To become a piece whisperer.
The chess pieces are not really inanimate objects—they are alive, beaming with desire, to become the best version of themselves. They love action, and when in a battle, they want to know what their role is.
And you, my friend, are the invisible wizard who whispers to them what to do next. Fail to do so, and they will end up confused, scattered and getting captured soon.
In chess, the one with a stronger connection with his pieces wins. How would you know how to guide your pieces if you are clueless yourself, though?
To solve this, we bring to you IM Boroljub Zlatanovic’s latest offering The Role of Pieces where he goes deep into the worth of chess pieces, how they change based on your moves and what you can do to maximize their full potential.
In this 10-hour video training, Zlatanovic takes one of the most difficult topics in chess and makes it accessible for <2000 rated players in a beginner-friendly language.
Once you are done with this, you will 2x your positional chess skills for sure!
Here’s what you would learn:
- Opponent lost sense of time. When your opponent offers you tempi, you take it. Especially in the opening phase! Your opponent will lag and you make him suffer sooner or later. Like Kasparov as White did with his simple d5 move against Ulf Andersson in 1981 Interpolis match.
- Only the best in the army. When you go into a battle, take only the best soldiers with you. You don’t want a “weak link” in your camp. How to ensure that? Strategic piece exchanges! Like Capablanca held on to his knight and sacrificed his bishop in this game inside Chapter 9.
- Your pieces need to breathe. Too many lower rated players end up stifling the life out of your pieces. Nope, not you. You know better. You know how to take one step backward and accept material losses for long term positional gains. (Looks like a bad move but with double exclamation marks!)
- Key squares change. Zlatanovic shows from his own game how the key squares change throughout the game—and you should be the one who gets control of them first. From one side of the board to the other, it’s a fight for control, and watch how Zlatanovic does it in an actual game.
- Rook vs minor piece. If you were to choose one, which will you go for? Rook, right? Zlatanovic tells you to consider the relative power of the minor piece to that of the rook instead. Like, in this 1974 URS match, how Timoschenko (B) had a whole rook that was rendered useless anyway.
Is this a course on positional chess?
Yes, but it zooms in on a very subtle topic that is often neglected in most other courses, or at least not deeply studied like in this one.
Outline:
Chapter 1. Development. Kasparov – Andersson
Chapter 2. Development. Estrin – Nisman
Chapter 3. Development. Stahlberg – Taimanov
Chapter 4. Good and bad pieces. Zlatanovic – Djuricic
Chapter 5. Good and bad pieces. Karpov – Ribli
Chapter 6. Good and bad pieces. Zlatanovic – Satya Sekhar
Chapter 7. Good and bad pieces. Zlatanovic – Smuelli
Chapter 8. Good and bad pieces. Fuster – Pogats
Chapter 9. Good and bad pieces. Yates – Capablanca
Chapter 10. Good and bad pieces. Saemisch – Nimzowitsch
Chapter 11. Harmony. Alekhine – Wolf
Chapter 12. Harmony. Capablanca – Yates
Chapter 13. Harmony. Geller – Lerner
Chapter 14. Harmony. Nimzowitsch – Rubinstein
Chapter 15. Harmony. Zlatanovic – Pavlovic
Chapter 16. Harmony. Nikolic – Van Wely
Chapter 17. Key squares. Zlatanovic – Brankovic
Chapter 18. Key squares. Mickovic – Zlatanovic
Chapter 19. Key squares. Pogonina – Bodnaruk
Chapter 20. Key squares. Minasian – Kharlov
Chapter 21. Key squares. Sahil – Zlatanovic
Chapter 22. Relative value. Karpov – Hjartarson
Chapter 23. Relative value. Bojovic- Zlatanovic
Chapter 24. Relative value. Ubilava – Timoscenko