Evaluate positions and build a plan.

86 The Four Questions of Evaluation Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

The four questions of evaluation — material, king safety, activity, pawn structure — combined into a single verdict

Learn to size up a quiet position with the four questions - material, king safety, piece activity, and pawn structure - and then play the move that improves the factor that matters most, instead of hunting for a forcing tactic that isn’t there.

taught after 74 · 80 · 85

87 Material & Imbalances Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

Material imbalances: judging positions where the two sides hold different pieces of similar value, and who the imbalance favours.

Assess non-equal material imbalances — the exchange (rook vs a minor), two minor pieces against a rook, three minors against a queen, and the bishop pair — and say which side each imbalance favours.

taught after 42 · 86

88 Active vs Passive Pieces Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

Piece activity as an evaluation factor

Judge whether each of your pieces is active or passive, then find the one that is doing the least and improve it with a quiet move.

taught after 86 · 87

89 King Safety in Evaluation Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

King safety as an evaluation factor

Learn to ask THE KING QUESTION after counting material and judging activity: whose king is safer?

taught after 86 · 87 · 88

90 Who Is Better? Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

Full evaluation: a two-factor verdict followed by a quiet press

Learn to give a position one full verdict and then act on it: run all four factors — material, king safety, activity, pawn structure — say who is better, and name at least TWO factors that prove it.

taught after 86 · 87 · 88 · 89

91 Evaluate Then Play (Guided Practice) Guided practice 60 min · 6 positions

A quick four-question scan (material, king safety, activity, pawn structure) tells you who is better and which factor is decisive — and the decisive factor points straight to the move.

Practise THE PLAN by pausing at a critical moment, running the four-question evaluation scan.

taught after 86 · 87 · 88 · 89 · 90

92 Unit Review: Evaluation Review 55 min · 8 positions

THE PLAN in evaluation: a quick four-question scan (material, king safety, activity, pawn structure) tells you who is better and which factor is decisive — and the decisive factor points straight to the move. In this Unit-1 review the positions are deliberately interleaved so that no two consecutive puzzles turn on the same factor: students must re-run the scan on every board and ask “who is better here, and why?” instead of repeating the previous answer.

Demonstrate fluency with the four evaluation questions — material, king safety, activity, and pawn structure — by applying THE PLAN to a mixed set of positions drawn from S086/S088/S089/S090.

taught after 86 · 87 · 88 · 89 · 90 · 91

93 Isolated Pawns Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

The dual nature of the isolated central pawn

Understand the dual nature of the isolated central pawn - why it gives its owner energy and why it becomes a permanent target - and PRACTISE the technique against it: blockade the square in front.

taught after 86 · 88 · 89 · 90 · 92

94 Doubled Pawns Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

The dual nature of doubled pawns

Recognise doubled pawns - two same-colour pawns on one file that can never defend each other - and play AGAINST them: blockade the square in front of the front pawn so it can never move.

taught after 86 · 88 · 89 · 90 · 92 · 93

95 Backward Pawns & Holes Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

Backward pawns and the holes in front of them

Identify backward pawns and the holes/weak squares they create, and play both AGAINST them (occupy the hole, attack down the half-open file, win the fixed pawn) and WITH them (stay active and look for a freeing break).

taught after 88 · 89 · 90 · 92 · 93 · 94

96 Passed Pawns & Protected Passers Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

Passed pawns and protected passed pawns — what they are, why a protected passer is the strongest pawn on the board because the enemy king is chained to it, and the two ways to create one.

Students will recognise a passed pawn.

taught after 86 · 88 · 90 · 92 · 93 · 94 · 95

97 Pawn Chains & Breaks Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

Pawn chains and the breaks that challenge them

Identify the base of a pawn chain — the back pawn no enemy pawn can defend — choose the pawn break that attacks it from a square your own pawns guard, and say what the exchange leaves behind in the structure.

taught after 86 · 90 · 92 · 93 · 94 · 95 · 96

98 Structure-Based Plans (Guided Practice) Guided practice 60 min · 6 positions

A pawn-structure feature on the board tells you the plan, and naming the feature first makes the right move easy to find.

Practise THE PLAN by reading the pawn structure, naming the feature, choosing the plan it suggests, and playing the structural move in guided game-like positions drawn from the four Unit-2 features: isolated pawns, doubled pawns, backward pawns & holes, and pawn chains & breaks.

taught after 93 · 94 · 95 · 97

99 Unit Review: Pawn Structure Review 55 min · 8 positions

THE PLAN in pawn-structure play: the structure on the board tells you the plan. An isolated or backward pawn is a fixed target — blockade the square in front of it, then attack it; doubled pawns are a weakness to blockade AND a half-open file for the other side to seize; a passed pawn wants to be guarded by another pawn, because a protected passer needs no piece to babysit it; a pawn chain is broken at its base. In this Unit-2 review the positions are interleaved so that no two consecutive puzzles share the same feature, and almost every answer is a QUIET move — students must re-read every board and ask “what is the structure here, and what plan does it demand?” instead of hunting for a tactic or repeating the previous answer.

Demonstrate fluency across the five Unit-2 pawn-structure features.

taught after 93 · 94 · 95 · 96 · 97 · 98

100 Rooks on Open Files Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

Placing rooks on open and half-open files

Identify open and half-open files and place rooks on them with purpose, using a rook’s long-range power on an open file to win material or deliver mate.

taught after 88 · 97 · 99

101 Rooks on the 7th Rank Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

The power of a rook (or pair) on the 7th rank

Understand why the 7th rank is a rook’s most powerful outpost, and use a rook (or a pair of doubled rooks) on the 7th to win material or deliver mate.

taught after 100 · 88 · 97

102 Knight Outposts Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

Establishing knights on protected, unattackable outpost squares

Recognise a knight outpost — an advanced square protected by your pawn and safe from any enemy pawn — and place a knight on it to dominate, winning material or delivering mate.

taught after 88 · 100 · 101

103 Good Bishop vs Bad Bishop Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

Bishop quality relative to one’s own pawn chains

Tell a good bishop from a bad one by checking which colour your OWN pawns stand on, and improve a bad bishop in one quiet move by rerouting it onto a diagonal your pawns do not block.

taught after 88 · 100 · 101 · 102

104 The Bishop Pair Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

The bishop pair as an activity weapon in open play

Understand why two bishops outgun a bishop and a knight in open positions, and learn the quiet, no-capture habit of swinging each bishop onto a long open diagonal so BOTH bishops work together.

taught after 88 · 100 · 102 · 103

105 Improve Your Worst Piece (Guided Practice) Guided practice 60 min · 6 positions

THE PLAN: in any position, scan all your pieces, find the worst-placed one, and make the move that gives it the best job right now.

In this guided practice session, students synthesize everything they have learned in Unit 3 by applying THE PLAN: scan all your pieces, identify the one doing the least work, and give it a better job.

taught after 100 · 101 · 102 · 103 · 104

106 Unit Review: Piece Placement Review 55 min · 8 positions

THE PLAN in piece placement: every piece has a dream square, and the position tells you which piece to improve and where. In this Unit-3 review the positions are deliberately interleaved so that no two consecutive puzzles turn on the same placement tool: students must ask “which piece wants a better square here, and where?” on every board — a rook craving an open file or the 7th rank, a knight hunting an outpost, a good bishop wanting an open diagonal, or the bishop pair looking to rake the board — instead of repeating the previous answer.

Demonstrate fluency with the piece-placement toolkit — rooks on open files, rooks on the 7th rank, knight outposts, the good bishop, and the bishop pair — by applying THE PLAN to a mixed set of positions drawn from S100/S101/S102/S103/S104.

taught after 100 · 101 · 102 · 103 · 104 · 105

108 What Is a Plan? Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

What a plan is — naming the enemy’s weakest target, choosing a method to attack it, and playing the purposeful move that carries the method out

Students learn that a plan is a target plus a method plus the move that carries it out; given a position, they name the weakest enemy point, choose how to attack it, and play the purposeful move.

taught after 102 · 103 · 104 · 106 · 107

109 Improving Your Worst Piece Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

Systematically improving your least active piece

Use the SPOT → FIND → PLAY habit to identify the least active piece, choose its best square, and play the move that upgrades it — then turn that improved piece into a decisive tactic or a won endgame.

taught after 102 · 103 · 104 · 105 · 108

110 Prophylaxis — Stop Their Idea Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

Prophylaxis (from the Greek for ’to guard beforehand’) is the habit of asking ’What does my opponent want to do?’ before deciding your own move. Strong players do not chase their own ideas in a vacuum — they constantly read the other side’s intentions and play moves that neutralise those intentions, ideally before the threat is even fully formed. Prophylaxis is not passive defence; it is efficient play. A single well-timed preventive move costs almost no time yet eliminates an entire plan of counterplay, freeing you to pursue your own goals without interruption. There are three tools of prevention, and the position tells you which to reach for: (1) REMOVE THE ATTACKER — capture or drive away the piece that creates the threat, killing it at the source; (2) REPOSITION or OVER-GUARD — move the threatened piece out of reach, or add a defender / cover the key square so the threat no longer bites; and (3) the IN-BETWEEN counter — when your own resources are faster, answer a threat with an even bigger threat instead of meekly defending. In every position today the opponent has just made a threatening move, and your job is to find the one reply that stops their idea cold — a reply that, checked by the engine, is also the objectively best move on the board.

Before choosing a move, identify the opponent’s threat or plan, and play the prophylactic move that prevents it — removing the attacker, repositioning the target, or answering with a stronger in-between blow — proven to be the position’s clear best move.

taught after 102 · 105 · 108 · 109

111 Creating & Using Weaknesses Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

Creating and using weaknesses — spotting an enemy target that cannot defend itself and pressing it, switching to a second when the first is held

Students identify a concrete enemy weakness — a loose, trapped, or pinned piece, a weak rank, or an exposed king — and play the move that exploits it, understanding that when one target is held they must create or switch to a second.

taught after 102 · 105 · 108 · 110

112 Converting a Material Advantage Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

One of the most important — and most often neglected — skills in chess is knowing what to do once you are already winning. The answer, taught by the great champions since Jose Raul Capablanca in the early twentieth century, is deceptively simple: when you are ahead in material, trade pieces and simplify. Every even exchange of pieces removes one of the opponent’s resources. Their bishops, knights, and rooks are the tools they need to create counterplay, complicate the position, and confuse you. Each time you swap one off the board, their chances shrink and your extra material becomes relatively more powerful — because there are fewer pieces left to fight your advantage. Crucially, you must trade pieces but keep your pawns: pawns are your endgame currency. In a simplified position, an extra pawn marches down the board and queens; an extra piece with nothing to do in a crowded position can feel invisible. When the opponent’s king is stuck in the centre on top of everything else, the resulting endgame after simplification is almost always an easy technical win — the king becomes a liability rather than an asset. This is called conversion technique, and it is a mark of the truly strategic player.

Students will learn to convert a material advantage: trade pieces (not pawns) to simplify into a clearly won ending, then use king activity, the opposition, passed pawns and breakthroughs to promote and finish the game.

taught after 102 · 105 · 108 · 110

113 Plan & Play (Guided Practice) Guided practice 60 min · 6 positions

THE PLAN is the master skill that ties every other strategic tool together. A strong player does not drift from move to move hoping something good happens; they pause, survey the whole board, and choose a specific goal. But choosing a goal is only step one — the real discipline is stating it in a single, honest sentence before touching a piece, then following through on it even when the opponent makes it inconvenient. In this session, THE PLAN functions as an umbrella: underneath it live all four tools students have studied in Unit 4. At any given moment the position will call for one (or sometimes two) of those tools, and the planner’s job is to read the position correctly — Is my worst piece a rook stuck on a closed file? Then improve it. Is my opponent about to activate a dangerous piece? Then stop it first. Am I holding one weakness but the opponent is defending it easily? Then open a second front. Am I up material with the queens off? Then trade pieces and march pawns. Stating the plan aloud — to a partner, a coach, or even to themselves — builds the metacognitive habit that separates strategic players from reactive ones. Adjusting the plan is not a failure; it is proof that the student is reading the new position honestly rather than clinging to a plan the board has already refuted.

Students synthesize all four Unit 4 planning tools — improving the worst piece, prophylaxis, the principle of two weaknesses, and converting a material advantage — by practicing THE PLAN thinking routine in a live guided game.

taught after 108 · 109 · 110 · 111 · 112

114 Unit Review: Planning Review 55 min · 8 positions

THE PLAN in the middlegame and the endgame: the position on the board tells you which planning tool to reach for. Your own passive piece is a candidate to ACTIVATE onto its best square; a hole or a straggler is a TARGET to name and occupy; the opponent’s idea is something to PREVENT before you push your own; a weakness that cannot be defended by a pawn is one half of the two-weakness plan; and a position you are already winning asks for CONVERSION technique instead of a fresh attack. In this Unit-4 review the positions are deliberately interleaved so that no two consecutive puzzles share the same tool — students must re-read every board and ask “what does THIS position need?” instead of repeating the previous answer. The middlegame boards are White to move and the conversion boards are Black to move, so colour changes with every puzzle too.

Demonstrate fluency across the five Unit-4 planning tools.

taught after 108 · 109 · 110 · 111 · 112

115 Three-Move Combinations Teaching 60 min · 8 positions Teach it free

forced three-move combination

Students will calculate and execute forced three-move combinations by mapping every check and forced reply in the full line to mate before committing to move one.

taught after 112 · 113 · 114

116 The Greek Gift Sacrifice Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

the Greek Gift sacrifice (Bxh7+)

Students will recognise the conditions for a sound Greek Gift sacrifice (Bxh7+) and execute the forcing three-move attack — Bxh7+, Ng5+, Qh5 — against the castled king with calculation and confidence.

taught after 113 · 114 · 115

117 Sacrificing for an Attack Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

sacrificing material for a decisive attack

Students will judge whether an attacking sacrifice is justified by calculating a forcing line all the way to a concrete win, and will execute several types of attacking sacrifice with confidence.

taught after 114 · 115 · 116

118 Defensive Tactics & Stalemate Tricks Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

The saving capture (liquidation into insufficient material): capturing the opponent’s last dangerous piece so that neither side has enough material to force checkmate, turning a lost game into an immediate draw.

Students will identify and execute the saving capture — eliminating the opponent’s last winning piece to reach a drawn insufficient-material ending — as a concrete defensive resource when facing a lost position.

taught after 115 · 116 · 117

119 Perpetual Check & Fortress Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

Forced perpetual check: a returning loop of two consecutive checks where each forces the king’s only legal reply, returning the position to its start; doubling the loop produces threefold repetition and an automatic draw.

Students will identify and execute forced perpetual check — a returning loop of checks where every attacker reply is the only legal move, producing threefold repetition — to save a lost position, and understand the fortress as an alternative structural draw.

taught after 115 · 116 · 117 · 118

120 A Brilliant Attack (Model Game) Model game 65 min · 8 positions

The Immortal Game is the most famous attacking game ever played. In 1851, during a break in a London tournament, Adolf Anderssen (White) beat Lionel Kieseritzky in a friendly game so dazzling that it was nicknamed ’immortal’. Anderssen opened with the King’s Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4), offering a pawn to rip open the centre and aim at Black’s king. Black grabbed the pawn and then went hunting with the queen (3…Qh4+), winning a little material but developing almost nothing. While Black chased pawns and shuffled the same queen and knight around, Anderssen poured pieces into the game and built a battery on the g-file. When everything was aimed at the enemy king, the fireworks began. Anderssen did not count material — he counted DEFENDERS. He let a bishop go, then played 18.Bd6!!, a quiet-looking move that offers BOTH rooks just to block the black bishop’s retreat and choke the king’s escape squares. Black took both rooks and even checked with the queen, but it did not matter: 21.Nxg7+ dragged the king out, and 22.Qf6+!! gave up the queen to decoy the last defender, so that 23.Be7# was checkmate — delivered by three minor pieces while Black had a queen, a rook, and a bishop sitting uselessly on the other side of the board. The lesson is the biggest idea in attacking chess: material does not defend a king — pieces do. If you are far ahead in development and every piece is aimed at the enemy king, look for the forcing move that removes the last defender, and be willing to give up material to land it.

Replay Anderssen’s ’Immortal Game’ and explain how a huge lead in development lets White give up a bishop, both rooks, and finally the queen.

taught after 115 · 116 · 117 · 118 · 119

121 Unit Review: Advanced Tactics & Sacrifice Review 55 min · 8 positions

Win-or-Save recognition: the first diagnostic question in any mixed position is ’Am I attacking for mate or defending for a draw?’ — this master switch routes you to the correct Unit 5 toolkit without wasted effort.

Students will demonstrate fluency across all five Unit 5 skills by first classifying each mixed position as a WIN.

taught after 115 · 116 · 117 · 118 · 119

122 The Lucena Position Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

Winning the Lucena position by ’building a bridge’ — putting the rook on the fourth rank so it can interpose against the defender’s side checks, freeing the king to shepherd the pawn to promotion

Students learn to win the Lucena position.

taught after 71 · 72 · 73 · 74 · 75

123 The Philidor Position Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

Drawing the Philidor position by the third-rank defense — keeping the king in front of the pawn and the rook on the third rank in front of it, then switching to long-range checks from behind once the pawn reaches the sixth rank

Students learn to draw the Philidor position.

taught after 71 · 72 · 73 · 122

124 Rook Activity Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

Activating the rook in a rook endgame — the Tarrasch rule (rook behind the passed pawn) and cutting the enemy king off — so a passed pawn, escorted by the king, promotes safely

Students learn to activate the rook in a rook endgame using the two golden techniques: place the rook BEHIND a passed pawn (the Tarrasch rule) so it supports the pawn’s advance, and use the rook to CUT the enemy king off from the pawn.

taught after 71 · 72 · 73 · 74 · 75

125 Build Your Opening Repertoire Teaching 60 min · 8 positions

An opening repertoire is the set of openings you play regularly — your personal toolkit. A good repertoire is built on IDEAS, not memorized move sequences. Every opening has a core purpose, and once you know it, you can find good moves even in positions you have never seen. The four building-block ideas are: (1) CENTER BREAK — strike the center with a pawn to d4, d5, e4, or e5, claiming space and opening lines; (2) FLANK CHALLENGE — push a pawn to c4, c5, f4, or f5 to attack the enemy’s center from the side, undermining their d- or e-pawn; (3) DEVELOPING PRESSURE — bring a knight or bishop off the back rank to a square that attacks an enemy piece, putting the opponent under immediate tactical stress; (4) CENTER SUPPORT — advance a pawn so it defends a friendly pawn already in the center zone, keeping your central pawn structure solid. When you choose an opening, ask: ’What is this opening TRYING TO DO?’ If the answer is clear — ’the Italian breaks with d4’, ’the Colle supports d4 with c3’, ’the Sicilian challenges with c5’ — then you have a plan for every move, even when the game leaves the book line. A repertoire built on ideas survives deviations; a repertoire built on memorization collapses the moment the opponent plays something different.

Choose a White opening and Black answers based on their core ideas — center breaks, flank challenges, developing pressure, and center support — so every move in the opening has a clear purpose.

taught after 78 · 79 · 80 · 81

126 Play Your Repertoire (Guided Practice) Guided practice 60 min · 6 positions

Practice transforms knowledge into habit. In S125, you learned the four building-block ideas behind every opening plan — center break, flank challenge, developing pressure, and center support. In this practice session, you revisit each idea on the same openings so that recognition becomes automatic. The goal is not to learn something new; it is to make what you already know faster, more confident, and more reliable under game conditions. Spaced repetition — revisiting an idea after a short gap — is one of the most powerful learning techniques in cognitive science. Each time you encounter the same idea in the same opening, the neural pathway gets stronger and retrieval gets quicker. By the end of this session, naming the core idea of the Italian, Caro-Kann, Colle, Pirc, London, and QGD should feel like naming the color of a piece — instant and effortless.

Practice naming and executing the four building-block opening ideas — center break, flank challenge, developing pressure, and center support — across familiar opening positions until recognition feels automatic and confident.

taught after 122 · 123 · 124 · 125

127 Unit Review: Rook Endgames & Repertoire Review 55 min · 8 positions

THE PLAN in the rook endgame: the position tells you which technique to reach for. An enemy king on the queening file is a target to CUT OFF with a check; your own passed pawn wants the ROOK BEHIND it; a king stuck in front of its pawn must MARCH out to the shelter side; incoming checks are stopped by BUILDING THE BRIDGE; a pawn on the last rank is there to PROMOTE; and a lone enemy king on the edge is finished with the KING-AND-ROOK MATE. In this Unit-6 review the positions are interleaved so no two consecutive puzzles share the same technique — students must re-read every board and ask “which step of the rook-endgame method does THIS position need?” instead of repeating the previous answer.

Demonstrate fluency across the unit’s rook-endgame techniques.

taught after 71 · 72 · 73 · 74 · 75 · 122

128 Stage 3 Comprehensive Review Review 60 min · 8 positions

THE PLAN across the whole Bishop Stage: EVALUATE the position, NAME the Stage-3 idea it turns on, STATE the plan, then PLAY the move. In this comprehensive review the positions are deliberately interleaved so that no two consecutive puzzles share a theme: students must ask “what does THIS position turn on — an evaluation factor, a structural weakness, a piece-placement tool, a plan, or an endgame technique?” on every board instead of repeating the previous answer.

Demonstrate fluency across the ENTIRE Bishop Stage by applying THE PLAN to a mixed set of positions drawn from every unit.

taught after 86 · 89 · 94 · 95 · 100 · 102 · 108 · 122 · 123 · 124 · 127