Your rating sets the difficulty
Below 1200 you get openings with fewer forcing lines. Sharper defenses and the reply to 1.d4 open up from 1200.
Answer five quick questions about your level and how you like to play. You get a starter repertoire: one opening for White, one reply to 1.e4, and a reply to 1.d4 once you are ready for it.
Below 1200 you get openings with fewer forcing lines. Sharper defenses and the reply to 1.d4 open up from 1200.
Solid answers point to structured openings, and sharp answers point to active, unbalanced ones. Your view on gambits decides between the sharpest options.
Learn one opening at a time. The slot where your games go wrong most often is marked so you know where to begin.
Each one is a Chessmate course with a free sample line you can study on the web.
Most beginners do best with an opening that follows the basic principles: control the center, develop the knights and bishops, and castle early. The Italian Game or the London System for White, and 1...e5 or the Scandinavian Defense for Black, are common starting points. This quiz chooses between them based on your style.
Three cover a complete starter repertoire: one opening with White, one reply to 1.e4, and one reply to 1.d4. Most players start with White and a reply to 1.e4, then add the rest once those feel comfortable.
Choose the London System if you want one setup you can repeat with little memorization. Choose the Italian Game if you want to learn open positions and classical attacking ideas. Both are sound choices at every level.
Sound gambits teach development and initiative, but they reward precise play and can backfire if you only know the trap. The quiz suggests a gambit only when you are rated 1200 or higher and say you enjoy them.
Yes. It runs in your browser, needs no account, and takes about a minute. You can bookmark or share your result with its link.
Play an opening line with coach notes, then replay it from memory for a score.
Open tool →Practice 32 opening traps for White and Black until you can play them from memory.
Open tool →Compare popular moves from Lichess and master games, or browse them as an opening tree.
Open tool →Search every named opening by name, ECO code, or moves, then step through its line.
Open tool →Replay a PGN on the board and identify its opening.
Open tool →Turn a chess game into a downloadable animated board.
Open tool →Time over-the-board games with presets, increment, delay, and time odds.
Open tool →Set up any position, check that it is legal, then copy its FEN or save an image.
Open tool →Learn every square name by finding or naming squares against a 30-second timer.
Open tool →Enter your game results to see your new FIDE, US Chess, or Elo rating.
Open tool →