Chess 025: Opening Repertoire for 1500-1800 ELO Players, Part 2: Black vs. 1.c4, 1.Nf3, and Others

Dear Chess.com Members,

After Chess 012, Chess 013, Chess 014, and Chess 024, Chess.com University is back with its fifth college-like chess course! Our college-like courses provide the best and most effective chess education available online.

It's time to announce the fifth installment of Chess.com University's flagship product:

Chess 025: Opening Repertoire for 1500-1800 ELO Players, Part 2: Black vs. 1.c4, 1.Nf3, and Other Rare 1st Moves

This is Chess.com University's second course aimed at the 1500-1800 ELO level. Anybody who is at the 1400 level and/or has taken Chess 013 will be prepared to take this course. Chess 024 is not a prerequisite for the new Chess 025 course.

Instructor: Kairav Joshi

Opening Repertoire for 1500-1800 ELO Players: Black vs. 1.c4, 1.Nf3, and Others Course Overview:

Chess 025 is a new course that gives students an opening repertoire vs. 1.c4, 1.Nf3, 1.f4 and other first opening moves for White such as 1.g3, 1.b4 and 1.g4. Focus is limited to the Black side of openings besides 1.e4 (already covered in Chess 024) and 1.d4 (to be covered in Chess 026). Opening coverage will be well-organized and easy for students to understand. The opening coverage will not be limited to just the mainlines; relevant variations and sidelines will be covered as needed.

Students will even receive PGN files containing all the important lines covered that way they can easily review and even explore different continuations using a chess engine. While this class will teach an opening repertoire vs. 1.c4, 1.Nf3, 1.f4, 1.g3, 1.b4, and 1.g4, not all the class content will be aimed at the repertoire itelf.

Other areas where time will be spent:

(1) Applying Opening Principles

(2) Planning and Analyzing During the Opening

(3) Punishing Unsound Openings

With that said, the focus of the class will be providing students an outstanding opening repertoire against several openings that increases their understanding of chess in general. We want students to "learn-by-doing" and want them to practice analyzing openings using chess engines and other resources.This way students can practice learning openings by themselves and get feedback on how well they're doing it!

Openings Covered:

While we will study playing against numerous first moves for White, our focus will be playing against the English Opening (1.c4) and the Zukertort Opening (1.Nf3). These two opening moves are as credible as 1.e4 and 1.d4 and require more study compared to offbeat openings. Our weapon against 1.c4 will be 1...c5, the Symmetric Variation of the English Opening. Against 1.Nf3, we will study the fun 1...c5 move.

After covering the English Opening and the Zukertort, we will move on to the Hungarian Opening (1.g3), the Bird's Opening (1.f4), and the Polish Opening (1.b4) which is also known as the Sokolsky or Orangutan Opening.

"Any opening named after an animal is bad!" - GM Roman Dzindzichashvili

We will also spend a little bit of time covering the dubious Grob Opening (1.g4) and give a 5-minute honorable mention to other first opening moves if time permits.

What is included in Chess 025?

- Syllabus (Will be upload by August 10th, 2014)

- 15-Minute Live Orientation and Introduction

- 5 Hours of Live Chess Lessons Spread Out Over 3 Sessions

- Opening Variations and Notes Sent as PGN files

- Two Written Lectures

- Two or Three Class Assignments with Feedback

- Organized Study Plan for Each Day of the Course(!) Using Several Resources Including Chess.com

- English Opening Themed Simul with NM Dane Mattson(!)

- Final Exam with Feedback

Yes, this course comes with a chess simul with National Master Dane Mattson. In this simul, Dane will play 1.c4 on all boards thereby giving Chess 025 students a chance to try out their new opening repertoire against a chess master! The time control will be 45|30 (45 minutes per person with a 30 second increment per move) and all Chess 025 students will be able to play. The simul is scheduled for Sunday, August 24th, 2014 at 12:05 PM PDT (Pacific Daylight Time).

Class Textbook

The class textbook is Chess Openings for Black, Explained: A Complete Repertoire (Revised and Updated, 2nd Edition) by Lev Albert and Roman Dzindzichashvili. The book is not included in the tuition and not required to take this course but we strongly recommend purchasing it.

The book is available at Kairav's online Amazon bookstore: http://astore.amazon.com/kairacad-20?node=1&page=3

There may be better priced copies available elsewhere such as www.ebay.com.

Schedule and Format:

Class tentatively starts on Wednesday, August 20th, 2014 with a live orientation session. All students will receive a video recording of this session so attending live is not required. The first live lecture will be taught on Saturday, August 23rd, 2014 around noon Pacific Time (PDT) but the time will not be finalized until after class begins.

The class will be spread out over 4 weeks. There will be 30 days in the study schedule.

Most live lectures will be taught on Saturdays between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM PDT. All live lectures will be video recorded so even if you cannot attend, you will be able to watch the recording and email me any questions.

Unlike in Chess.com University seminars, only about 10% to 15% of the class instruction will be live for this chess class. This way students from any time zone with any kind of schedule may take this class! This course is extremely flexible and learner-friendly. Students may even join the class late.

Chess.com Diamond Membership

One month of Chess.com Diamond Membership, starting on the first day of class, is required if you are not already a Diamond Member. Chess 025 will make full use of the Diamond Membership features.

Tuition:

Tuition is $90/person during the pre-registration period.

Pre-Registration:

Please use the following link to pre-register using PayPal balance or credit/debit card:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=KDRQR9MRMZDAN

Message GeniusKJ on Chess.com or send an email to kairavjoshi@chess.com after purchasing Chess 025. In the message/email, indicate your real name, primary email address (for communication during the course), and your Chess.com username.

Alternatively, if you would like to mail a check or money order, please message GeniusKJ on Chess.com to get our mailing address.

Message me on Chess.com once you register that way I know which PayPal name and email address corresponds to which username on Chess.com. Don't forget!

Pre-registration ends on Thursday, August 14th, 2014 at midnight PDT. Please pre-register if you are interested in taking this course. Students may register after the pre-registration concludes but the tuition will increase to $97. Please note that class is limited to the first 40 students so make sure you register before all the spots are taken.

Discounts:

Because we as an organization want to keep growing, there is a referral program in place. We want you to recommend Chess.com University courses to friends, relatives, and even strangers! For each NEW student you bring in to Chess 025, you will get a $20.00 discount. A new student is defined as someone who has never taken any seminars or classes offered by Chess.com University.

All you have to do to receive this discount is ask the person you referred to message me and mention your username. All discounts will be processed as partial refunds after the person you referred purchases Chess 025. So whether or not you plan on referring students to this class, please register for the class as soon as possible. Again, remember, you can only receive the discount if the person you recommend Chess 025 to ends up registering.

*All students who took Chess.com University's Online Summer Chess Camp featuring super-GM Boris Gelfand LIVE are eligible for a special discount! We are grateful to all those who helped make this world-class online camp possible. As a way of thanking them, all live camp students will receive a $15 discount on Chess 025 if they choose to take the course! Again, for those paying online, the discount will be processed as a partial refund when the course begins.

Course Delivery:

This course will be delivered entirely online using Chess.com, Livestream, Dropbox, and email. There will be a class group on Chess.com which I will use to post announcements or start discussions. Students may interact with each other through the groups as well.

Remember, all live broadcasts will be recorded and available for download by all the students!

If you have further questions, you may message Kairav Joshi, or comment on this news post.