned to play chess at a young age. By teaching chess to youth teams and creating chess-related videos on YouTube, Arne was able to expand this passion and has even created an online course for anyone who wants to learn how to play chess. Arne writes for the English and German news sites, but focuses mainly on content for the ChessBase media channels.
Opening videos: Sipke Ernst brings the Ulvestad Variation up to date + Part II of ‘Mikhalchishin's Miniatures’. Special: Jan Werle shows highlights from the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 in the video. ‘Lucky bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, Illingworth et al.
In this video course, Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov explores the fascinating world of King’s Indian and Pirc structures with colours reversed, often arising from the French or Sicilian.
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Some players didn't lose, and won a ChessBase training course by Svitlana!.jpg)
