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Chess Openings: Learn to Play the Colle System!
In today’s chess opening video, we cover how to play the Colle System, also called the Zukertort System, which is one of the strongest chess opening setups white can play. The Colle System is very similar to the London System, the difference being our dark squared bishop. In the London System, we immediately throw our bishop into the action, while with the Colle System, we hold that bishop back and keep it as a potential attacking piece. Why is it called the Colle System, and not the Colle Opening? With chess openings, there is a ton of reading and reacting. Examples of this include chess openings for white such as the Evan’s Gambit, Scotch Gambit, Italian Game, Bishop’s Opening, Vienna Game, and the list goes on. With chess openings such as these, we make a move, and then watch what our opponent will play. For example, if we play e4, we have to watch out for the French Defense, Caro-Kann Defense, Sicilian Defense, etc. How we play changes a ton based off of what our opponent does. However, with a chess opening system, we don’t really care what our opponent plays. Examples of this include the Hippopotamus Defense, Crab Opening, London System, and Colle System! With the Colle System, we form a pawn pyramid, naturally develop our pieces, and achieve a solid middlegame position that is hard to beat. The Colle System is a good chess opening option for beginner chess players and intermediate chess players as it has good chess opening strategy, chess opening ideas, chess opening moves, and chess opening principles. In addition, there is little memorizing of lines and variations in the Colle System, which makes it extremely easy to learn. The Colle System can help you learn how to play chess at a high level, and how to win games fast. We hope you d4 players enjoy learning how to play the Colle System!
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Now that we have the Colle system, can we get the Torre attack? I haven't seen a lot of videos on that opening but it looks fun just like the Trompowsky!
Hello Solomon, thx a lot for this video, great explanations as always ^^ I am a Zukertort player , it would be kind from You to do a video about this colle "variation", deadly variation and most of the time highly underated. Greeting from France :))
Nice Video Sir
Appreciate the video, thanks!
Great video. Wally (1800) on chess.com occasionally plays the Colle system. Can you break down the Pirc defense for black. It's a good opening against either e4 or d4, but I get in trouble a lot. Thanks.
Next one colle-zukerturt system
I haven't seen any games where Colle had to deal with the Old Benoni. I like this opening because its goal is to get you to a playable middlegame. Safe, sane, with a dash of poison in it. Thanks, Solomon.
Oh man good video! Love how you analyzed a game and also pointed out how/why it was different from the London!
Thank you dude,, now I understand how to play a colle system line
I'm happy to see a video on the colle koltanowsky rather than the zukertort.
Everbody talks about C-Z but C-K deserves some love too. The C-K is more straighforward and mechanic than the C-Z , london S and stonewall attack, it is my main weapon for bullet.
thank you!
@thechessgiant, I'm not sure if anyone has asked, but can you please do a video on the Colle Zukertort?
Nice one! Thank you Solomon!
Could you do a video on the Colle-Zuckertort? Jeremy Silman's Great Courses intro to chess (which I recently started with in my attempt to learn to play chess intelligently) recommends the Colle-Zuckertort for beginners, but it is actually really hard to find a reasonably lengthy video that teaches it.
Your openings videos are the best on the internet. I have found that it is hard to get an initial sense for openings just from books. Usually I need to start with a video (as I said, yours are the best) to get the idea, and then a book can fill in blanks with variations you don't cover, say.
I heard about the Colle system on a Daniel Naroditsky video and immediately became interested, and this was the first tutorial that came up when I searched it. Definitely gonna have to try this one out. It looks really solid and flexible.
Every time I try to set up a system my opponent plays a move and throws off my game plan
Great stuff. Thanks so much.
I play the London but it’s really popular so I got a pgn book of the Colle this video is exactly what it covers
I am used to playing London but almost every opponent over the board knows its plans in and out.
Will definitly try the Colle since it looks way more passive even though it can be dangerous !
That was great. I've been studying the book Logical Chess – Move by Move and the Colle system is the third game in that book. You explained it wonderfully.
I already learnt how to play colle system, bt this video was really useful to remember how to play it
That was good
Solomon, epic video. Just heard about this opening, saw your video and won the game against a higher rated played in around 25 moves! Call me lucky or video is awesome!!!
I usually play London with d4 but now I will try this system. It looks passive at first but it becomes aggressive later. Great video👍
Trying to take your game to the next level? Check out PRIVATE LESSONS with Solomon! https://www.thechessgiant.com/lessons
i just got destroyed by someone who played this against me so thats why im here lmao
Great video! Thanks for your work!
What if instead of rook E8 black plays pawn C4? Our structure crumbles…
I feel there is a lot of weakness on the king side with this. A strong player will force open the board.
Simply great! 😊
What if 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Bf5, what's the plan? 🤔thx
You are one of the few people that covers a wide variety of openings, including dubious ones. Not saying the Colle System is dubious, it isn't, it's solid.
Great video!
Just one question, after you go Bd3 and the opponent responds with c4, do you simply play Bc2? Or is there anything better?
It really is jiu jitsu on board…good thing I'm a blue belt! #BJJ
I’ve played the first 3 moves of the Colle system for years without explicitly knowing its theory. Move 4 I usually play C4. Sometimes my opponent will capture it which allows for recapture by my bishop, also opening castling options very early into the game. Great video.
I really like the zukertort opening but what if black fianchetto his dark squared bishop in 3rd or 4th moves after we play e3? Since we block our dark squared bishop with the pawn, i generally have a problem in that kind of situation. And also our valuable light's squared bishop's diagonal is closed in that way. What should be our response?
7:40 Im kinda new to the game, but why wouldnt he play kf7? its discovered double check and forks the rook queen king! thanks for helping me learning openings!
They always play e4
Stonewall Attack is a related option to boot.
I’ve been playing the first moves of this opening for so long without knowing the theory. Thanks for the insight, appreciated