Opening, middlegame and endgame guides built around annotated games, live boards and drills. Engine-checked and reviewed before release.
Against the Maroczy Bind: Breaks, Exchanges and the Dark Squares
De Vreugt–Tiviakov, Dutch Championship, Rotterdam 2000: both breaks land
| Move | White | Black |
|---|---|---|
| … | Earlier moves omitted | |
| 5 | c4 | Nf6 |
| 6 | Nc3 | d6 |
| 7 | Be2 | Nxd4 |
| 8 | Qxd4 | Bg7 |
| 9 | Be3 | O-O |
| 10 | Qd2 | |
The London puts the bishop outside the d4–e3 chain and keeps e5 in hand, but the plan must come from Black’s reply: meet ...c5 and ...Qb6 with the move order that makes 6.Qb3 work, meet ...e6 and ...Bd6 by keeping the bishop and taking the half-open h-file, and see what goes wrong when the setup is played on autopilot. After these three games a club player keeps a plan past move six against ...c5 with ...Qb6 and against ...e6 with ...Bd6.
Use c3 to make d4 a centre that lasts: gain time on the exposed queen after 2...d5, cash in the e5 pawn only when Black challenges it after 2...Nf6, and recognise the moment a pawn pair turns from space into a target. Written for players between roughly 1200 and 1800 who play 2.c3 and want to know what the extra centre is for.
Meet 6.Be3 with ...e5 and a plan: the e6 bishop and a knight on b6 hold d5, ...b5–b4 and ...a5–a4 race the g-pawn, and ...d5 comes only when every capture on it has been counted to the end. By the end you can tell whether the break is ready or one move early, and what the c-file is for while you wait.
Build pressure on d4 while finding work for the c8 bishop and g8 knight; aim for active pieces and a safe king before opening a second front against e5.
Learn when to prepare d4, when to answer a central break, and when calculation must interrupt a quiet plan. Three master games, six practice questions. For improving club players, roughly 1200–1800.
Learn to develop around White’s pawn chain, meet attacks on the f5 bishop, and time the ...c5 break. Three master games, six practice questions. For improving club players, roughly 1300–1900.
Drills put you in a position from the guide. Your first answer counts, every answer is explained, and you can replay the game continuation afterwards.
After 16.Rc2, how should Black continue?
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