Going Above and Beyond: Sam Shankland
Welcome to the latest installment of “Going Above & Beyond,” where we celebrate the authors who go the extra mile to update their courses. So that their students have the best information available, especially in their openings. Today, we interviewed the 2018 US Chess Champion.
I used to doubt chess improvement and opening books by strong, active grandmasters — irrationally I should add.
“Why would a chess professional reveal their trade secrets and make their lives tougher?” I thought. “No way these guys are telling the whole story!”
So imagine how refreshed I was to see the brutally honest and objective Sam Shankland.
(You’ll see how brutal he is in a bit.)
The 2-time Olympiad gold medalist and peak-2731-rated GM not only recommends variations he plays himself, but he also gives you his objective evaluation of the arising positions.
Shankland tells you if you have an advantage, an easier position to play, or if danger lurks — and what to do about it.
I’m not surprised he won the 2020 Author of The Year Award. And he might just win another one, because of the updates to his library of Lifetime Repertoires!
He added 58 cutting-edge variations to 9 of his repertoires, and here’s why.
What made you decide to update your course?
“The biggest reason I do work for Chessable is that I can use the analysis in my own tournament practice, and that the process of writing the courses helps grow my own understanding. No opening course is ever perfect, and there will always be ideas missed, or new ideas found later.
By providing lots of updates, I not only help my courses live up to the 'Lifetime Repertoires' name, but it also helps keep me up to date with the current states and trends of opening theory.”
Are there any variations (in your entire course) that you are especially proud of or enjoy?
“There are so many! I was really proud of the line in my Semi-Slav course that I found against the dxe5/Nh4 Meran. It was a novelty at the time, and it involves a wild piece sacrifice. I got to dump it on Anton Korobov myself, and it still bothers me that I let him escape with a draw.
Additionally, I am very happy with my 8.Bc4 idea in the main line Benko Gambit. It was almost underheard of before my course came out, and now it's one of the biggest main lines with tons of games played.”
What else are you working on these days?
“Not much. I will do the video to go alongside Dalton Perrine's upcoming course, and I might re-release The Shankland Method as a Chessable Course complete with all the new bells and whistles that were not available when I first did it for iChess some 10 years ago.
Sadly, I've had some fairly serious health problems for the last half year, which has affected my productivity at Chessable, performance at the board, and the amount of tournaments I can play. I'm definitely getting better though, and I hope I can return to my old levels in the rest of 2024 and 2025, both at the board and with my content.”
What's your philosophy on course creation?
“It's all about me. I make courses and write books with one goal and one goal only: To make myself a better chess player. Selfish as this may sound, I think it is also the best way to make great training material, and I'm certainly happy that so many people have been able to come along for the ride and put the training to good use.”
Beyond openings, Shankland also shares many of the exact training methods, which propelled him to the GM title.
In Total Board Vision for Beginners, he helps the new player break into 1000 Elo with safety drills and tactical alignments. The same ones he learned as a 10-year-old at the Berkeley Chess Club!
He also turned his exploration of winning pawn moves into 5-star strategy courses — Small Steps To Giant Improvement and Small Steps 2 Success…
While Shankland’s Calculation Workbook contains the 300 intense exercises he solved himself to reach 2700 and beyond.
Continuing his “come along for the ride” teaching strategy, Shankland also brings you The Shankland Method: Strategic Calculation.
It’s a chess strategy course, which teaches you how to make “impossible” moves work and build a strategically won position… by asking this one question.
Shankland credits the method as the #1 way he wins against 2600 to 2700 pros. Now imagine how powerful his method is against club-level players! Check it out here.
