Gm Igor Smirnov All 9 Chess Courses < 100% Genuine >
Smirnov’s core ideas—the “three stages of a game,” the importance of intuition, the flaws of engine training—appear in almost every course. The “Grandmaster’s Thinking” course, for example, rehashes significant material from “Positional Understanding” and “Calculate Till Mate.” For a student who buys the full bundle, this can feel like paying for the same lecture multiple times with different titles.
The opening courses ( The King’s Gambit , Universal System ) are deliberately narrow. If your opponent plays 1…c6 (Caro-Kann) or 1…e6 (French), the Universal System (based on 1.d4 and 2.g3) can struggle. Smirnov’s answer—“just play positional chess”—is philosophically consistent but practically frustrating for players who want concrete variations. GM Igor Smirnov ALL 9 Chess Courses
Smirnov’s marketing is aggressive (time-limited discounts, “secrets the grandmasters don’t want you to know” rhetoric). The full nine-course bundle typically costs several hundred dollars. While individually each course offers value, the cumulative price approaches that of a university semester. For a similar investment, one could hire a FIDE trainer for personalized lessons, which might yield faster results. Smirnov’s core ideas—the “three stages of a game,”