400 to 800: first real games

Who this is for: you know the rules and play a few games, but pieces still disappear by accident.

Goals

• Count material (pawn 1, knight 3, bishop 3, rook 5, queen 9) and trade when you are ahead.
• Deliver the basic checkmates: two rooks, king and queen, king and rook.
• See simple tactics: forks, pins, skewers, back-rank mate.
• Follow the opening rules: take the centre, develop knights and bishops, castle early.

Weekly plan (about 3 hours)

• Courses (4 lessons): Piece values and good trades, Opening principles, Basic checkmates, then Endgame 1, Middlegame 1, Mating patterns I and Forks, pins and skewers.
• Puzzles (20 a day): themes mate in 1, mate in 2, fork, pin, hanging piece, back rank. See Puzzles.
• Games (5 a week): 10-minute rapid, rated. Pick the Play card, then review two of them.
• Bots: beat the bots just under your rating, then the ones just above.
• One opening setup: a simple one for White (for example the London System) and a simple answer to 1.e4 and 1.d4. Add it with the opening lines trainer.

How to measure progress

• Your rapid rating passes 800 and loses its question mark.
• Your puzzle rating passes 900.
• Your review accuracy is about 65 percent or better.
• You can checkmate with king and rook against a bare king without help.

Common mistakes at this level

• Taking every free pawn and falling behind in development.
• Missing a one-move threat (a fork, a piece hanging) and blaming bad luck.
• Trading when you are behind in material.
• Pushing pawns in front of your own king.
• Resigning too early or playing on in a lost game without learning from it. Review both.

Tip: before every move do the blunder check: what did my opponent just do, what can they take, what can I take, is my move safe?

Previous: 0 to 400. Next: 800 to 1200.

Open in the app: https://chessgm.net/train/courses