Understanding the Modern Defense · Tomic – Horvat, Road to GM, Game 390

July 2, 2025 NHaselton Chess Lectures

♛

Ready to play?

Play and learn chess for free on Chess.com

Play on Chess.com →

The Modern/King’s Indian structure is very complex and navigating it requires good understanding of patterns, pawn breaks and piece placement.
Learn the Modern Defense here: https://youtu.be/slNeLTit2J8
Here’s a great tool for learning openings: https://chessbook.com/hanging-pawns
Chessbook allows you to import and practice your repertoire. It focuses on moves people actually play as well as your mistakes. Connect it to your lichess or chess com accounts to correct the biggest gaps in your repertoire!

Tomic S. (1965) – Horvat D. (2134)
Modern, Averbakh System
Vrsar Open 2025, Round 2
April 29th 2025

♟ More videos — same opening

Leela Crushes Ethereal’s Modern Defense

Leela Crushes Ethereal’s Modern Defense

One of the Deepest Sacrifices Since The Evergreen Game || Spassky’s Immortal Game

One of the Deepest Sacrifices Since The Evergreen Game ||…

My new setup against the Modern Defense · Tomic – Pavicevic, Road to GM, Game 401

My new setup against the Modern Defense · Tomic –…

Carlsen is Champion Again | SuperUnited 2025

Carlsen is Champion Again | SuperUnited 2025

💬

Join the discussion

Share your thoughts about this video in the ChessTerra forum

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

<div id="puzzlebot-container"></div>

<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.6.0.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@chrisoakman/chessboardjs@1.0.0/dist/chessboard-1.0.0.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@chrisoakman/chessboardjs@1.0.0/dist/chessboard-1.0.0.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@chrisoakman/chessboardjs@1.0.0/dist/chessboard-1.0.0.polyfills.min.js"></script>

<script>
  var board = null;
  var game = new Chess();

  function onDragStart(source, piece, position, orientation) {
    // do not allow dragging when game is over
    if (game.game_over()) return false;

    // only allow white pieces to be dragged
    if (piece.search(/^b/) !== -1) return false;
  }

  function onDrop(source, target) {
    // see if the move is legal
    var move = game.move({
      from: source,
      to: target,
      promotion: "q" // always promote to a queen for example simplicity
    });

    // illegal move
    if (move === null) return "snapback";

    // update the board position
    board.position(game.fen());

    // get a random move from the engine
    window.setTimeout(makeRandomMove, 250);
  }

  // make a random move
  function makeRandomMove() {
    var possibleMoves = game.moves();

    // game over
    if (possibleMoves.length === 0) return;

    var randomIndex = Math.floor(Math.random() * possibleMoves.length);
    game.move(possibleMoves[randomIndex]);
    board.position(game.fen());
  }

  // initialize the chessboard
  function init() {
    var config = {
      draggable: true,
      onDragStart: onDragStart,
      onDrop: onDrop,
      position: 'start'
    };

    board = Chessboard('puzzlebot-container', config);

    makeRandomMove();
  }

  $(document).ready(init);
</script>