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Chess Openings Tuesday - 14th July 2026 | Australian Defense & English Opening

Published 16 days ago • 1 min read

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Hey Reader,

Important note for our openings quiz:
​Some people have had issues receiving their free opening trainers when their opening was one that had an accent or diacritic (eg the Réti, Grünfeld, or potentially apostrophes).

This has now been solved. This does not affect the guides in any way. Thank you to everyone that flagged it - it's with feedback like this that we're able to improve.

If this is an issue you encountered and didn't receive your opening trainer, please get in touch and let us know so we can send it to you!

Here are your openings for this week!

Australian Defense

Chess Notation:

1. d4 Na6

Win Rate:

  • Black: 38%
  • White: 57%
  • Draw: 5%

Themes:

Defensive, Slow Buildup, Tricky/Unorthodox

Pros

  1. Surprise value against unprepared opponents
  2. Avoids mainstream opening theory
  3. Creates unusual positions
  4. Offers some transposition possibilities

Cons

  1. Knight development to a suboptimal square
  2. Fails to contest the center
  3. Gives White significant opening advantage
  4. Limits Black’s developmental flexibility

English Opening

Chess Notation:

1. c4

Win Rate:

  • Black: 45%
  • White: 51%
  • Draw: 4%

Themes:

Closed, Hypermodern, Popular Opening, Positional, Slow Buildup, Solid, Space Controlling

Pros

  1. Offers strategic flexibility in piece development
  2. Takes opponents out of their standard opening preparation
  3. Creates opportunities for queenside pressure
  4. Allows players to avoid well-known defensive systems

Cons

  1. Requires deeper positional understanding
  2. Can lead to slower development
  3. Less direct attacking potential compared to central openings
  4. May provide Black with counterplay opportunities

Australian Defense Complete Opening Trainer

English Opening Complete Opening Trainer

What do you think? Which of these openings do you prefer, and are you going to give them a shot in your games? Reply and let us know!

If you want true opening confidence and to dominate more opponents from the first 10 moves, but aren't sure where to start... don't worry, we've got you. Our Practical Openings Bundle contains all the resources you need to master 10 of the most popular openings on the ladder - without the fluff or countless hours of other learning methods.

Check it out and claim yours now using the button below.

As always, feel free to reply with your thoughts, suggestions, ideas, etc.

That's it for now. Catch you in the next one.

Cheers,
James
Chess Cheat Sheets
​info@chesscheatsheets.com​
​https://chesscheatsheets.com/​

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