Opening courses
White repertoireBeginner to club (up to ~1600 OTB / ~2000 online)

Aggressive 1.e4

Sharp, practical 1.e4 lines where natural replies run into tactics.

An attacking 1.e4 repertoire for club players (roughly up to 1600 over the board or 2000 online). Every line is chosen for practical results: the opponent has to find precise moves early, and the natural replies run into tactics. Against best play you still reach a sound position, so you risk very little. Learn a chapter, then let spaced repetition keep it fresh.

AttackingGambitsTraps
chapters
6
lines
25
moves to know
194
Try the first line free

1. Italian: Two Knights with 4.Ng5

4 lines

Against 3...Nf6 we go straight for f7. Black has one good defence on move 4 and another only-move on move 5; most players miss one of them.

  1. Line 11.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Ke8 8.Bxd5 Qf6 9.Bxc6+ Qxc6 10.Qxc6+ bxc6 11.d3FreeLearn
  2. Line 2… 7.Qf3+ Ke6 8.Nc3 Nb4 9.O-O c6 10.d4 Nxc2 11.dxe5 Nxa1 12.Rd1 Nc2 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Rxd5Premium
  3. Line 3… 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Qf3 Bd7 9.Ba4 h6 10.Ne4 Nxe4 11.Qxe4 Bd6 12.b4 Nb7 13.Bxc6Premium
  4. Line 4… 8.Qf3 Bb7 9.Ba4 Be7 10.O-O O-O 11.d3 c5 12.Qf5Premium

2. Italian: 3...Bc5 4.c3, the Walbrodt-Baird Gambit (6.O-O)

4 lines

Our main weapon against 3...Bc5: c3 and d4, then castle and let Black grab pawns. Every natural reply walks into a trick.

  1. Line 11.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.O-O O-O 7.cxd4 Bb6 8.d5 Ne7 9.e5 Ne8 10.d6 cxd6 11.exd6 Ng6 12.Bg5 Nf6 13.Nc3 h6 14.Qd3 hxg5 15.Qxg6 Nh7 16.Nd5Premium
  2. Line 2… 6.O-O dxc3 7.e5 Ne4 8.Qd5 O-O 9.Qxe4 cxb2 10.Bxb2 d6 11.Bd3 g6 12.exd6 Bxd6 13.Bc4Premium
  3. Line 3… 7.e5 Ng4 8.Bxf7+ Kxf7 9.Qd5+ Ke8 10.Qxc5 Qe7 11.Qxc3 Rf8 12.Re1Premium
  4. Line 4… 6.O-O Nxe4 7.cxd4 d5 8.dxc5 dxc4 9.Qe2 Qd3 10.Re1 f5 11.Nc3 O-O 12.Nxe4 fxe4 13.Qxe4 Bf5 14.Qxd3Premium

3. Sicilian: the Morra Gambit

4 lines

One pawn for fast development and open files. The setup is always the same: Nc3, Nf3, Bc4, O-O, Qe2, Rd1.

  1. Line 11.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 d6 5.Bc4 Nf6 6.e5 dxe5 7.Bxf7+Premium
  2. Line 2… 4.Nxc3 e6 5.Nf3 a6 6.Bc4 b5 7.Bb3 Bb7 8.O-O b4 9.Nd5 exd5 10.Re1 dxe4 11.Ne5 d5 12.Ba4+ Ke7 13.Bg5+ f6 14.Qb3 fxg5 15.Rxe4 dxe4 16.Qf7+ Kd6 17.Rd1+ Kxe5 18.Rxd8Premium
  3. Line 3… 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Bc4 e6 7.O-O Nf6 8.Qe2 a6 9.Rd1 Qc7 10.Bf4 Be7 11.Rac1 O-O 12.Bb3 b5 13.Nd5 exd5 14.exd5Premium
  4. Line 4… 8.Qe2 Be7 9.Rd1 O-O 10.e5 Ne8 11.exd6 Nxd6 12.Bf4 Qc7 13.Bxd6 Bxd6 14.Nb5Premium

4. French: the 3.Bd3 system

5 lines

We defend e4 with the bishop and keep the knights flexible. French players lose their usual structures and the natural replies run into tactics.

  1. Line 11.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Bd3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Nf3 Qb6 8.Bc2 cxd4 9.cxd4 Bb4+ 10.Nc3 O-O 11.Bxh7+ Kxh7 12.Ng5+ Kg8 13.Qh5Premium
  2. Line 2… 3.Bd3 c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Nc3 Qxg2 6.Be4Premium
  3. Line 3… 5.Nc3 Qxd4 6.Nb5 Qd8 7.Bf4 Na6 8.Qe2 Nf6 9.O-O-O Nd5 10.Be4Premium
  4. Line 4… 3.Bd3 dxe4 4.Bxe4 Nf6 5.Bf3 c5 6.Ne2 Nc6 7.Be3 Qb6 8.Nbc3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Qxb2 10.Ndb5 Bb4 11.O-O Bxc3 12.Bxc6+Premium
  5. Line 5… 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 Qxd4 10.Bxd4 Be7 11.Nd2Premium

5. Scandinavian: chase the queen

4 lines

We gain time on Black's queen and answer every ...Bg4 pin with the same plan: h3, g4 and Ne5.

  1. Line 11.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Nxd5 4.c4 Nb6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.c5 Nd5 7.Qb3 Bxf3 8.Qxb7 Nd7 9.gxf3Premium
  2. Line 2… 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd8 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bh5 7.g4 Bg6 8.Ne5 e6 9.Bg2 c6 10.h4 h6 11.Nxg6 fxg6 12.Qd3Premium
  3. Line 3… 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.h3 Qh5 7.hxg4 Qxh1 8.Ne2 Ne4 9.Qd3Premium
  4. Line 4… 6.h3 Bh5 7.g4 Bg6 8.Ne5 Nbd7 9.Nc4 Qa6 10.Bf4 Qe6+ 11.Ne5Premium

6. Caro-Kann: the 3.Qf3 surprise

4 lines

A rare queen move that hits d5 and f7 at once. Solid on paper, full of traps in practice.

  1. Line 11.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Qf3 d4 4.Bc4 dxc3 5.Qxf7+ Kd7 6.dxc3 Kc7 7.Bf4+ Kb6 8.Rd1 Nd7 9.Be3+ Kc7 10.Nf3Premium
  2. Line 2… 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.e5 dxc3 6.exf6 cxd2+ 7.Bxd2 exf6 8.O-O-O Be7 9.Qg3 g6 10.Bh6 Qa5 11.Nf3Premium
  3. Line 3… 3.Qf3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Qe3 Ngf6 6.Nd6#Premium
  4. Line 4… 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Bc4 e6 6.Ne2 Nxe4 7.Qxe4 Nd7 8.d4 Nf6 9.Qf3 Be7 10.O-O O-O 11.Bf4Premium