116 GM Boris Avrukh: How to Play Better Defense, Coaching Fabi, & Playing Against Tal
Feb 11, 2025
What a chess career! GM Boris Avrukh cracked the World Top 50 in 2005 and achieved a peak rating of 2668.
He has coached the world’s best players like Fabiano Caruana, Vladimir Kramnik, and Wesley So. And he even got to be the last person to ever play the legendary Mikhail Tal.
Of course, Boris has had an exemplary competitive career representing Israel in six chess Olympiads and winning the World U12 Championship in 1990.
In addition to years of coaching the world’s best and club players alike, Boris has also written countless opening books and published five Chessable courses.
Boris and I talk at length about his course called “Resourceful Chess: Defense & Counterplay,” which will give you some excellent advice on how to play better defense.
We also discuss:
- Why it’s important to recognize key defensive patterns.
- His experience coaching Fabiano Caruana.
- Why Boris choose to highlight Hans Niemann for defensive play in his course (and whether he did so knowing he’d be controversial.)
More From GM Boris Avrukh
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