Complete Chess Course (0-1200 ELO)

Name: Complete Chess Course (0-1200 ELO)
Rating: 4.5 (86 reviews)

0 to 1200 ELO - Everything you need to know for the beginning of your chess journey

Created byNikolaj Boesen

Last updated 3/2023

English

English [Auto],

What you'll learn

All the fundamentals of chess
The principles of both the opening, middle and end game
Applicable tactics and combinations
A structured approach to calculating and approaching a chess board

Course content

5 sections • 27 lectures • 2h 12m total length

Overview of Course0:53
Learn to see patterns in chess, master essential ideas, and spot checkmates through clear demonstrations that turn you into a better player.
How to use this course2:13
Learn how this course works, preview the rules of chess for beginners, and apply new strategies by playing games to reinforce every concept.
Rules8:52
Learn how to play chess, master how each piece moves, and understand checkmate, castling, pawn promotion, and the value of pieces for strategic play.
Rules

Three parts of a chess game3:13
Master the three parts of a chess game: the opening, middle game, and end game—through practical principles. Learn why moves work and apply them in your own games.
Opening Principles pt. 12:46
Explore what defines openings, including systems, theory, and gambits, and learn opening principles to make strong first moves in a chess game.
Opening Principles pt. 28:19
Learn four core opening principles in chess—control the center, activate your pieces, safeguard the king, and avoid moving a piece twice—through practical examples and guidelines.
How to learn and practice openings6:21
Learn practical opening principles and theory with two Chess.com tools to analyze openings, study master games, and avoid memorizing full lines.
Opening Principles
Middle Game Principles pt. 11:21
Master the middle game by applying principles that guide moves amid many active pieces and open options, moving beyond memorized openings to calculation and intuition.
Middle Game Principles pt. 29:09
Identify when your pieces are under attack and recognize capture opportunities. Activate rooks, spot the least active piece, and decide exchanges based on activity.
How to practice the middle game5:37
practice the middle game with chess.com solo chess and custom puzzles, focusing on hanging pieces, capture decisions, and counting to sharpen trade choices.
Middle Game Principles
End Game Principles pt. 11:36
Explore end game principles, learn to recognize checkmate patterns, and apply general guidelines for playing endgames with few pieces or pawns. Practice with endgame scenarios to sharpen pattern discovery.
End Game Principles pt. 26:01
Explore endgame principles by planning, visualizing checkmate patterns, and activating your king to pressure and defend, with practice of precise techniques in endgames with two rooks and a king.
How to practice end games5:56
Explore endgame principles with hands-on practice using puzzles and endgame scenarios, including rook mate patterns, king-and-rook endings, and custom puzzles to recognize patterns and build practical technique.
End Game Principles

Introduction to general principles of chess4:52
Discover general chess principles that apply across openings, middlegame, and endgame, focusing on why we do things, and how to apply them in real games.
Capture towards the center and pawn structures11:07
Learn to capture towards the center to maintain center control and build strong pawn structures, avoiding isolated, doubled, or weak pawns while using pawn chains to limit the opponent's play.
Open files and diagonals5:55
Open files and diagonals activate rooks, bishops, and queens by removing obstacles and controlling lines. Learn how to open and close lines to threaten, defend, and create dynamic play.
When and where to castle5:49
Balance king safety with initiative by deciding when to castle, choosing the side, and weighing center pressure and piece development over rushed castling.
Where to place your knights2:51
Discover how to establish knight outposts by creating space and placing knights on central squares to threaten the king, and compare with bishop play.
General Principles

Tactics and combinations1:06
Identify tactics and combinations in chess, from one-move ideas to multi-move sequences that can win material or mate. Practice these patterns to spot opportunities and improve your position.
Forks2:07
Explore forks in chess, where knights, bishops, or queens attack multiple pieces, often with a check; practice puzzles to recognize royal forks and doubled attacks.
Remove the defender3:39
Learn the remove the defender tactic, where overloads let you win material by removing the defender. Practice with puzzles to recognize and apply this common tactic in games.
Piece Sacrifices3:39
Learn how piece sacrifices—such as rook or bishop sacrifices—can yield checkmate, winning material, or a positional edge by removing defenders and enabling promotion.
Discoveries2:56
Explore tactics and combinations through discoveries, including discovered checks and discovered attacks, x-ray attacks, and bishop sacrifices that create checks and reveal attacks to win material.
Tactics and combinations
Puzzle Rush11:57
Master puzzle rush to practice tactics and combinations by solving timed puzzles with checks, captures, and attacks, sharpening endgame skills and overall game sense.

How to learn from your games6:20
Learn to analyze your games using engine feedback to identify losing moves and learn from mistakes, then apply principles to improve future play.
How to proceed from here7:26
Choose time controls to improve chess, starting with 10-minute rapid and progressing to longer formats, balance slow analysis with fast play, and study slightly better players using rating range.
Conclusion0:39
Express gratitude for enrolling in this complete chess course and starting your chess journey; leave a review to help more learners discover and benefit from the course.

Requirements

No skills are required. For total beginners, there is a dedicated seminar for learning the rules, while other's can skip this.

Description

Hi, my name is Nikolaj!

I'm an experienced chess instructor, and in this course I will be teaching you how to bring your chess skills up to a higher level efficiently and effectively.

Adam: "I'm amazed by the precision and simplicity with witch he delivers some of these quite complex ideas"

After having taught chess for several years for beginners and intermediates I've now put together this ultimate chess course with all the knowledge and abilities for you to improve your strategies, tactics and positional overview. Each of these lessons have been polished and hand picked through multiple past seminars, giving you the most direct and efficient teaching to support your learning curve as precise as possible. If you're tired of jumping from video to video on YouTube, always being too easy or too difficult, you'll find that this course can help you intelligently advance though each section with an intuitive and understandable continuation. Furthermore, this course has been reviewed and approved by numerous high level chess instructors, securing that the content is up to date and contains all the necessary fundamentals for improving your chess.

Lara: "Finally a course that doesn't take hours to explain something you can say in a few minutes. This was straight to the point - thank you!"

This course is targeted players with an ELO between 0-1200. For absolute beginners there is a comprehensive introduction to the rules of chess in the beginning of the course - a section that intermediate players are invited to skip. The majority of the course is designed for players who are familiar with the rules and have played a handful of games already. This mean that you do not need any past experience to enroll on this course but that you will benefit the most from this course if you have some experience already.

When you enroll on this course, you can expect:

All the fundamentals of chess covered
A highly skilled, experienced and passionate teacher
An efficient and 'cut to the bone' curriculum with all the fundamentals taught in an as clear and understandable way as possible
Quizzes and puzzles to create room for hands-on learning along the way
An applicable approach to instructing, continuously keeping the curriculum approachable and concrete instead of abstract and theoretical
Introduction to the principles and ideas of the opening game
A comprehensive understanding of the middle game both strategically and philosophically
A deep dive into the end game and how to efficiently improve your tactical awareness

Beyond learning the core building blocks of chess you will also get an introduction to chess applications and learn how to steepen your learning curve by analyzing your games more intelligently and how to identify and practice the skills you lack the most. This includes an introduction to some of the best learning tools online.

Click enroll on this course now and boost your chess level!

Who this course is for:

Beginner and intermediate players - 0-1200 ELO is the target group for the content of this course.

Complete Chess Course (0-1200 ELO)

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction3 lectures • 12min

Three parts of a chess game10 lectures • 50min

General Principles of Chess5 lectures • 31min

Tactics and Combinations6 lectures • 25min

How to learn from your games3 lectures • 14min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: