Throughout my playing career I have found the Hedgehog (with both colours) one of the most difficult type of positions to master. With White (the side with more space) there is always a danger to overextend oneself (or miss your opponent’s pawn break). While playing Black (the side with less space) there is always a danger to mistime your pawn break, or simply to not get counterplay and be overrun.

Grandmaster Harshit Raja, India’s 69th GM, has created a practical and powerful 1.e4 repertoire - perfect for players who want to play aggressively without drowning in opening theory. Whether you’re playing online or over-the-board, this course gives you solid attacking weapons that are easy to learn, fun to play, and difficult for opponents to face. 

Free sample video: Introduction

Free sample video: Scandinavian Defence

Every chess player likes to attack. Every chess player likes to put pressure on their opponent. But when the tables are turned, and we become the target of an attack, we may feel uncomfortable, anxious, and insecure. Yet we can save an incredible number of defensive positions if we know the techniques and rules-of-thumb.

Every game begins with the opening - and even sometimes ends there! That doesn't have to be the case. With the ChessBase tutorials, you can rapidly get up to speed. "Openings Vol. 1: Open Games (1.e4 e5)" is the first part of a five-volume series on the basics of chess openings. Here you will learn from experienced coaches and experts just what you absolutely need to know about the individual areas, which basic plans are followed, how to play them and what pitfalls to watch out for. In 23 video lessons you will learn everything you need to know about the King's Gambit, the Vienna Game, the Italian, the Evans Gambit, the two-knight game, the Scottish, the Steinitz and Berlin defences, the Open Spanish or the exchange variation, Marshall, Philidor and Russian and much more.