Learning Which Openings WIN - High Success Rates!

How To Make Plans In Middlegames That WORK

Create Powerful Attacks Like A Grandmaster

Our Intermediate Chess course will build on all the beginner chess lessons you learned and take you to the next level. If you want to break past 1500 Elo in chess, this is the course for you.

Welcome to Intermediate Chess! The aim of this course is to go over a few advanced concepts in chess.

First of all, let’s go over a few openings for White, just to introduce you to some positions! 


Video 1: Intro

Video 2: 1. e4 

Study: 1. e4, Black Plays e5/c5

Study: 1. e4, Black Plays e6/c6

Study: 1. e4, Black Plays Other 1st Moves

Drill 1: The Vienna Gambit Accepted 

Drill 2: The Vienna Gambit Accepted (5...Nc6)

Drill 3: The Vienna Copycat Variation

Drill 4: Sicilian Alapin

Drill 5: White vs the French

Drill 6: White vs the 3...Bf5 Caro-Kann

Drill 7: White vs the 3...c5 Caro-Kann

Drill 8: White vs the Scandinavian

Drill 9: White vs the Modern

Video 3: 1. d4

Study: 1. d4 for White, London/Trompowsky/Catalan Setup

Study: 1. d4 for White, Others

Drill 10: The London

Drill 11: The Trompowsky

Drill 12: The Catalan

Drill 13: 1. d4 Against the Dutch

Drill 14: 1. d4 Against 1...b6

Video 4: 1. c4/etc

Chapter 1: Openings for White

We’ve gone over a few openings, both e4 and d4. Black’s most popular responses are …e5 or …c5. Openings like the London or the Trompowsky were also mentioned, in case you are a 1.d4 player. 


Let’s continue diving into a few openings, this time as Black. We’ll go over some solid responses against the most popular 1.e4 and also 1.d4/c4.

Against 1.e4 the Caro-kann is a great choice which will be covered. We’ll also demonstrate how to respond to 1.d4 with the Modern opening (or with a King’s Indian setup). The third and fourth most popular moves 1.c4 and 1.Nf3 are also covered, with a simple setup of …Nf6/…e6/…d5.

Video 1: Black vs 1. e4

Study: Black vs 1. e4

Drill 1: The Caro-Kann vs 1. e4

Video 2: Black vs 1. d4/c4

Study: Black vs 1. d4

Study: Bonus Weapon Against 1. d4: The Dutch

Study: Black vs 1. c4 and 1. Nf3

Drill 2: The Modern vs 1. d4

Drill 3: Queen's Indian Setup vs 1. d4.

Drill 4: Black vs the English 

Drill 5: Black vs the Reti

Drill 6: The Dutch

Video 3: Gambits

Chapter 2: Openings for Black

In this chapter, we’ve discussed some options you can use against White’s most popular openings. 

This chapter served as an introduction to some positions you could encounter! 


The exercises in this chapter will take you through some common tactical patterns as well as your ability to defend a position. The quizzes ask crucial questions which should also be asked during your games!

Video 1

Video 2

Chapter 3: Tactics

Good job! These were some drills and quizzes used to improve your pattern recognition and navigating through tactical positions.

Let’s take a look at a few snippets from actual games where we zoom in on a process of position evaluation, presenting you with principles you should take into consideration when playing on your own! 

Some of these principles include checks, captures, attacks, and what to check while being up a material. Following these principles will help you understand how to convert a winning position, or create a (winning) plan.

Video 1: Evaluating Positions

Study: Position Evaluation 1

Study: Position Evaluation 2 

Study: Position Evaluation 3

Study: Position Evaluation 4

Study: Position Evaluation 5

Quiz: Find the Best Square for the Queen

Quiz: Find the Greatest Advantage

Video 2: Planning

Study: Planning + The Checklist

Study: The Checklist While Up Material

Quiz: Evaluate the Endgame: Make a Plan!

Chapter 4: Strategy (Thinking During Games)

The studies have covered some principles when evaluating a position, while the drills and quizzes put your knowledge into practice. You will now be able to use the checklist to be extra safe in your games and miss fewer tactics and one-movers.

Another part of strategy is of course the attack! Studies in this chapter cover games where the opponent castles the opposite way and there is an attack on both sides of the board; or, the players castled on the same side, and one side manages to launch a successful attack on the other.

We also go over attacking the king in the center, which often involves sacrificing material for the initiative.

Video 1: Same Side Castling Attacks

Study: Same Side Castling Attacks 1 

Study: Same Side Castling Attacks 2

Study: Same Side Castling Attacks 3: Things to Avoid

Study: Same Side Castling Attacks 4

Drill 1

Drill 2: Attack like Adolf Anderssen

Video 2: Opposite Side Castling Attacks

Study: Opposite Side Castling 1 

Study: Opposite Side Castling 2 

Study: Opposite Side Castling 3

Study: Alireza vs Carlsen

Drill 3

Drill 4

Video 3: Attacking the Uncastled King

Study: Attacking the Uncastled King 1

Study: Attacking the Uncastled King 2

Study: Attacking the Uncastled King 3 

Drill 5: Attack the Uncastled King like Nezhmetdinov

Drill 6: Alekhine vs the Uncastled King

Chapter 5: Strategy (Attacking)

We’ve discussed some ways of attacking our opponent during same-side castling, opposite castling, or how to attack when the king stays in the center. You should now be able to plan attacks based on the position of the kings! 

Another important factor is you’ll be able to defend your own king and prepare for incoming danger since you know how attacks take place. 


In this chapter, you’ll learn all of the important concepts regarding pawn play. For example, playing against an isolated pawn, creating a pawn weakness, or crucial pawn breaks.

Video 1: Pawn Structure 

Study: Play Against the IQP

Study: Play With the IQP - Black's POV

Study: Creating Doubled Pawns and Pawn Color Complex

Drill: Minority Attack and IQP Creation

Drill: Playing with the IQP 

Drill: Fighting the Maroczy Bind

Quiz 1

Quiz 2

Video 2: Most Common Structures

Study: Tripled Pawns

Study: Doubled Pawns in the Beefeater

Study: Playing with Doubled Pawns

Drill: Plans in the Advanced Caro-Kann

Drill: Pawn Breaks in the Stonewall Dutch

Quiz 3

Quiz 4

Chapter 6: Strategy (Pawn Play)

The studies have introduced concepts like playing against an isolated pawn or creating weaknesses. The drills and quizzes were a tool to solidify these ideas. 

Pawn breaks are not strange concepts to you now. With all this practice and theory, chess positions will become more digestible.

This chapter revolves around piece play. First, we’ll take you through an evaluation of the pieces, which ties in with the idea of trading off your bad pieces. 

Piece coordination is how your pieces work together and defend each other in a position, complementing their unique movements. Let’s see some real examples!

Video 1: Evaluating Piece Trades

Study: Piece Trades

Study: Trading the Fianchettoed Bishop in Certain Openings

Study: Bad Piece Trades in the Scotch

Study: Trading Bishop for Knight in the Caro-Kann

Drill: Trading and Blockading

Drill: Playing with the Bishops and Trades

Drill: White Trades Pieces in the Ruy Lopez

Video 2: Piece Activity/Coordination 

Drill: Blockading with the Knight

Drill: Piece Coordination (Queen and Rooks)

Drill: Pushing Pawns to Activate Bishops

Chapter 7: Piece Play

We’ve gone over the main ideas regarding piece play, like trading off bad pieces for good pieces or how to coordinate them better.

The examples are from popular openings, played also in the drills to help you memorize them better.

Study: Model Game 1

Study: Model Game 2

Video 3

Study: Model Game 3

Video 4

Study: Model Game 4

Chapter 8: Model Games

This chapter covers some main ideas behind practical endgames which are taken from real games. You’ll learn to convert endgames and how to utilize piece coordination! 


Study: Practical Endgame 1

Study: Practical Endgame 2

Study: Practical Endgame 3

Study: Practical Endgame 4

Chapter 9: Endgames

The studies included examples of endgames from actual games. Each move was dissected in order to help you understand the process of converting the positions into wins! 

I hope you have learned more advanced endgame concepts. Pushing passed pawns and activating your pieces are the general norms that should help you conquer the endgame phase!