Category: Openings

August 23, 2025 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

English grandmaster Stuart Conquest had a wonderful finish to the 2025 British Championships in Liverpool, winning his last 2 games against grandmasters Shreyas Royal and Nikita Vitiugiov to tie for first with Michael Adams and Peter Roberson, subsequently finishing second to the evergreen Mickey after a rapid playoff. I was particularly interested in the quick…

June 16, 2025 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

In my last blog post, I left you with 2 intriguing middlegames which the engines assessed as dead equal and yet would only be the start of hostilities in a human game! I spent some time looking at these positions and I wanted to share my thoughts with you. Let’s start off with this one:…

June 15, 2025 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

I said in my last blog post that I had concluded my examination of …c4 in Trompovsky / Torre / London system structures but… I lied 😉 During a sleepless night, I got thinking about the main engine line after Mariotti’s 7.Bd3 (as you do) and decided to try and understand better what was going…

June 8, 2025 Matthew Sadler 2 comments

After a little digression highlighting games from the wonderful 3rd Cambridge Invitational, it’s time to dive further into my obsession with the …c4 plan in Trompovsky / Torre Attack positions and to examine an all-in plan of counterplay for Black! We start here 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.Nd2 Nbd7 4.Ngf3 h6 5.Bh4 e6 6.e3 c5…

June 6, 2025 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

Undoubtedly one of the most dramatic games of the final round was British IM Brandon Clarke’s win against Indian IM Siva Mahadevan who had impressed everyone at the tournament with his strong play. White needed just a draw for a GM norm but he was faced with an opponent who put the whole board on…