Short & Sweet Raven Sturt’s 1.e4 e5 + PGN May 06, 2026

The 1.e4 e5 Approach That Makes
Your Opponent Play Below Their True Level

Have you ever noticed that players are rarely equally strong in every type of position? In some structures, their level drops significantly, while in others, they suddenly play far above it.

A smart approach to chess is to steer your opponent into exactly those positions where their level drops. And the most reliable way to do that is to aim for structures that are:

⚡️ highly unusual
⚡️ reached early, so they can’t be avoided
⚡️ double-edged, with attacking ideas you’ve studied

That’s exactly the idea behind Raven Sturt’s Electrifying 1.e4 e5. Raven’s repertoire is built to drag White into unusual structures before move 5 and then capitalize on your superior understanding.

In Part 1 of his two-volume encyclopedic work, he covers the Ruy Lopez and the Italian. And in this PRO-exclusive mini-course you get a taste of it, with 15 hand-picked lines covering White’s most common replies.

Against the Ruy Lopez, you’ll kick things off in style with the rare Bird’s Defense:

The Bird’s Defense against the Ruy Lopez

This opening is perfectly suited to reach unusual positions where your opponent won’t feel confident early on, while you’re in your home territory.

Incidentally, these are exactly the kinds of positions where your attacks flourish:

You don’t care about messy pawn structures
or even being a piece down. The attack is what matters!

Things are no less electrifying against the Italian. You start with the Two Knights Defense, but from there, you’ll constantly find ways to surprise White.

For example, with two successive rarities against the Fried Liver Attack:

Only 6 games have ever reached this position OTB,
according to major databases.

Even if White chooses a less direct approach than the Fried Liver, you’ll still steer them into uncomfortable positions where the repertoire’s attacking power becomes just as evident:

Heavy sacrifices are no rare sight in this repertoire!

GM Raven Sturt is the ideal guide for this course: a long-time Bird’s Opening specialist (and Chessable author on the subject) with a peak rating of 2500+, he knows exactly how to make rare openings work.

Even though you’ll sometimes need to take calculated risks (like sacrificing pawns) to make this approach work, every line remains solid and can be played up to the highest level.