Chess Tutoring, Chess Coaching, Chess Classes with NM Will Stewart

When I start a chess class with a new student, I like to get some background on exactly who/what I’m dealing with. After the introductory pleasantries, I like to get down to business and inquire about the new student’s preferred openings. I really start to kick off the online chess lesson with a question like “So do you like to play a select, small number of openings or really more just whatever you feel like [...]

Welcome to my 3rd Beginner Chess Openings Series on the Slav Defense. My 1st and 2nd Beginner Chess Openings Series featured the “Stonewall Attack” and the “French Defense.” These three openings represent a comprehensive opening repertoire for the beginner chess player. Examining the big picture of this beginner opening system, you will find that the general ideas and pawn formations are very similar – enabling the beginner chess player to focus more on understanding general [...]

Amateur Brilliancy Prize Contest – Over $1,000 in Prizes!! OnlineChessLessons.NET simply couldn’t exist without the support of our viewers. To show our gratitude to our fans, we decided to organize a huge contest and give away a bunch of expensive stuff – including chess books, videos, classes, and more.  All you have to do is send me a PGN of your own favorite game and a paragraph explaining why your game is so brilliant. The game must [...]

One of the biggest problems a beginner chess player can face is deciding how to put together an opening repertoire.  This Beginner Chess Openings Series is designed to address this problem by suggesting opening schemes that are very similar in structure and ideology.  While the previous “Stonewall Attack” Beginner Chess Opening series provides you with a comprehensive opening strategy for the white pieces, the French Defense provides an excellent solution on how to comfortably answer [...]

Alekhine’s block is a chess combination with a piece sacrifice (Knight, Bishop, Rook, or Queen) on the 6th rank (3rd for Black). It’s used for the first time by the former world champion Alexander Alekhine in 1910. The idea is to physically restrict, or block the enemy pawn in front of the attacking piece (thus Alekhine’s “block”). As Nimtzowitsch put it, “First restrain, then blockade, finally destroy!” This tactical device is just one implementation of [...]

Part 4 of the Stonewall Attack Series features a real game I use as an example to show how to beat a fianchetto defense by black. It features none other than former World Chess Champion Mikhail Botvinnik employing the Stonewall Defense with the black pieces in Groningen 1946 against Herman Steiner. Botvinnik responds to d4 with an interesting move order, however with 6. …d5 he confirms the basic structure of the Stonewall and establishes an [...]

In part 3 of the Stonewall Attack Beginner Series, I review a few side variations by black and the best common plans for white. As we’ll continue to learn we’ll find more variations that certain sidelines require a new game plan. your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard Early bf5 = deviate to this new idea Starting with a common line involving an early …bf5, I [...]