GM Arturs Neiksans is a rare triple threat in the chess world: active as a player, frequent commentator at high-profile events, and highly sought after as a coach. A multiple-time Latvian champion and one of his country’s most decorated players, he continues to balance his role with incredible energy and ambition.

Recently, he switched from playing in the 2025 World Cup to being a commentator. And don’t forget he trained the world’s most famous International Master, Levy Rozman aka GothamChess, in his quest for the title of grandmaster.

Despite his busy agenda, Neiksans remains committed to his Chess course students. So much so that he produced an update to his famous course, the Battle-tested Scandinavian Defense, which was his second collaboration with Ukrainian GM Igor Kovalenko.

This edition Go Above and Beyond features Neiksans going the extra mile to keep its Chessable courses fresh. Check out what Neiksans has to say about its upcoming updates and courses:

What are you most proud of in your course?

I think we have succeeded in creating the best Scandinavian course to date. I know that’s a bold statement, but we want to prove that Scandinavian Defense is a perfectly playable opening even at the highest level. Sharp, uncompromising, and often takes opponents out of their comfort zone.

My co-author, GM Igor Kovalenko, is a world-class player who recently won the European Team Championships with Team Ukraine, and has a gold medal on his board. His knowledge of Scandinavian Defense is incredible, and when creating the course, we held nothing back.

This is our second course together (the first was Lifetime Repertoire: Sicilian Kan), and there may be many more to come!

What made you decide to update this course?

When this course was released, we received feedback that we had not covered the settings recently advocated by Anish Giri. This is a rare continuation, but once we started analyzing it, we realized that it contains quite a lot of poison! We found a robust solution fairly quickly but decided to wait before releasing an update to gather more feedback and potential fixes. Now, the time has come to release it!

What else are you working on today?

As we speak, I am working on my sixth course, Reti: Simple. There is still a lot to be done, I have to submit the PGN file at the end of this year, but I have to finish it soon.

I just returned from the FIDE World Cup in Goa, where I was eliminated in the first round, only to continue working as a commentator on the Chess24 channel! Between that, regular lessons with my students, and YouTube, I’m very busy.

What is your philosophy when creating courses?

I want all my courses to stand out—not just rehash existing material. I always try to innovate, explore new angles, and bring something fresh to the opening theory. At the same time, it is important to explain concepts in a clear and easy-to-understand manner, which can be quite challenging!

It is very important for me that my courses are of the best quality, because they represent my business card and reputation. Every positive review and five-star rating means a lot! I could produce more than one course per year, but I prefer to release fewer—and make sure each one is the best it can be.

The Battle-Tested Scandinavian Defense Course is on sale through January 1, 2026. Don’t miss out!