Introduction 

Video 1 

Study 1: The Starting Position 

Study 2: The Pawns - Basic 

Study 3: Pawns - Special Moves 

Study 4: The Knights 

Study 5: The Bishops 

Study 6: The Rooks 

Study 7: The Queen 

Study 8: The King 

Study 9: Castling 

Study 10: Ranks, Files and Notation

Drill 1 

Drill 2 

Drill 3 

Drill 4 

Drill 5 

Quiz 1 

Quiz 2 

Quiz 3 

Quiz 4 

Quiz 5 

Chapter 1: The Basics

Study 1: Check 

Study 2: Checkmate (Back-Rank)

Study 3: Dual Piece Checkmate 

Video 2 

Study 4: Stalemate

Drill 1

Chapter 2: Checks, Checkmate and Stalemate

Study 1: The 10 Golden Moves (Diagram)

Study 2: The 10 Golden Moves in Practice 

Study 3: King's Pawn Openings

Drill 1: The Italian Opening 

Drill 2: 1. e4 vs The Sicilian Defense

Video 3 

Study 4: Queen's Pawn Openings

Drill 3: The London 

Drill 4: The Queen's Gambit 

Video 4 

Study 5: Black vs 1. e4 - The Italian And Sicilian Defense

Drill 5: Black vs The Italian Opening 

Drill 6: The Sicilian Defense

Study 6: The Caro-Kann Defense

Drill 7: The Caro-Kann Advanced Variation 

Drill 8: The Caro-Kann Exchange Variation 

Drill 9: The Caro-Kann, Classical Variation 

Video 5 

Study 7: Openings Against 1. d4 

Drill 10: The Queen's Gambit Declined 

Drill 11: The King's Indian Setup 

Video 6 

Study 8: The Scholar's Mate

Drill 12: Scholar's Mate - White's Mate in 4 

Drill 13: Scholar's Mate - Black's Best Defense

Chapter 3: Opening Basics

Study 1: The Fork 

Study 2: The Absolute Pin 

Study 3: The Skewer

Chapter 4: Tactics

GothamChess Chessboard

Against 1. d4, I want to teach you the Queen's Gambit Declined and a system you could play against almost anything White plays against you.

White begins with 1. d4. 

Here, you can play symmetrically with 1...d5 and going for normal development. 

Or, you can play the King's Indian Setup.

But you'll play a solid setup by going ...e6 and ...c5. 

You could also play the King's Indian Setup here, if you wanted to.

But we can recapture. 

We'll play moves like ...c6, Nf6, Be7 and 0-0.

So the game will continue sort of like this.

White brings their knight out. 

White is controlling the center. However, the King's Indian will allow us to attack the center later.

And we'll do the same. 

The exchange variation shouldn't be concerning.

And in the London, Black wants to fianchetto on b7.

After moving our c-pawn, we can place our knight on c6.

This is the start of the King's Indian Setup. 

Similar to how we learned a system for White (The London), we'll learn a system for Black.

It consists of playing ...Nf6, ...g6, ...Bg7, ...0-0 and ...d6.

White may play e4. 

Our general rule whenever we see this on the board will be to play the pawn up to ...d6.

This is the Queen's Gambit. 

We won't take the pawn. Instead, we'll play ...e6.

The King's Indian Setup is played with a bishop on g7. 

We prepare ...Bg7 by playing ...g6.

All your pieces are active and White has not achieved much

We are solid and we will be playing to active our pieces and parry White's attempts of an attack.

First, we'll play with symmetry. 

If White just develops, we'll do the same. But if White plays the Queen's Gambit, we won't accept it.

We will fianchetto. 

Placing a bishop on g2, g7, b2 or b7 is called a fianchetto.

It's entirely possible that you face the London!

And we castle. 

We will be playing ...Nd7 and ...e5 or ...c5 to challenge the center. 

This opening is great because it's reliable: you can often get this position. Always remember to play ...d6 once e4 is on the board!

That's why I like 4...Be7 to castle quickly and break the pin. 

The Queen's Gambit Declined is an opening that's worth exploring further. 

A staple in the repertoires of the greatest chess masters of history, its challenge of White's center and defensive ideas make it perfect for new players to learn.

With this move, we protect the e5 square. 

White cannot push d5 because we would trade pawns and have a good position.

This is the main line. 

White is pinning the knight. If the knight moves, the queen behind it can be taken.

Chapter 3, Lesson 21

Chapter 3, Lesson 21

GothamChess Chessboard