♜ The Library
Everything worth studying, in one place: opening guides — how to play and how to beat every major opening — and study guides for all 108 Academy lessons. Every move line is engine-verified. When you're ready to make the moves yourself, the interactive Academy is one click away.
Opening Guides (21 openings · play it & beat it)
Italian Game
The oldest recorded opening in chess — rapid development aimed straight at Black's weakest square, f7.…
Ruy Lopez (Spanish Opening)
The most studied opening in history: White pressures the knight that defends e5 and plays for a long-term positional gri…
Sicilian Defense
Black's most popular and highest-scoring reply to 1. e4 — an asymmetrical fight where Black plays for the win from move …
Sicilian Najdorf
The Rolls-Royce of openings — Fischer's and Kasparov's weapon of choice, where 5…a6 prepares total queenside expansion.…
French Defense
Black builds a granite pawn chain and strikes back at the center with …d5 — solid, strategic, and famously stubborn.…
Caro-Kann Defense
The French's sturdier cousin: Black supports …d5 with the c-pawn, keeping the light-squared bishop free — solid enough f…
Queen's Gambit
Not really a gambit — White offers a pawn to deflect Black's d5 pawn and claim the entire center. The backbone of classi…
London System
The internet era's favorite opening: one reliable setup against everything — solid, low-theory, and quietly venomous.…
King's Indian Defense
Black concedes the center on purpose, then detonates it: the KID produces the most violent kingside attacks in chess.…
Scholar's Mate (and Stopping It)
The four-move checkmate every beginner meets: Qh5 and Bc4 gang up on f7. Easy to attempt, trivial to refute — and refuti…
Fried Liver Attack
White sacrifices a full knight on f7 to drag Black's king into the open — one of the most fearsome weapons at club level…
Scandinavian Defense
Black challenges the center on move one and takes White out of mainstream theory immediately — simple plans, quick devel…
King's Gambit
The romantic era's crown jewel: White offers the f-pawn to rip open the f-file and attack before Black finishes breakfas…
Pirc Defense
Black invites White to build a big center, then attacks it with pieces — a hypermodern counterpuncher's dream.…
English Opening
The flank strategy: White controls d5 from the side, keeps every structure option open, and steers into favorable Sicili…
Dutch Defense
Black stakes the kingside immediately — the Dutch fights for e4 and dreams of the same attack the KID delivers, one move…
Evans Gambit
White bribes the Italian bishop with a pawn to build the perfect center with tempo — Kasparov revived it; club players f…
Smith-Morra Gambit
Anti-Sicilian venom: White gives a pawn for open c- and d-files and pieces that arrive three moves early to the fight.…
Budapest Gambit
Black counter-gambits against the Queen's pawn on move two — active pieces, nasty traps, and positions White never studi…
Stafford Gambit
The internet's trap factory: objectively dubious, practically lethal — Black gives a pawn for open lines and a minefield…
Vienna Game
The improved King's Gambit: White prepares f4 with a piece developed first — flexible, aggressive, and far less studied …
Lesson Guides (all 108 Academy lessons)
Study the ideas here — then do every one interactively in the Academy.
Piece Drills (24)
- The Pawn Marches · #1
- Pawns Capture Diagonally · #2
- Promotion · #3
- The Pawn Gauntlet · #4
- The Knight's "L" · #5
- Knight Star Tour · #6
- Knights Jump! · #7
- Knight Raid · #8
- The Bishop's Diagonal · #9
- Changing Diagonals · #10
- One Color Forever · #11
- Bishop Sniper · #12
- The Rook's Lines · #13
- Rook Breakthrough · #14
- Rook Sweep · #15
- The Rook Lift · #16
- Her Majesty Moves · #17
- Queen Harvest · #18
- Even Queens Can't Jump · #19
- The Grand Tour · #20
- The King's Step · #21
- Check! Now What? · #22
- Never Into Danger · #23
- March of the King · #24
Rules & Special Moves (10)
- Setting the Board · #25
- Who Moves First? · #26
- Castle Kingside · #27
- Castle Queenside · #28
- When Castling Is Illegal · #29
- En Passant · #30
- A New Queen · #31
- Escaping Check · #32
- Checkmate vs Stalemate · #33
- The Draw Rules · #34
Checkmate Patterns (16)
- The Back-Rank Mate · #35
- Scholar's Mate · #36
- The Smothered Mate · #37
- The Ladder Mate · #38
- The Queen's Kiss · #39
- The Arabian Mate · #40
- Queen & King Teamwork · #41
- Rook & King Teamwork · #42
- The Two Bishops · #43
- Mate by Promotion · #44
- The Epaulette Mate · #45
- The Anastasia Mate · #46
- Blind Swine · #47
- Queen & Bishop Battery · #48
- The Pawn Delivers · #49
- Kiss of Death, Guarded by a Pawn · #50
Tactics (18)
- The Royal Fork · #51
- The Pawn Fork · #52
- The Skewer · #53
- The Pin · #54
- Discovered Attack · #55
- The Double Attack · #56
- Skewer on the Rank · #57
- Take What's Free · #58
- Pin vs Skewer · #59
- Remove the Defender · #60
- The Overloaded Piece · #61
- Luft — Air for the King · #62
- The Trapped Piece · #63
- Zwischenzug · #64
- The Battery · #65
- Counting Attackers · #66
- Check Every Check · #67
- Desperado · #68
Openings (16)
Openings are taught by playing the line move by move, so these open directly in the Academy rather than as a reading page.
- The Italian Game · #69
- The Ruy Lopez · #70
- The Scotch Game · #71
- The Queen's Gambit · #72
- Queen's Gambit Accepted · #73
- The London System · #74
- Open Sicilian · #75
- French Advance · #76
- Caro-Kann Advance · #77
- The Vienna Game · #78
- The Four Knights · #79
- The King's Gambit · #80
- The English Opening · #81
- The Fried Liver Setup · #82
- vs The Petroff · #83
- The Catalan · #84
Endgames (12)
- King + Rook Mate · #85
- King + Queen Mate · #86
- Promotion Wins Endgames · #87
- Doubled Rooks Finish · #88
- The Opposition · #89
- Rule of the Square · #90
- King & Pawn: Who Leads? · #91
- Stalemate Alarm · #92
- Rooks Behind Passed Pawns · #93
- Activate the King! · #94
- Which Is a DRAW? · #95
- Trading When Ahead · #96
Strategy (12)
- The Center Rules · #97
- Opening Priorities · #98
- Don't Repeat Yourself · #99
- The Bishop Pair · #100
- Knights vs Bishops · #101
- Rooks Crave Open Files · #102
- The Outpost · #103
- Pawn Weaknesses · #104
- King Safety Timing · #105
- Making a Plan · #106
- The Exchange · #107
- Before EVERY Move · #108