BEST Chess Opening Under-1600 (it’s not what you think!)

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In this video lesson, GM Igor Smirnov shares with you the best chess opening for White, especially for those rated under 1600. It is very easy to learn, solid and aggressive, and unknown by most chess players, which gives you a significant edge.

It is the Richter-Veresov Attack which happens after the following moves: 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5. This will definitely surprise a lot of your opponents and they are most likely to fall into the deadly traps.

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► Chapters

00:00 Best Chess Opening for White After 1.d4
01:05 Richter-Veresov Attack 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5
01:57 Black’s blunder in move 4 [TRAP]
03:19 If Black plays 3…e6 (instead of 3…Bf5)
05:02 White’s key attacking idea
06:18 Evaluating chess positions strategically (positionally)
08:58 If Black does NOT take dxe4
10:37 Delaying the development of the g1-knight

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60 Comments

  1. Igor we all appreciate these vids. You’re amazing and going to become huge in the chess-streaming world.

    I really appreciate the fact that you included the basic attacking ideas if the traps dont get fallen for or for once we get out of prep. I think identifying the best way to move forward while maintaining pressure in the middle game is a big weakness or difficulty for many intermediate players.

    Amazing work, i played my first OTB rated tournament last week and recommended your channel to everyone i spoke to!

  2. at 1:10 after Bg5, what happens if black plays h6? Wouldn't that change everything?

  3. I get this opening a lot, and i simply play the horse to h5 and attack the bishop with pawn after that i take the bishop with horse. After moving the horse to h5 every time opponents pause and don't know what to play

  4. Master Igor you're amazing, thanks for the content! <3

  5. Thank you again,fantastic

  6. Lost 200 points after rage playing 60 matches gptta get back 1200 now imma try and tell y'all how it goes.

  7. Thank's for this nice video, that we help me to get a new weapon as i m a D4 player!!

  8. Thanks a lot Igor for this soo interesting opening for white with D4! 😊👍♟

  9. My opponent usually plays h6.

  10. Can you do a video about the haxo gambit and how to destroy it

  11. I have tried this opening over and over and no one has ever done anything he anticipated from black in this video

  12. I've been testing out this opening in bullet and I've been getting good results to the tune of +100 elo. I don't get the same moves I see in the video, but my opponents tend to overextend their pawn structure on the kingside leading to a easier exposed king.

  13. WHOA! Veresov is my main! I never thought I'd see a video about that in a reputable channel haha

  14. I don't think most people under 1600 even know the names of openings

  15. Igor this is the best segment I have seen you do, so far. As a beginner I understood everything you said. Thank you for your insight and research that you do on all the openings, most moves played and even what elo's get caught by blundering and playing their tactics to divert the plan you structured.🤗

  16. I will play this against my chess sparring partner latter this month. Thank you. Mick

  17. After white bishop to g5, what to do about black pawn to h6 followed by bl. pawn to g5

  18. Please do a video about best opening in black that against most white openings even strange ones from 900 to 1600

  19. Thank you. This is super informative. I remember a chess program playing this line a lot as White against me years ago when I was starting to get a bit more serious about chess in my early teens. It used to frustrate me to no end, and I never quite knew how to respond. This was just several years before the internet, so it wasn't easy to find out what to do.
    Curiously, what would White do if Black played 3…Ne4? Also, what would White play if Black just went 3…Nbd7 and then 4…g6 on the next move? Another plan I could see Black go for would be to just play 3…c6 without really caring about doubled pawns or White playing e4. It seems to me that Black's position could hold.

  20. Thanks so much for your videos, a lot of gold nuggets here. Your explanations are clear and you have a very chill style of explaining. I hope your channel keeps growing and going up👆

  21. Great video as always….but what to do when the opponent plays Nbd7 on move 3 after Bg5 instead of pawn to e6?

  22. I feel pretty scared when I acknowledege that my opponents (elo 1200) could also watch Igor's videos…

  23. There are so many variations exists after this opening beyond in this video

  24. what happens at 4:38 if they take with g7 pawn instead of bishop?

  25. Yeah I only play bots and they almost never let me do what I hope to do.The limit seems to be 1600 bots they will not let you pull off these moves.Under 1600 then yeah they seem to just play MUCH worse even doing blunders.

  26. Dumb, the smart player…or computer… attacks white bishop with black night pawn…

  27. "Now you play bishop g5"
    Ah yes, this is the Ruy Lopez but on the opposite side.

  28. seems to work only if black opens in the dumbest way possible…what if they bring their second knight out for example? or the pawn to the knight? maybe when it says good for up to 1600el0 he meant 60elo. garbage. as for working on 2700elo…lol…this has to be a joke.

  29. so what happens when they attack your bishop with pawn to h6

  30. Rousseou gambit working best for me as black its like hammer against italian players

  31. I learned a lot from your channel.. love❤ from Bengal,india

  32. knight e4 is my first instinct after bishop g5

  33. my problem is my opponents never play the lines that are in the videos I watch and then I blunder because I dont know wtf to do

  34. The video title said it wasn't what I thought it was.. but this was exactly what I thought it was. So this channel will be Reported! Disliked! Unsubscribed and blocked!

    Just kidding. It's a great video, keep it coming.

  35. I appreciate your teaching and ordered another lesson from you on positional chess.

  36. I don't get why it isn't mentioned the bishop taking on h4. Rook won't recapture because of the queen so isn't a free pawn

  37. They all play c6 as 3rd move. 10 out 10 checked. So this tactic doesn't exit in real games.

  38. I have tried this a few times, and every time (so far) the opponent has responded to Bg5 with the simple h6! Which seems to. stop the whole thing in its tracks, is there a solution to this move please, oddly you do not cover this simple defence in this video? Thank you!

  39. Surely a slip of the tongue from GM Smirnov – this is not the Richter-Rauzer which is a variation of the Sicilian Defence. It can be called the Richter-Veresov but in the past has been known as the Trompovsky or just the Veresov (though technically that is 2 Bg5). Either way, it's annoying for a Black player who was expecting to face 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 and go into the Kings Indian or Nimzo-Indian.

  40. The transposition to the French Defence is interesting. I would be happy as Black as I play the Nimzo-Indian and French, but this move order prevents the Winawer Variation. I actually played the McCutcheon 4…Bb4, which very few White players knew and got me good results. Interesting to see the 4…Nbd7 5 Bxe7 Qxe7 6 Nb5 line, which would be really tricky and annoying to meet over the board as it disrupts Black's development.

  41. With the bishop in G5, what if black plays H6 to attack white bishop?

  42. this is similar to some of the lines in Jobava Rapport system 😀

  43. What about h6 after e5? If exf6 then hxg5.

  44. Easy to understand great tutorial, appreciate your work

  45. This is a nice video. But I wonder what white would do after 3. Bg5 if black answers with h6, attacking the Bishop on g5? Don´t know my rating, it´s probably 800, at best 1200, but this move is what I learned and it seems it´s a popular move, too ….

  46. Igor is good for the internet.

Comments are closed.