Learn chess

Seven volumes on a real board, from how the pieces move to winning endgames. Read, watch, then make the move. Every volume is free.

★ 0

0 of 86 lessons

Learn from your mistakes

What you missed comes back on schedule, until it sticks.

Spaced review Nothing due today A puzzle you miss comes back here after 1, 3, 7 and 21 days.

Daily review Finish a lesson first Positions from your finished lessons come back here, a new set each day.

Sharpen your eye, test your game

e4 Board vision Coordinates Find, name or move to the square, against the clock. No best yet → ? Level check Find your level A few minutes of puzzles that say where to start. Not taken yet → Sparring hall Spar with your foes Whole games against the monsters you have met, each in its own style. It whispers its plans, then shows your biggest mistakes. Meet foes in a run first →

Volumes 7 volumes · 86 lessons

I Volume I · Beginner Learn the rules The board, how every piece moves, check, checkmate, castling and the special moves. 0 of 11 · ★ 0 StartII Volume II · Beginner First checkmates Back-rank mate, the two-rook ladder, mating with a queen or a rook, and Scholar’s Mate from both sides. 0 of 6 · ★ 0 StartIII Volume III · Beginner Tactics 101 Forks, pins, skewers and discovered attacks, then deflection, decoys, overloading, interference, clearance, X-rays, in-between moves, trapped pieces and perpetual check. 0 of 14 · ★ 0 StartIV Volume IV · Beginner Opening principles Start every game well without memorising lines: center, development, king safety. 0 of 5 · ★ 0 StartV Volume V · Intermediate Endgame essentials The square of the pawn, the opposition, key squares, the breakthrough, the wrong bishop, queen against pawn and against rook, rook against pawn, rook endings from the cut-off, Lucena and Philidor to the short side, the rook behind a rook pawn and Vancura, a knight against a pawn, opposite-coloured bishops, and mating with two bishops or with bishop and knight. 0 of 31 · ★ 0 StartVI Volume VI · Intermediate Openings to play Eight openings, every move explained, each with two common sidelines and a drill from memory: Italian, Ruy Lopez, Queen’s Gambit, London, Najdorf, French, Caro-Kann, King’s Indian. Then the classic opening traps, from both sides. 0 of 10 · ★ 0 StartVII Volume VII · Intermediate Strategy basics Plans for when there is no tactic: open files, the 7th rank, outposts, isolated and doubled pawns, passed pawns, good and bad bishops, and when to trade. 0 of 9 · ★ 0 Start

Ready to drill what you learned? The Academy has puzzle drills for every tactic and famous games to replay.