I was struggling heavily against the Grunfeld Seville. And you said every strong player needs to learn 1e4.e5, so I picked up the QGD Janowski. This video is now just a cherry on top.
I recently found your channel and I just want to say that your content is fantastic. There's a lot of low quality instruction out there, so it's great to find the good stuff. Thanks!!
Thanks for making this repertoire!! I downloaded all 33 lines including sidelines and alternatives on chessable. I know you said not to memorize them but its kinda hard to remember all 33 ideas by just watching the video thanks Gm Alex!!
Thank you. Well, Chessable has some other ideas for me in the near future, so I guess for the time being you'll have to make do with my free videos. :)
This isn't addressed to Alex Colovic but to other people considering his Chessable courses. I've bought a few and I've never wanted my money back. You might have the same experience. (This includes the Capablanca course.) There is so much semi-OK chess instruction out there that I think pointing to a reliable source of the good stuff is doing a good deed for other chess players who don't know where to look. Random RU-vid clips from random players are not the best chess instruction you can get.
When elite grandmaster Anish Giri was preparing his Chessable course on the Najdorf, he looked at Alex's simplified Najdorf and was quite favorably impressed. Pretty much everyone, including me as an owner of some of his courses, thinks he does quality work. He's also conscientious about supporting his courses. You can't go wrong with him.
@@bluefin.64 Some of Alex's Chessable courses are on sale now. Buying from this author who has a strong record of delivering the goods is a smart move.
@@davidblue819 If cost is a concern and you're new to Chessable, make sure you thoroughly check out any course you buy within the 30 day return period. Alex's courses are highly rated, but chess study can be demanding and too many players have hastily acquired courses collecting dust on the shelf.
@gmalexcolovic , Could the Simplified approach be double-edged for intermediate player who want to improve? I'm now rated in the low 1500s. It seems to work well for the Sicilian Najdorf. I love the Sicilian even though the theoretical demand is a lot higher than what my rating is. I have your simplified Chessable courses for both the Sicilian Najdorf for Black and the QGD for White. Conversely, however, could this Simplified approach be double-edged for openings such as the QGA and QGD? But could it be good because it reducees the theoretical workload? Could it also be bad because the intermediate player encounters less variations as a result of the simplification? Could this be a detriment in him becoming an advanced level player? What are your thoughts on that?
Good questions, thank you for those! The main idea of the simplified approach is the reduced theoretical workload. For example, I would use myself the lines presented in this video to play the QGA, so they should be sufficient to give players of all levels good confidence in the opening. On the other hand, if the player really wants to improve and expose himself to various openings ideas/structures/variations etc. then by all means they should learn more various openings and variations. So it's pretty much a personal choice, depending on the players's goals and ambitions. I hope this helps.
@gmalexcolovic , I know you said yourself that it's not possible to simplify the Ruy Lopez, but could you make a video in this series for the Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation for White? Fischer played this line with great results and it may loosely qualifies as a simplified opening line.
Ah, so you remember that one. :) Things have advanced mightily since Fischer's times and not only in the Exchange Variation. But it's still a playable line especially if you like to play endgames. I may do one video on those endgames, it may be useful for players who like to play endgames.
Thank you! 3.Nc3 is considered imprecise because of 3...a6, which would allow Black to defend the pawn on c4 by ...b5 (or ...Nc6-a5 after White's a4) but if you want to keep it simple then 3...c5 4.d5 e6 5.e4 Nf6 transposes to the lines after 3.e4 c5.
I played the line in a correspondence game on gameknow and this is how it went: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 c5 4. d5 e6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bxc4 exd5 7. exd5 a6 8. Nf3 Bd6 9. Qe2+ Qe7 10. O-O Qxe2 11. Bxe2 O-O 12. Nd2 Be5 13. Nc4 Bxc3 14. bxc3 Nbd7 15. Ne3 b5 16. c4 Nb6 17. cxb5 axb5 18. Bxb5 Ba6 19. Bxa6 Rxa6 20. Rd1 Rd8 21. Rb1 h5 22. Rb5. It comes out now that it is not so straightforward for Black to regain the pawn and the best move is the not trivial 22...Ne4. What are your thoughts on this position?
My opinion is that it should be a draw. When playing correspondence that's easy with an engine, so whether a move is trivial or not is irrelevant - the engine will find it. For OTB, this is next to impossible for someone to reproduce, which means that at some point a playable endgame will happen, where the better player will have the better chances. That is the task of the opening, to give the player a playable position once the preparation and knowledge of the lines end.
Hello Mr. Colovic, do you have any recommendations for black players after 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. d4 ? It would be nice to have a recommendation after your good video for the grand-prix attack with d6. Greetings from germany :D
When I was looking at those lines I was attracted to the plan of a quick ...e6 and ...d5, after 3...cd 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qd2 Nf6 6.b3 e6 with ...d5 next, not giving White the usual attack on the queenside. It leads to a completely different type of positions, with Black having an IQP with active piece play. But this was just my personal preference, the lines with ...g6 are also fine and lately White has stopped playing this line, so it's best if you check both ideas and see which one you prefer.
I don't find an easy equality for Black if White takes plays Qxe7 in this line: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 c5 4.d5 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Bxc4 exd5 7.exd5 a6 8.Nf3 Bd6 9.Qe2+ Qxe7 10.Qxe7+ How is black supposed to play in this case?
@@gmalexcolovic I have looked it with a computer and it's surprising that while Black is losing a lot of time with his king ( Re1+ Kf8 Rxe8 Kxe8 and then most probablyt the king has to come back to f8 after another check) the position seems to be fine. At the beginning the computer gives a +0.5 to White but later the evaluation drops towards equality. What is the reason for this misevaluation of the computer? I have seen that it happens also in other lines of this variation of the QGA.
@@lucaregini7440 I think the engine needs more depth to realise that the passed d-pawn is not going anywhere and that Black has excellent play blockading it, with a possible queenside majority advance.