Wednesday Night Advanced Club – Beating the Sicilians – (1400-2000 Elo)

THE SEPTEMBER 2026 TERM IS NOW ENROLLING: 

Beating the Sicilians: Exploring dangerous set-ups for white to try in the Open Sicilian.  

As King’s Pawn players rise through the ranks, they invariably face more Sicilians.  Players who play 1. e4 are drawn towards open, tactical games.  Yet, to play the Open Sicilian as white means having to prepare for over 20 major systems and 60 or so sub-lines.  Many players play the Alapin and Closed Sicilians or Grand-Prix Attack but sooner or later the law of dimishing returns kicks in and players realise that these anti-Sicilians are sidelines for a reason.  Something sharper, something more tactical is required to really put the Sicilian under pressure. 

From September to December, the goal of the Advanced Class will be to help each student to find the right Ant-Sicilian repertoire to suit their playing style.   

Course materials include weekly Puzzle Worksheets, access to Mark’s Annotated Games in Anti-Sicilian set-ups, as well as a weekly class tournament including analysis/ immediate feedback on student games. 

TERM DATES:
9th / 16th / 23rd September & 7th/ 14th/ 21st October 2026

COURSE TIME:
The group meets once a week on Zoom for 90 minutes on Wednesday evenings from 7 – 8.30pm 

COURSE DETAIL:
Group analysis, strategic thinking and calculating accurately is the core of this course.  Students will be given a set of difficult puzzles and tricky middlegame challenges to mull over in advance of each class.  The positions that students will be challenged to solve will come from specific Sicilian variations under discussion.

Students can play through Annotated Games and puzzle solutions in a dedicated Lichess Study for two months following the end of the course.

COURSE LEVEL:
Adults Aged 16+; 1400 – 2000 ELO.  This course is generally reserved for adults (16+) although some strong juniors (12+) who are unable to make my Monday Advanced Kids Club or who are of a sufficient strength may be admitted to the class.  Parents should fill out an enrolment form and Mark will get in touch to discuss participation in the class.

COURSE FEES:
90 Euros (15 Euro per student per class)
This course will run with a minimum of 6 students.  If cancelled, a full refund will be issued.

If joining a few classes into the term, just email mark@chessbud.ie to check if there is a place available and also to find out the correct amount based on the remaining classes in the term.