🎄Coupon: NY2026

The greatly anticipated course by Vladimir Kramnik – Understanding Chess Openings with 1.e4 is finally here! With a brand new Part 3, the 14th World Champion reveals his ‘user manual’ for playing and winning with 1.e4.

Get your copy of Understanding Chess Openings with Vladimir Kramnik part 1 here / Understanding Chess Openings with Vladimir Kramnik part 2 here / Understanding Chess Openings with Vladimir Kramnik part 3 here

Vladimi Kramnik passes onto you his mastery of 1.e4 — enabling you to expertly navigate the opening and outplay the opposition. Chess players then and now admire Vladimir’s strategic genius and harmonious playing style. But what most people miss is that he’s also one of the best coaches around to teach you the intricacies of 1.e4. Vladimir has played 1.e4 since 1984, when he was barely 10 years old, and… It’s his rich experience in the opening which allowed him to wrestle the World Championship from Garry Kasparov in 2000… and defend the title in 2004 and 2006. Yet Vladimir’s command of 1.e4 only got better after he was crowned champion — tested and refined through 20-plus years of super GM tournaments and matches.

Part one of Understanding Chess Openings 1.e4 with Vladimir Kramnik takes on the Caro-Kann, French, Scandinavian and Pirc Defense… as well as strange openings common in club-level games. Here’s what you’ll learn inside the course:

 The simple three-step counter which takes the sting out of oddball openings like 1…a6. Zoom to a pleasant advantage, without having to study more theory.

 An easy-to-remember plan against the double-fianchetto. Let the Nakamura-wannabes reach their favorite setup… because when you control 62.5% of board, you’ve got all the winning chances.

 The only playable plan for Black in the Alekhine. Throw a monkey wrench into that plan, and  you get long-term attacking chances against the enemy king.

 The correct mindset against the club-favorite Scandinavian Defense. Your sense of urgency can mean the difference between winning in less than 12 moves and boring equality.

 How to pick apart the Pirc Defense. Vladimir shows you two positional setups which give you a firm grip on the center… plus two attacking systems that go straight for the enemy king’s jugular.

 A less-popular response to the French Defense which gives you a near-guaranteed attack… minus the complicated theory and middlegame structures of the classical main line.

 How to secure the bishop pair and the better pawn structure against an early …Bf5 or …Bg4 in the Caro-Kann. With these positional trumps in your grasp, most middlegame and endgame scenarios work to your advantage.