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Written by Yury Markushin King resign Today we’ll talk about something different rather than Rook Endgames that I was covering lately. If not endgames, than what, you may ask? Right, we are going to talk about openings, which is something opposite to the endgames. Don’t get disappointed yet since I’m not going to cover the openings you know and play on regular basis. Today’s topic is something a little bit different. We’ll talk about the openings you have no clue about. More specifically, we’ll discuss how to play the openings you never saw before and don’t even know they exist.The person who knows the opening well has a ‘map’ of the opening in his head. He knows basic things about the development, where to place pieces, which side to castle to (or if to castle at all), which pieces to keep and which to exchange, what to attack and so on. At the same time he knows some common mistakes that players usually make in this opening and the ways to exploit them. You can see some most common opening traps here. If you are at the position of defending player, the one who doesn’t have a map, this guide will help you to find a way through the unfamiliar opening and will arm you with some universal tools that will help you to find your way through the opening keeping (hopefully) all your material.If you play chess I’m 100% certain that sometimes you face openings you never played or saw before. The newer you are to chess the higher the chances that you will get exposed to new openings more and more often. It means that if are a novice player this information will be very valuable for your growth as a chess player. Even if you play chess for a long time and if you don’t have the opening database in your head you still will find yourself in situation when opponent surprise you with the opening choice.Let’s say you are playing the opening and your opponent respond not as you expected. In other words the position on the board is something you never saw before and have no idea how to precede.Mistake #1When players face unfamiliar opening position, for some ambiguous reason, they keep playing the moves at a very fast rate, just like if they have played it 20 times before, not realizing that the position requires deep analyzes. Of course, you don’t want to show the opponent that you have no idea about the opening right from move 2, but playing bad moves is even worse. The most probable outcome is that the player unfamiliar with the opening will make a mistake and blunder something simple like fork and lose a bunch of material.Solution: when you face an opening or a move that you haven’t seen before, do not rush things: think! Rushing and playing careless moves is the worst thing that can happen to a player with no opening knowledge. Instead, take your time, analyze the position thoroughly and plan your moves ahead. Most likely you won’t find the best moves. Even if you find ‘good’ ones you should be fine throughout the game. If you’re looking to go deeper into analyzes techniques I recommend reviewing how to analyze positions at chess.Mistake #2If you make a mistake throughout the opening or if you feel that your position is inferior you shouldn’t calm down yourself with the thought that you are doing ok. The faster you realize that you’re losing the better and the more time you will have to save the game. Therefore, you either need to defend and keep on your material in order to transpose into an equal endgame, or to sacrifice some material and get back into the game. Both approaches are risky and which one is the best depends on a particular position on the board. If you want to learn how to defend, I would recommend reading how to play chess in the lost position.Mistake #3When players face an unfamiliar opening they act in two different extremes. The first type of players gets scared of the unknown territory and begins to play very passively. The opponent usually gets superior position with a space, good control and wins the game. The second type players’ acts very aggressively even thought the territory is not well known. These players gladly accept sacrificed material and end up under crashing, devastating attack resigning a few moves later.Solution: The best approach is the balanced approach. In any opening (especially in unknown) you should develop pieces and put the King to safety before you take any actions against your opponent. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, in some openings you don’t castle at all and start direct attack on opponent’s King. You shouldn’t accept sacrificed material in unfamiliar opening instead of developing pieces. That is a very dangerous strategy and will get you in trouble sooner or later. The two pawns you took instead of protecting your King will not help you to avoid a checkmate.1. Summary:2. When playing an unfamiliar opening take more time to analyze the position, come up with a plan and avoid to blunders3. Realize when you’re in trouble and don’t comfort yourself with a thought that you’re fine. The quicker you see the trouble the more time you will have to save the game.4. Do not play aggressively, by accepting sacrificed material or lunching unprepared attack.5. Do not play passively by keeping pieces locked and misplaced6. Develop your pieces, remember, once you develop your pieces and place them well, you succeed in the opening stage7. Do not be psychologically beaten by the fact you don’t know how to play this opening, use common sense to predict your opponent’s plan and to create your own counter plan Look for indirect signs in the position: if the opponent castle in the opposite side it means he wants to launch a pawn attack at your king, if the opponent wants to exchange bishop for a knight it means he will try to lock the position, if he has a pawn majority on one side of the board he would try to create a passer, etc.

How Many Hours Per Day to Work on Chess - According to GM Shipov Written by Yury Markushin Sunday, 21 December 2014 15:32How many hours to work on chess per day,How many hours per day you do you need to spend on training chess? That's a pretty common question that chess players are asking day and night. Is there a magic number of hours you need to invest on daily basis to become a FIDE master or a Grandmaster?Is it the same for all chess players? You can get an answer on these questions straight from the GM Sergey Shipov (2662 peak elo).Question:How many hours per day you do you need to spend on training chess?GM Sergey Shipov: “This question is a very popular amongst ambitious chess players who are serious about improving their game. Unfortunately, there is no good answer on this question. The important point that many chess players are missing is not necessarily for how long you need to study, but how and what exactly to study. You can spend many hours on chess; get completely exhausted and not improve much. It is more important to focus on the quality element of your training, and not on the raw time you are spending.From a professional point of view the work on openings, key variations, and critical continuations that you have problems with takes tremendous amount of time. High level chess players are able to spend all their time preparing the openings. Similarly to the air that occupies all available volume, the opening preparation occupies all time of a chess player. There is no limit how much time one can spend exploring the opening theory.Shipov:However, for an under 2500 rated chess player, it is a waste of energy to spend that much time on the openings. The training on this stage needs to be balanced. All stages of chess games needs to be developed equally.I have seen 2000 rated players that understand opening theory on level of strong International Masters. They know have memorized all opening lines and variations, but when you leave the theory behind, they quickly collapse in the middlegame, and know even less about the endgame. And that is funny; just imagine an athlete, with one very strong arm, and anorexic rest of the body. A good chess player needs to be balanced. In your individual work on chess, you need to take that into account, depending on your current level.If you are an under 2200 player you don’t need to study openings that much and deeply dig into the theory. You need to spend most of your time on endgames, tactics and other fundamental elements of chess.How much you need to work on chess, is entirely up to you. If I tell you right now that you need to study for 6 hours per day and you will follow my advice and totally collapse after first 2 hours of training, the remaining 4 hours will be just a waste. It will probably have some sort of negative consequences for your health and your view of chess in general.But, there are some other players that can study for 6 hours without getting tired. Do you think that all professional chess players have the same training schedule? Of course, not! Some chess players can work for 9 hours a day, such as Sergey Karjakin or Fabiano Caruana. Others spend significantly less time on chess, but their training efficiency may be higher [Magnus Carlsen].Every chess player is different and you need to figure out what works best for you. If you know that you are capable to work more and know what you need to work on, go ahead and do it. Keep in mind that quality of training is much more important than quantity and at some point you will reach your goals.”Note:Even more effective way to improve positional play is studying well annotated GM games. If you're serious about it, I suggest checking out our training course. Sure, you need to commit to it for 3 weeks or a little longer, but trust me it's worth it at the end! We focus on many important elements of the game including positional understanding, attacking play, blunder avoidance, endgame play, tactics, etc. Make sure to check it out.Summary: You should not focus on how much time you need to spend on chess but rather on what you need to study and how it can be done. Some players can work on chess for 6 hours without losing focus, while the rest can only spend 2-3 hours. It is entirely individual, and you are the only one who knows best for how long you can work. Under 2200 level chess players do not need to spend much time on opening theory, they should rather focus on endgames, tactics, and other fundamental elements of chess (attack and positional play). You should balance your chess training. That means don’t just study positional play, endgames or tactics. It works best if you combine all of these elements into a single routine. I hope you find this article of use ?

40th Eastern Open in Bethesda, Maryland Dec 6, 2013 The 40th Annual Eastern Open is set to take place on 26-29th December at the Doubletree Hotel in Bethesda, Maryland. The event will be played over seven rounds of Swiss system and in six sections: Open, U2200, U1900, U1700, U1500 and U1300. The prize fund is $17,500, with Open section prizes guaranteed and remaining prizes based on 220 paid entries. Open $$GTD: $2,000-1,000-500-250; U2300 $500-250. FIDE Rated. Under 2200: $1,000-600-400-200; U2050 $400-200. Under 1900: $1,000-600-400-200; U1750 $400-200. Under 1700: $1,000-600-300; U1550: $400. Under 1500: $800-500-250; U1350: $400. Under 1300: $1,000-600-300; U1150: $300; U1000: $250; U/R max: $150. Additional events: Partay On Open – December 28th, Open & U1800 sections, 4 Rds, 10am-9 pm, G/60, d5, $2,000 Blitz Tournament – December 28th at 9:30 pm, 5-Rd double Swiss, G/7, $800 in prizes Lecture – December 26th at 5-6:30 pm, Expert Tom Beckman will talk about How to Attack Entry fees are from $100 to $125. Mail entries to Tom Beckman, 3731 Kanawha St. NW, Washington, DC 20015-1809. For entry forms and info, www.easternopenchess.com or tombeckman@rcn.com.