Play the Alekhine's Defense like Bortnyk (Opening Champion Series)

Opening Champion Series - GM Olexandr Bortnyk (Night-King96)

This is the latest installment of my Opening Champion Series where we are covering notable online blitz players who are champions of fun openings. Olexandr Bortnyk is a strong grandmaster and is ranked #35 in online bullet on lichess. He also has engaging youtube and twitch channels with a growing following of fans. In reaching his lofty heights of bullet prowess, Bortnyk wields the Alekhine's Defense as his primary weapon against 1. e4 with crushing results.

The Study - Play the Alekhine's Defense like Bortnyk

The below study is the latest installment of my "Play like..." Interactive Lesson series which can be best enjoyed with the Lichess Tools browser extension installed. The idea of the study is to learn Bortnyk's treatment of the Alekhine's Defense with a spaced-repetition philosophy.

The study includes many of the 7000+ speed chess games that Bortnyk has played in these lines up to move 20, which were downloaded, merged, and then I separated out the lines. In each chapter, I present a Bortnyk main line up to a certain point. After that, you are playing through his games in that line up to move 20. As you play through the games, you should be naturally internalizing the middle game plans.

Here is the study:

LichessTools

To get the most out of this study you should add the LichessTools browser extension. LichessTools allows you to play through all the games/variations in an interactive lesson chapter (rather than just the single main line). So if you decline to add LiChess Tools then you are only playing 10% of the study (at most). Available here:

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/langlhlcknngldkeliapahbhbcmlcbcj

Cheers,

Dsoul20