Chess Openings, Coached Move by Move

Every opening below is a full walkthrough, not a move list: what each move is actually for, the plans behind it, and the traps that punish the mistakes people really make. Play any line against the trainer with a coach explaining each move, then take it into a real game.

• Italian GameLÉGAL'S MATE and the Fried Liver in one tree — plus a coached answer to every reply Black owns.
• Ruy Lopez3.Bb5 threatens nothing. Eight moves later his most natural recapture opens a file he cannot close — and the pawn he takes back costs him a knight.
• Scotch GameYou open the middle on move three. His queen comes out to make you pay — and never gets home.
• Petrov DefenseGive a knight's shadow, take the whole game. The famous oh-no-my-queen trap ends in MATE.
• Vienna Game2.Nc3 looks like a quiet move. Then f4 arrives — and 43% grab the pawn straight into a queen hunt.
• King's GambitBurn a pawn on move two. The Muzio hands over a whole KNIGHT — and scores 59% in 165,000 real games.
• Sicilian DefenseLet him gambit the Morra. Park your queen on c7, drop a knight on g4, and 36% of them play h3 straight into mate on h2.
• French Defense5...Qb6 stares at b2 from move five. One White player in eleven leaves the a1 rook standing behind it.
• Caro-Kann DefenseMate in SIX against the solid Caro-Kann — one quiet queen move and his knight can't legally save him.
• Scandinavian DefenseWhite's famous queen-trap needs you to recapture with the knight or the pawn. Take with the QUEEN instead and the trick eats a piece of his.
• Englund GambitAmbush 1.d4 on move one. The famous Qb4+ trap mates BY MOVE EIGHT — with his queen watching.
• Danish GambitTwo pawns, gone by move five, for two bishops aimed at his castled king before he has one. The engine says you are worse. The scoreboard says 58.3%.
• Tennison GambitWins the QUEEN by move 8. 85% of players take the bait — and every escape square loses.
• Blackburne Shilling GambitHang a knight on move 3. One in four grabs it — and the main line mates them on move 7.
• Punish the Scholar's MateThey come at you with the four-move mate. You leave with their queen — or a +7 attack.
• Latvian GambitYou hang a pawn on move two. Six moves later White's knight is eating a rook in the corner — and it never gets back to defend the mate.
• Grünfeld DefenseHe pins your knight with Bg5. You move it anyway — and more than a quarter of the time his bishop just falls off the board.
• Bishop's OpeningYou have seen this checkmate before. Here it arrives a move earlier, and 52% of players walk into it.
• Philidor DefenseThe oldest trap in chess is pointed straight at this opening — at YOU. Take the knight, not the queen, and he's the one a piece down.
• Old Indian Defense…d6 and …Nbd7 look like nothing. They put a second body behind e5 — and the players who eat it anyway hand you a whole piece by move nine.
• Ponziani Openingc3 does nothing on move three. By move nine your knight forks his queen and cannot be captured — and 60% of opponents walk straight into it.
• Three Knights OpeningYour c3-knight has one route memorised: b5, then c7, then a8 — where his rook is sitting. A quarter of opponents open the door.
• Tarrasch DefenseYou hand White a target on move three. 41% reach for it — and when the knight lands on b5 to press the point, one check on a5 takes it off the board.
• Blackmar-Diemer GambitYou hand over a pawn on move four to open the f-file. Two moves later his queen is eating in your half of the board — and the c7 square is a furnace.
• Chigorin DefenseYou answer the Queen's Gambit with a knight instead of a pawn. Then a bishop lands on g4, and White's knight is standing in front of his queen with nowhere safe to go.
• Polish Opening1.b4 offers a pawn on move one. Take it, then kick the bishop that shows up — and 33% of the time the h8 rook is gone by move five.
• Grob Opening1.g4 is the worst first move in chess — and it robs a rook by move five, because 40% of players send the wrong bishop to collect the free pawn.

New to openings? Learn openings without memorizing explains the approach behind every walkthrough here. To see which openings are actually costing you rating, the free scout report reads your recent games and names them.

Also worth your time: the tactics library and the improvement guides.