Mastering Opening Strategy by GM Johan Hellsten

Don’t Play the Opening on Autopilot –
Fight for Advantage from Move 1

Develop your pieces, they say – but how can you develop them with purpose and threats?

Control the center, they say – but how can you truly fight for the center and dominate it, when your opponent is doing the same?

Get your king safe, they say – but how can you punish your opponent when they’re clearly ignoring the safety of their monarch?

Though everyone knows the basic opening principles, successfully implementing an opening strategy is a different story! But with Grandmaster Johan Hellsten’s Mastering Opening Strategy, you’ll learn and practice how to build an opening advantage that sets you up for middlegame success in any tournament opening.

Learn Efficiently from the Strategy Guru

If the name Johan Hellsten sounds familiar, that’s because this strategy expert has already published one of his other brilliant strategy courses on Chessable: Mastering Chess Strategy. Now, the former Swedish Chess Champion and pro chess coach shifts his focus from the middlegame to the opening in this must-read sequel.

The course is structured with the optimal blend of lecture and application. Through well-annotated master games, GM Hellsten shows you how the strongest chess players in the world actually implement chess principles – and punish opponents who don’t.

Then, by breaking down the game into smaller, trainable sequences, you’ll practice reconstructing those same moves, building a library of strategic concepts and tactics in your brain that you can call upon in your own opening battles.

But to really make sure you can apply what you’ve learned in any scenario, GM Hellsten includes dozens of practical exercises at the end of each chapter. This long-time coach knows what it takes to make sure the knowledge sticks!

What’s Covered in the Course?

In Mastering Opening Strategy, you’ll learn how to successfully apply the following skills in any opening:

♟Capitalize on an advantage in development through pawn advances and sacrifices
♟Learn how to get back in the game when you’re the one behind in development
♟Restrict your opponent’s pieces from reaching their best squares
♟Punish early pawn grabbing, premature attacks, and other opening crimes
♟Launch an early strike on your opponent’s exposed king
♟Build a strong center and undermine your opponent’s center
♟And much more

With the skills learned in this course, you’ll learn how to build a strong foundation that will set you up for success in the middlegame and beyond – and in some cases, serve your opponent a beating before the middlegame even begins!