r/TournamentChess

https://preview.redd.it/9n4w0uu7zfbh1.png?width=1376&format=png&auto=webp&s=3c43fc19f6e5904fb2f3dcc13a2eeb56d28a5f5f

This position is +0.5. After g3, it's only -0.3.

Hi. Im a 2100 rapid lichess rating player. I dont have a fide rating.

I study atleast 2hours per day on weekdays and around 6hrs or more during weekends. I normally do the yusupov series. I try to finish one chapter per day but since i have work, and already on book 5, the topics are more challenging which makes it harder for me to finish one chapter a day. Nevertheless, my training is consistent. I ocassionally play one rapid game a day and analyze it after, and i do puzzle racer or woodpecker method as warm up before studying. I usually end my day just watching some chess videos before sleeping.

After just about 3 months, I felt that ive improved my chess strength since i was getting better tournament results and ive beat or atleast give hard fights to known strong players in my city. However, it kinda declined from there. These past 2 months, my tournament performance wasnt as good. I realized that when i play a game, i usually forget about thinking what my opponent wants to do and just focus on my own plans. I also lose a lot on time scrambles. I blunder my pieces there or am just guessing where to put my pieces without actually having a plan on what to do. I also have some holes on my opening prep. Example, Im black, d4-Nf6, c4-c5 (i play the benko), Nf3-cxd4, Nxd4-e6. I dont really know what my plans are in this position. I have tried e5 but im not really an aggressive player so it doesnt give me good scores. Anyway, im feeling the decline and im losing a bit of motivation coz im working hard but not seeing some results.

Any tips on how to change this? Thanksss

I have same problem on both online and OTB, whatever I play against someone who’s rating significantly lower than mine (300-400 pts) I’m playing much worse, I don’t know why, like I’m feeling when playing them same things as someone my rating, but i genuinely have lower win rate against someone who’s much lower rating then me… for info, my rating online is 2200 and uscf 1900

I'm interested on what your advices would be for me who needs 50-30 elo to achieve 2k rapid or anyone who is below 2k

Hi, I want to reorient my chess towards playing more positionally/technically. I find this type of chess interesting, especially when I watch modern players work magic on the board in shorter time controls (players in mind Yu Yangyi, Lazavik etc...), but also probably very beneficial to me at this stage.

I am wondering, how did you get better at this? Do you have specific advice or resources that helped you? Any psychological advice as well would be beneficial to me. Below I wrote 2 problems that are reoccurring in my chess.

Fairly recently I have crossed well into the 2k fide mark (2050) in a short time span while hovering around mid 1900s and high 1900s for a couple of years and then promptly fell back down and eventually crossed the 2k mark again.
So far I have been playing "control" type of chess with white, mostly catalan, classical KID, fianchetto benoni, e3 benko, russian variation of the grunfeld etc... and I mostly get good positions even without knowing much theory. With black I have been playing KID/Sicilian/French, also without knowing much theory. My results, overall, are decent against 2k-2300 opposition (which is my usual opponent).
I have problems on two fronts: 1.) My style of chess is pretty calculation heavy and initiative driven, this leads me to burn a lot of time on my clock in order to find tricky continuations that are sometimes not even good. Pattern happens: calculate deeply, find out the opponent can answer every problem, lose 15-20 minutes on the clock, play an intuitive candidate move that could've been played in 2 minutes OR calculate deeply, lose 15-20m, play the move, opponent answers with an equally good move that avoids my variation, meaning I missed it in my calculation. Throughout the game this compounds, especially when the position starts to get complex (such as in KID or Sicilian), then I get a worse position and my whole objective is to outplay my opponent in complications which, surprisingly, I manage to do quite frequently. In this way I save a lot of games, but miss winning chances after the dust settles since I have no time. From here I concluded that I have poor time management because I aim to calculate everything and I am actively working to fix this problem. I also switched openings with black to e4 e5 and d4 d5 (here I have decent results a few times I played it OTB).
2.) Especially with white, where I get an almost winning, or outright winning technical position: position where I dominate positionally I struggle to convert it. This was a reoccurring pattern before I switched my playstyle to more aggressive initiative driven chess. At the 2k-2.3k fide mark, players defend those types of positions surprisingly well. They are very resilient and it's hard for me to crack their positions. Before I evaded this problem, now I want to tackle it head on and learn how to convert positions better. This is also connected to me wanting to calculate a concrete win, where there is none at this moment, but if I play correctly it will appear later on. This "playing correctly" it seems to me to be a technical stage of chess which I am lacking to a sufficient degree at my chess level.

Thank you for reading.

Hi guys, I’ve been running into some troubles facing the dutch as a g3-english player recently. I know objectively White is doing better than in a Dutch proper, since the pawn stays on d3 in some lines. Especially the leningrad however, poses some problems for me.

A sample line from a course of mine:

1. c4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 g6 4. b4!? Bg7 5. Bb2 0-0 6. Nf3 d6 7. Nc3 e5 8.d3 +-

This very standard setup from Black should be pretty harmless since White’s pawn in on d3 instead of d4, making the e5-e4 break a lot less scary. And although the queenside expansion with 0-0-a4-b5-Nd2 is easy enough, it is Blacks f5-f4 that troubles me. I never really know what to do after that move. Do Iignore and allow fxg3? How should I recapture? Should I aim to play f4 myself as soon as possible? Should I take on f4 and utilise the open g-file after tucking my king away on h1?

Any middlegame plans here would be greatly appreciated, also from any 1.d4 or Dutch players ofcourse!

Hello! My name is Erik Haidinger, and I am an active competitive chess player from Croatia with a current FIDE rating of **1950**and a **2060 FIDE Blitz** rating. My chess.com and Lichess blitz rating varies between **2200-2300**
I consider myself an ambitious player who is constantly improving. I continue to study chess on a daily basis and regularly train with International Masters, whose experience, training methods, and practical approach I strive to pass on to my own students.
I remain an active tournament player, competing in approximately **50–60 classical games every year**. Throughout the years, I have represented my club in the Croatian Chess Leagues and the Croatian Cup Finals, gaining valuable experience against FIDE Masters, International Masters, and Grandmasters. I have also achieved victories against several FIDE Masters, experiences that have significantly contributed to my understanding of practical tournament chess.
**Coaching Experience**
I have worked as a coach at my home club, **Šahovski klub Crikvenica**, where I trained both beginner and advanced groups.
Some of the players I have coached include:
**FIDE Master Ivano Sundać** (current FIDE rating: 2290)

**Candidate Master Ivano Tomljanović**(current FIDE rating: 2136)

**Vid Krešić** (current FIDE rating: 2164)

In addition, I participated in the preparation of several club members for the **2019 European Youth Chess Championship in Bratislava**.
In addition to club coaching, I have experience teaching chess in **primary schools** as part of an organized chess education program, introducing children to the game and helping them develop both their chess skills and critical thinking from an early age. This experience has taught me how to adapt my teaching methods to younger students and make lessons engaging, interactive, and enjoyable
**Who I Teach**
I work with:
Complete beginners

Improving juniors

Intermediate players

Club players looking to strengthen their tournament performance

Lessons are available in **Croatian** and **English**.
**My Coaching Philosophy**
I believe every player is unique, which is why I tailor every lesson to the student’s current level, goals, and learning style.
For beginners, I focus on building a strong foundation by teaching:
Fundamental chess principles

Tactical awareness

Positional understanding

Essential endgames

Development of a solid opening repertoire

For improving and advanced club players, lessons can include:
In-depth game analysis

Opening preparation and repertoire building

Typical pawn structures and strategic plans

Middlegame planning

Endgame technique

Practical tournament advice

Creative ideas to enrich and expand an existing repertoire

If desired, we can also play training games together, during which I provide live feedback, explain critical moments, and discuss improvements immediately after the game.
My goal is not only to help students increase their rating but also to improve their overall understanding of chess and become more confident, independent thinkers at the board.
**Why Choose Me?**
I approach every student in a friendly, patient, and supportive way. Creating a positive learning environment is very important to me because I believe students improve the most when they enjoy the learning process.
My greatest strengths are my dedication to chess, my passion for teaching, and my genuine motivation to help every student reach their full potential. I strive to inspire confidence, maintain motivation, and make every lesson both educational and enjoyable.
**Lesson price:** €10/hour
**Lesson platforms:** Zoom or Microsoft Teams
**Contact:**
Email: [**ehaidinger54@gmail.com**](https://mailto:ehaidinger54@gmail.com/)

[Chess.com](http://chess.com/) Inbox
Username: Erik66

Whether you’re just learning the rules or aiming to take your tournament chess to the next level, I would be happy to help you on your chess journey.
I look forward to working with you and helping you achieve your chess goals!

♟️ We’re still looking for more chess players and teachers to join our FREE community!

I am not too experienced with all the different variations and I was wondering if more experienced players could rank each mainline sicilian based on their aggressiveness and on how objectively sound they are.

I'm a ~1300 (chess.com) and ~1700 (Lichess) classical player and more interested in understanding chess deeply than simply grinding rating.

Currently working through Endgame Strategy (Shereshevsky) and Logical Chess (Chernev) and my own classical games.

For example, this week I'm studying Chapter 1 of Shereshevsky's Endgame Strategy. I'd love to compare independent analyses before checking Stockfish.

Looking for someone interested in:

• discussing one chapter/game every week
• asking "why" rather than memorizing moves
• analyzing without Stockfish first
• challenging each other's ideas

Time commitment: 1–2 hours/week.

I'm based in India (IST), but happy to coordinate with other time zones if schedules overlap.

Rating isn't important. Curiosity is.

(P.S. I'm not looking for a coach—just someone equally curious who enjoys thinking deeply about chess.)

If this sounds like your idea of fun, send me a DM.

Hello. I'm trying to build a Benko gambit repertoire mostly to use against players below 2000 FIDE.

Since I'm not using a course rn I'm kinda being forced to choose my lines on my own and I'm finding myself stuck between engine eval and practical choices.

To my understanding in the fully accepted variation 5..e6 being the engine recommendation doesn't mean much in practice and it's better to go 5...g6 to get the usual Benko pressure and counterplay. Could anyone confirm if this is the case, I'm completely new to this opening and have two games played in the opening overall online.

Are there any particular lines where it's fine to not Fiancheto the bishop and you still have good practice chances with developing via Be7 for example. Any tips on the lines would be appreciated. Thanks.

So i'm a 1970 fide 15 year old and i want to hopefully reach over 2100 this year and over 2000 elo this summer. right now i'm traveling with my family to see most of my relatives and i have a lot of free time in the care and stuff, but i only have my phone, though i don't want to waist any time. my question is, what resources can i use to train with only a phone?? i would like to train anything, the least would probably be opening, anything else i'm fine with. thanks for any help!!

This line was suggested to me, preventing b5 from black and controlling d5 which kind of seems like a maroczy bind (something I have never tried playing the white side of). I'm going to try it out in a few games when I have the opportunity and am curious people's experiences with it from the white and black sides. And, alternatively, resources for developing a Ruy Lopez repertoire for white

As the title says - I've tried quite a few different Sicilians and I'm still a bit torn between some of them. I love hearing about other people's journey through opening choices, and I'd be keen to see what your experience has been with different sicilians, the pros and cons, and so on.

To start, here's been my experience:

Sveshnikov - super fun when you get something that isn't a Rossolimo. I usually get a Rossolimo.

Classical - Similar sort of story, but I rate it a bit above the svesh.

Acc Dragon - Fun, not really dubious at my level of play (2000 rapid) and enjoyable enough

Taimanov - Where I currently hang out the most. Called a "positional" sicilian by some people but I find it to be a nice mix of solid and aggressive. I'm a former French player so that might explain some of my love for the opening. Still, not totally sold on it.

All thoughts/comments are welcome!

I play the f4 Taimanov Attack against the Benoni via the 1...Nf6 move order. If 1...c5, is it 'better' to to play and transpose to 2.d5 Nf6 3.c4, or go for the 'principled' 3.Nc3?