Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is often referred to as human chess. Improving at this martial art requires a mix of physicality and intellect. Athleticism and strength are respected, but the crafty, technical, smart practitioners are universally recognized as the best representatives of the sport.

BJJ is unique because it does not just attract athletic people. It attracts nerds, bookworms, philosopher and thinker types. Yes, yes. No wonder the best BJJ coach — Jon Danaher — is a philosophy PhD.

People often make parallels between BJJ and chess, mostly because of the importance of strategy and tactics. Here is another similarity, which is not discussed very often — the importance of calculation. In chess, a player who can see 3 moves ahead will almost always beat the player who sees 2 moves ahead. How far you can see is infinitely more important than how much theory you know. Similarly, in jiu-jitsu, we marvel at the ability of some practitioners to almost read the opponent’s thoughts. No matter what you try, they are ready. They give you this cheeky smile and you know you are in trouble.

Of course, unlike chess, jiu-jitsu has the speed factor. In chess, each side makes only one move at a time. But in BJJ you could execute several moves before the opponent can respond. Sure, many factors play into this other than the speed itself — cardio, the level of fatigue, the mental state we are in during sparring, and so on. But in any case, in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, it pays to have an elaborate game where you have a plan, then a response to each of the possible reactions of the opponent, and then answers to their reactions to your responses, and so on (Marcelo Garcia is a strong proponent of this).

As your “jiu-jitsu tree” grows deep and wide, your skill level increases. You start “seeing further” and doing precisely what you admire in high-level practitioners. You can calculate further and further. You guide your opponent exactly where you want them to go. You set cunning traps and trigger reactions to which you already have well-prepared responses. Yes, jiu-jitsu has a certain level of chaos to it — after all, your opponent is not a training dummy and has his or her plans, moves, tactics, and strategies. But having a plan is almost always better than not having a plan.

Those of us whose game and skills are best prepared for multiple possibilities, usually end up winning.

In this article, I want to describe a concept that I have used, successfully, in both offensive and defensive positions. It is relatively simple, hence something that can be practiced and mastered reasonably quickly, even by white belts. It is simple but difficult to counter — so the time you invest in practicing this pays off in sparring and matches.

Enter the 1–2–1 principle.

Essentially, it is an advanced trap setting. You use two different moves that have different and usually opposing directions of force. Think about the push-pull principle, or creating dilemmas that Jon Danaher and Gordon Ryan often talk about. You probably already do this — you try a move, which, when countered, opens an opportunity for the second move. You try to push, the opponent resists, then you pull. You attempt a sweep to the right, and as the opponent adjusts the weight and positioning, you sweep to the left. BUT. I see a lot of people who stop at move two. They are missing out.

Let’s take it one step further:

• Do the first move,
• As the opponent reacts, do the second move (in the opposing direction),
• And as the opponent reacts to that and overcorrects, go back to the first move.

The logic for this is simple:

• First move — EASY TO COUNTER.
• Second move — HARDER TO COUNTER if followed right after the first move, but can still be done by a decent opponent.
• Back to the first move — QUITE A HEADACHE.

Let’s look at a few examples.

Example 1. Mount Escape

1.1 Try the Elbow Escape

As part of the elbow escape (for the sake of the example, let’s say you are turning right), you have to turn a bit sideways and start bringing your head and your knee (on the side you are trying to escape) closer together. One of the most annoying and effective ways to counter this is a cross-face. As the top player uses the cross-face to straighten you up (towards your left) and move your head away from your knee, it is easy to give up on the elbow escape — because it has no chance of succeeding. And that is precisely what most people at white and blue belt levels do. But let’s think about what is the opponent giving you—the arm under your head.

1.2 Switch to Trap and Roll

Now that your opponent can’t easily post, use your right hand to block the opponent’s arm under your head, trap his left foot with your right foot, and execute a bridge over your right shoulder. All of a sudden, your opponent has a different problem. Sometimes this is enough to reverse the position. But most of the time, the opponent (sometimes violently) pulls the arm from behind your head to post or raises the left leg to prevent the reversal. You failed. At Trap and Roll. Yes. But what opportunity opened up? Now there is a lot of space to work with on your right side.

1.3 Switch back to Elbow Escape!

As the opponent counters the threat of reversal by trap and roll, you know have a lot more space than you had the first time you tried the elbow escape. This time, it is going to be significantly easier to execute it.

Give it a try. Rather than just trying singular moves — which are easy to stop, once you connect the moves that have opposing directionality, things become very different. Suddenly you are practicing jiu-jitsu at a much higher level.

Example 2. Butterfly Guard elevation

2.1 First attempt to elevate

Get a 2 on 1 grip, let’s say on the opponent’s right arm. As you move your hips close and attempt to elevate, a decent opponent will resist. They may move their hips back, or use a cross-frame, but a frequent reaction is to move their upper body backward. Faced with this, a lot of people give up on trying to elevate. But look at how the opponent’s body is misaligned.

2.2 Switch to a push to takedown

The second you see the opponent’s shoulders directly above the hips, or even behind the hips, stop pulling and start pushing. It is simple and very effective. People will just fall and you may score a takedown. However, if the opponent is agile and quick enough, they may recover their balance and use their arms on you to start leaning, or even pushing forward to prevent the takedown. Now the opponent’s head is moving ahead of the hips. What does that allow us to do?

2.3 Second attempt to elevate

Switch to 2 on 1 again and make the second attempt to elevate. In my experience, this is when if you are not careful, your opponent may fly over your head. :) This is because, unlike your first attempt, here you are starting not from a static point where the opponent can relatively easily stop you, but from a situation where the opponent’s body is on a forward trajectory. Whether from here you enter into leglocks, take the back, or whatever else you are into — up to you.

Do you see where I am going with this?

Example 3. Triangle and Reverse Triangle

3.1 Triangle

Say you have locked a triangle from the bottom. And while you can control the opponent’s posture, their frame is strong enough to provide space and they also don’t let you get the right angle by not letting you get to a perpendicular position. If you have already locked a triangle, be patient. You can try different things to tighten the lock, to get rid of the frame, to get the right angle. If all of it doesn’t work, let’s see how we can take advantage of precisely what makes it difficult to finish the triangle — the stubborn frame.

3.2 Switch to Reverse Triangle

Remember, make sure you keep control of the head at all times. Now switch to Reverse Triangle. Once you do that, you change the direction of the attack. The very frame that was saving the opponent has suddenly become the problem. With the reverse triangle, you can attack a kimura, an armbar. The opponent will now focus on protecting the arm, radically changing the arm’s position. Often, the arm goes across, precisely where you were trying to get it in the previous step. I’m sure you know what comes next. :)

3.3 Switch back to Triangle

As the opponent is trying to hide the arm, it is likely that the overcorrection will now make the regular triangle deadly. Swing back (make sure to control the posture!), switch to a regular triangle and you will, most likely, have a much easier time finishing the submission.

Example 4. Single Leg X Sweep

4.1 Single Leg X sweep attempt

So you get into the Single leg X position, wrapped around the opponent’s leg, your hips high, everything is tight. You try the sweep and the opponent shifts the weight the other way in order not to fall. In the process, the leg you are wrapped around becomes light, but sweeping is close to impossible. Problem? No. Opportunity.

4.2 Push in the opposite direction

You could try a false reap, or try to attack with a heelhook, but let’s keep the feet where they are. Just push the opponent in the direction OPPOSITE to the direction of the original sweep attempt. If the opponent falls, great, get on top. But usually, the opponent will try to push back and will put the weight back on the leg that you are wrapped around.

4.3 Re-try the Single Leg X sweep

As he opponent’s weight shifts back, it usually goes a tad too far. There is also the momentum of course. Now, try the sweep again and most of the time, you will find that it is much easier to make the opponent fall since you will go in the direction toward which the opponent’s body is already moving.

Example 5. Snap-down and Takedown

5.1 Snap-down attempt

Snap-downs are tough against an opponent of the same size and strength. But there is a good reason to try it — at the beginning of a BJJ match, both opponents’ bodies are bent forward to be ready for a potential takedown attempt. With the head far ahead of the hips, a snap-down is a real threat. But when you try a snap-down, there is an instinctive reaction where the opponent will try to stand straight and align the head and shoulders with the hips. This creates a new vulnerability — now the legs are accessible.

5.2 Double-leg takedown attempt

As the opponent straightens up, feint a double leg takedown. You could fully commit, of course, that is another option. Once you feint, the opponent will immediately bend back down and aim to put arms low to protect the legs. Again, like in previous examples, the momentum and the overcorrection help you.

5.3 Second snap-down attempt

Try a snap-down for the second time. This time you are far more likely to succeed as you will catch the opponent’s head during the downward motion. Be careful, because opponent can face plant into the mat — that’s how effective this can be. Whether you want to try the guillotine, attack the turtle, go to the back, your choice.

You can, of course, apply this to a wide array of different positions. You can also, instead of the 1–2–1 schema, go for 1–2–3, 1–2–1–3, or any other combination of moves that work for you and for the position you are working on. In fact, you should. If I know that all you do is 1–2–1, it will be progressively easier to defend it. This is just one option to expand your repertoire, you can add many others.

The point I am trying to make is, don’t just go 1 and that’s it — anyone can counter that. Or 1–2, where most decent practitioners will be able to deal with this too. 1–2–1 is one of those things where you make a claim that you are serious about becoming an advanced practitioner of the art.

Now. How to make it work?

You have to drill it. No avoiding that. You drill it first, against a cooperative opponent. Then, when you get reasonably comfortable, try it in sparring against lower belts. Then try against the higher belts. Take the feedback and see how to improve. Maybe you need to adjust your grips. Maybe a slight change in body mechanics will help. Drill again. Try again in sparring.

You can see from the examples, you don’t need to be a black belt to apply this method. And you will find that it works quite effectively even against higher belts. The reason it does — it overloads the opponent’s processing capacity. It also immediately elevates your level by helping connect different techniques into a coherent approach where one technique flows from another. We usually learn all techniques in relative isolation, so it needs work to connect things.

Good luck!