Beating 1.e4 sidelines: free opening course

Key ideas

• Take the centre with pawns on e4 and d4. Most sidelines let you do it for free.
• Develop knights first, then bishops, and castle early. Simple moves are strong here.
• When Black's queen comes out early, gain time by hitting it with your pieces.
• When Black's bishop pins your knight from g4, ask it a question with the h-pawn.
• Against a bishop on g7, bring your bishop to h6 and trade off the guard of Black's king.

The 6 variations in the course

• Scandinavian: 2...Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5: 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. h3 Bh5 … — Black takes back with the queen, and White gains time by hitting it. When the bishop pins from g4, White chases it with the h-pawn and the g-pawn. The knight jumps to e5, and the bishop on g6 soon feels trapped.
• Scandinavian: 2...Nf6 3.d4: 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Nxd5 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Be2 e6 6. O-O Be7 … — Black takes back on d5 with the knight. White keeps a pawn on d4, develops calmly and castles. Then the c-pawn chases the knight away from d5, and White has a nice centre.
• Alekhine: Modern Variation 4.Nf3: 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Be2 e6 6. O-O Be7 … — Black invites White's pawns forward. White takes space with e5 and d4 but does not overpush. White develops calmly, castles, and later gains more space with the c-pawn.
• Pirc and Modern: Be3 and Qd2: 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 O-O 6. O-O-O c6 … — White builds a simple set-up with Nc3, Be3 and Qd2, then castles long. The bishop goes to h6 to trade off Black's best defender. Both sides attack, but White's attack comes fast.
• Owen and St George: 1...b6: 1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Bd3 e6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Qe2 d5 6. e5 Nfd7 … — Black puts the bishop on b7 to hit e4. White guards e4 with the bishop and the queen, then pushes the pawn to e5. The same calm plan works against the St George.
• Nimzowitsch: 1...Nc6 2.Nf3: 1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bg4 5. Be2 e5 6. d5 Ne7 … — White answers 1...Nc6 with a natural 2.Nf3. After 2...d6 3.d4, Black pins the knight from g4. When Black pushes the e-pawn, White gains space with d5 and wins the bishop pair.

Traps you will learn (2)

• Scandinavian: 9...h5? and the weak g6 — Black's bishop on g6 is chased by the h-pawn. If Black pushes the h-pawn too, White takes the bishop and wrecks Black's pawns. The queen then hits the weak g6 pawn.
• Nimzowitsch: the queen sacrifice 5.Nxe5 — After 3...Bg4 4.d5 Ne5 White can give the queen. A bishop check on b5 and the d-pawn then hit c6 and b7. If Black grabs the bishop with the queen, a knight fork on c7 wins a whole rook.

How the opening courses work

Each course teaches an opening in a few main variations. For every move you read why it is played, which other moves are good, and which tempting moves are mistakes and why. Each course also shows the traps of the opening: the ones you can set and the ones to avoid.

After a lesson you play the moves yourself in a drill. The lines you learn go into your review, which brings them back when you are about to forget them (spaced repetition). 30 line courses add many short lines per opening, a few new ones a day, and every named opening, more than 3,800 lines, has a lesson of its own.