Ciuksyte Dagne, Ball Matt, Regan Natasha. Learn to Counterattack: Essential Guide to Active Defense

Chessable, 2024.Retreating from every threat? Drifting to passivity then resignation, game after game?Let’s Add a Dose of Aggression and Tenacity to Your Defense!Learn to Counterattack builds your resilience, and breaks down the nitty-gritty of active defense. So you can turn around enemy attacks into your winning moment!Here’s an unspoken truth:Chess players love attacking. They love those forward, “in your face” moves that invade your space.Make the mistake of bending on their first threat, and they’ll hit you with another… and another… and another, until they blow you off the board!But now, imagine their shock when you ignore their mean intentions — and instead checkmate their king…Let Black chop off either the c2 or f2-pawn. With 17.Ba6!, you’re chopping off their king!Wind up with a healthy position that’s easier to play…Delaying the recapture on d3 to get in 15.f6 nets White the superior pieces and pawns.Or pick up game-deciding amounts of material!The bold 28.e5! defends the g7-rook, nets material, and drives a pawn into Black’s 7th rank. See it play out in chapter 4.Learn to Counterattack by International Master Dagne Ciuksyte shows you all of the above.Ciuksyte is a seasoned competitor at the Women’s Chess Olympiad and Women’s World Championship. One with superb counterattacking chops!In fact, her best win came on the back of spirited resistance. Ciuksyte’s 20…d5 sacs the exchange to turn the tables against her 2562-rated GM opponent.Joining Ciuksyte are Woman International Master Natasha Regan and FIDE National Instructor Matt Ball. Both experienced presenters and content creators with decades of experience.Together, the trio teaches you how to…Brush Enemy Threats Aside by Striking Back Faster And Harder.The course’s 6 instructive chapters teach you how to stay cool when under fire. So you can find the in-between move, which stops the opponent in their tracks and turns the table.Instead of playing the expected defense to an attack — say, recapturing or running to safety — you pose an immediate, bigger threat.This way, the opponent must delay their plans to prevent immediate loss. Which gives you enough time to start a mating attack, or net a material or positional edge.Throughout the course, you’ll also see how to gain “free moves” by checking the enemy king. Plus 5 ways to capitalize on the momentum you built.You’ll rally your pieces to invade a weak rank or diagonal… destroy the king’s castle… or weave a mating net.You’ll also become alert to the knee-jerk, defensive moves that throw the win away. Plenty of examples also warn you of failed counterattacks, which looked so promising at first.This way, you can catch and stop yourself from making these costly misfires.Let’s recap what you’re getting:🎯 An essential guide to active defense. Over 90 MoveTrainer exercises and 6 hours of video show you how to reverse threats to deliver checkmate… snag material… or improve one’s position for free.🎯 25 test positions to measure your progress and drive the lessons home.🎯 Plus 67 reference games… so you can copy how the pros played leading up to a winning counterattack.By the end of this course, enemy attacks faze you no more.Instead of retreating in panic, you stay cool and collected. You question the threat if it’s real. Then you launch a bigger, meaner counterattack.Introduction (3 variations)
Attack on the King (Fundamental) (16 variations)
Attack on the King (Challenge) (12 variations)
Material Advantage (Fundamental) (16 variations)
Material Advantage (Challenge) (10 variations)
Positional Improvement (Fundamental) (14 variations)
Positional Improvement (Challenge) (11 variations)
Test Yourself (26 variations)
Reference Games (1 variation)
Reference Lines (65 variations)