Wesley So - Chessable Lifetime Repertoires: Wesley Sos 1. e4 (Part 2)

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[Black Series Foreword]

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1. e4

{ Hello everyone! First of all, thank you for checking out my 1. e4 Lifetime Repertoire for White. My goal here is to provide the student with a complete set of variations that will hopefully be good enough to last a lifetime! Chessable What made me decide to make this repertoire series? I had such a pleasant experience working on my first Chessable course for Fischer Random Chess that it was easy to persuade me to do another one! I also decided to make the 1. e4 Repertoire series because I wanted to explore it a bit more. I used Correspondence Database, Mega Database, and researched the latest games as a reference for this repertoire. For analyses, I mostly used the engine asmFish @@StartBracket@@which is a port of Stockfish@@EndBracket@@. Take Control As you can see from the size of the course, this is a tremendous amount of work but hopefully, the results will be as beneficial to you as they were to me. 1. e4 is the most popular first move for White and the reason is clear. With e4, we immediately take control of the very center of the board, and we fight for the initiative right at the beginning of the game. I tried to make the repertoire as cohesive as possible, to make it easier to learn. I want to stress that understanding is more important than memorization. It will be good to know the typical plans and ideas, where to put the pieces, how to improve your position and so on. Chess improvement is a continuous learning process, and there are no shortcuts. To get the most out of this repertoire series, the student should not rush, and instead, try to grasp the ideas behind the moves. Increase your understanding with 1. e4 openings. Study model games, study the classics! Play seriously, analyse your games and learn from your mistakes! Understand the essence and ideas behind your variations. Do not rely on memorization. Opening variations come and go, novelties and new computer engines are always updated, but your chess strength and understanding is permanent! It does not matter one bit if you can get an advantage out of the opening, but always fail to convert. Openings are just the first step towards getting good results and improving your rating. About Me I learned chess at the age of six. Back then I was relying on chess books for computer engines were not nearly as strong they are now. I became a Grand Master at the age of 14 which made me seventh youngest at the time. I achieved my highest rating of 2822 during the first half of 2017. It was good enough for #2 in the world back then. My greatest tournament victories were the Fischer Random World Championship and maybe my Olympiad performance in 2016 there have been several other events memorable for various reasons and not just because I won. Early Influences Let me confess that until I was about 15 years I exclusively played 1. e4. After all, it is Best by Test according to Bobby Fischer! The first chess book I ever read was Chess Openings: Traps and Zaps by Bruce Pandolfini and it showed some aggressive openings starting with 1. e4 which very much impressed me. Some of my favourite early books were Attacking with 1. e4 (Emms) , I probably read this book 10 times over from cover to cover!, Beating the Sicilian (Nunn and Gallagher) and The Chess Advantage in Black and White (Kaufman) 2004 (!) version. These books helped tremendously in shaping my style, back in the days when computers were not helpful for preparation. I also read Opening for White according to Anand (all 14 of them!) which was written by GM Alexander Khalifman. That was the basis of my repertoire when I was a teenager. It was the best opening series out there at the time. Its a bit outdated now, but still a great book. Some of these made it to my repertoire as well, in some lines. For example, my recommendation against the Philidor, the Alekhine or the French 3. Nd2 have been recommended in some past opening books. But in general, I prefer to choose the variations myself without getting swayed by other manuals. Lead by Example I play 1. e4 in a majority of my games. Especially this year 2020, where most of the games are being held online. There are less tabiyas than on other first move openings, and I can guess better which openings are going to happen on the board. However, on a competitive level, it is important to switch between several openings, because computers are very strong nowadays! They can analyse all the way to a clear draw easily. And the surprise factor is a very important and underrated competitive tool. A well-prepared surprise can be psychologically unpleasant to face, as the opponent has to rely on his skills and not on memory which less and less players are prepared to do these days. I can definitely use my recommendations in my own games too! I am pretty confident about the stability and validity of the lines I chose in this 1. e4 repertoire series. Confident enough to play it against anybody. I have played it already in smaller online events, and practice games and I can say that I am very pleased with the results out of the opening. I hope I can lead by example, and make this repertoire work against the strongest players in the world, when I get the chance to compete against them. Its Your Turn Im not necessarily saying that White gets an advantage in every single line, but in general, I can assure you that youll most likely get positions that are easier to play, or ones in which hopefully you find yourself on some familiar ground. Over the years millions of games have been played, but even now there are still improvements to be found for both sides. This is my first repertoire recommendation and Ill be happy if it stands the test of time. Over my career, I have played many games with 1. e4 and I hope you will have as much fun playing it as I have! Wesley So, Minnetonka, Minnesota August 2020 }

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[Black Introduction Sicilian 2a6]

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1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 a6

{ This is the Sicilian OKelly Variation. Its currently out of fashion and only a few players use it nowadays. But the idea is actually very logical. Black controls the b5-square right away, and this is helpful for him if White goes for the Open Sicilian continuation with d4 . }

3. c3

{ I recommend to play the Alapin, now that Black has wasted some time with the semi-useful move a6. Blacks idea is that in case of 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 he gets a favourable version similar to the Sveshnikov Sicilian. White cannot jump his knight to b5 in this case and after 6.Nde2 Bc5 Blacks bishop is very active here and he has no problems. }

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[White Introduction]

[Black Introduction Sicilian 2Nf6]

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1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6

{ This is the so called Sicilian Nimzowitsch-Rubinstein Variation. It is a provocative opening for Black with similar ideas to the Alekhine Defense. Black allows White to occupy the center, in the hope of counterattacking it later on. In the high-level games, this variation is mostly played with the intention of catching the opponent on the wrong foot. After all, who analyzes 2Nf6 with White? But there are always some people that are staunch defenders of this line. }

3. e5 Nd5 4. Nc3

{ Against this 2Nf6 line I recommend to go for the most ambitious and principled variation. White immediately challenges the opponent, to prove the validity of his main ideas. }

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[White Introduction]

[Black Introduction Sicilian 2g6]

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1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6

{ This is the Sicilian Hyper Accelerated Dragon Variation. Black intends to fianchetto his bishop and go for lines similar @@StartBracket@@or better@@EndBracket@@ than the normal Accelerated Dragon that usually arises from the move order 2Nc6 . On top of that, Black avoids the Rossolimo Variation. Fortunately for us, after 2g6 we also gain extra options. }