Mastering Chess Defense - GM Johan Hellsten

Strategy course by GM Johan Hellsten
Includes video and PGN

Language: English
Lectures: 32
Total Running Time: 35 hours

From the course:

The Most Important Aspect You're Not Training: Mastering Chess Defense

All players know they need to study tactics, calculation, endgames, and openings, but when it comes to defending, far too many wait until they're already under pressure.

The truth is: more games are lost due to defensive shortcomings than strategic failure.

By boosting your defense, you could do more for your win rate than studying perhaps any other area of chess.

Mastering Chess Defense by GM Johan Hellsten is the training program you need to come prepared and stave off attacks, both in the short and long term.

This is the most comprehensive course on defensive techniques, with over 500 trainable variations and 500 puzzles.

Inside are 31 chapters comprising a compendium of all the defensive skills you need to learn.

More concretely you'll learn to:

????️Deflect successfully with material sacrifices - force a draw or even edge out a win by giving up material so your opponent's attacking pieces are no longer a threat

????️Create counterthreats - the best defense is a good offense; respond to your opponent's threats by making larger ones they're forced to react to

????️Exploit the back rank as a defensive measure - put your rook on a square where it is exposed to an enemy piece of lesser value, threatening a bank rank mate and taking all the activity out of your opponent's pieces

????️Learn the risks of materialism - to grab material or not to grab? Assess whether your opponent's increased activity will help or harm you in the long run

????️Find safety on flight squares - learn to automatically identify how to get your king to safety before threats against you materialize

????️Find "lifelines" that allow you to escape from the seemingly inescapable - by offering an exchange of an undefended enemy piece

From the Mind that Taught You to Master Chess Strategy

Grandmaster Johan Hellsten is a strategic mastermind in chess, as evidenced by his Mastering Strategy series.

He's one of the most popular authors on Chessable due to his responsiveness to questions by students of his courses.

Defense has always been a forté of Hellsten's play. He credits getting to the top of his game not by attacking play, but by being a keen defender.

At his best as a player, he's unstoppable, having won the 2006 Swedish National Championship, and as a coach, he's trained the Swedish U20 team and given lectures at the US Chess School.

Building upon the successful framework of his Mastering Strategy series, he now wants to teach you to defend at a championship level, no matter your level.