How to Stop Losing in the First Ten Moves

A written masterclass with live boards. You make the moves yourself — about 25 minutes.

Position 1 of 4

White to move. Mate in one.

The position

Move seven. Full board. The mate is already there — find it.

One thing before you touch a piece: each board runs a clock — three minutes. Time is a resource in a real game, so the training respects it. Three minutes is more than it sounds.

To move: tap a piece, then tap the square. Or drag it.

Queen takes f7 — the first mate every beginner meets. You saw it in seconds.

I'm Ivan, International Master. Now watch how fast a normal game dies.

Here's what a player wrote under an opening tutorial:

What if my opponent knows to play chess You memorize an opening — your opponent leaves it on move two. You play “normal developing moves” — and somewhere between move five and move ten the game is just over, and you never saw the punch coming.

In the public puzzle database, mate-in-one on the f7 and f2 squares alone — the square you just used — appears in 12,459 puzzles, solved 5.5 million times. The first ten moves aren't a warm-up. They're where beginner games get decided.

You don't need to memorize a single opening. You need eight rules and one reflex. A world champion wrote most of them down in 1921 — watch what happens when a strong player breaks one.

A simultaneous exhibition, 1902. White is Emanuel Lasker — the reigning world champion, playing dozens of boards at once. Black is about to play the kind of move your hand loves.

Position 2 of 4

Black to move. That's you.

The position

No hints — pick the move your hand wants.

The board is turned around on purpose: you play Black here, so your pieces are at the bottom.

Your pawn lunged at his bishop — it felt active, it hit a piece, it looked free. Five moves later the world champion mated you. Not with a brilliancy: every move of the punishment was a check or a capture, the kind you already know how to see.

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Here's the rule that move broke, written by Capablanca in 1921: no little pawn moves in the opening — a pawn move earns its place only when it defends something or opens a piece's road. g5 did neither. It just opened yours.

You were told openings take years of memorizing.

Here's what they take: eight rules. Center pawn first. A piece before a second pawn. Knights before bishops. One move per piece until everyone's out. Castle by move ten. Keep the queen home early. No little pawn moves. And after castling — leave the wall in front of your king alone.

Most of these are Capablanca's, a century old, with his numbers: full development in eight moves, ten is your ceiling. Run them and you reach move ten with a normal game against anything — including things no tutorial ever showed you.

And one of them is about to win you a piece.

Move two. His queen jumps to h5 — the most common attack at your level: over eleven million games go through it.

Position 3 of 4

Move two: the queen comes out

The position

Don't panic, don't attack, don't copy him. Run rule six: his queen is out early — develop and make her pay rent.

That's one rule finding one move — and it's the whole method in miniature. The full punishment of the early queen — every retreat, every trap — is a page you'll get free the moment you sign up... and the deeper punishes live in the course bonuses.

Quick pause. Who's teaching you this?

I'm Ivan. International Master — the title above master, one step below grandmaster. I played professional chess for eight years.

Then I left the professional game and built businesses: service centers, a guesthouse, retail stores. They run today. Chess went back to being what it is for you — the thing I do in the evening because I love it.

That's why this course exists in evenings. I never ask you for more time than I give it myself: half an hour, most nights, four family vacations a year untouched. Ivan Kosov at the board Ivan Kosov — International Master · EntrepreneurDid chess build the businesses? I won't claim that — I'm the guy who says “chess teaches chess” louder than anyone. But one habit crossed over on its own: asking the questions before the move. Service centers, the guesthouse, the stores — every big decision still gets the same quiet minute: what does he want, what am I leaving undefended, which of my pieces is doing nothing. The questions travel light. Whether they show up at your desk is yours to test.

Twelve thousand puzzles. Five and a half million solves. That's just the f7/f2 mate — one square, one pattern, at your level. Add every other first-ten-moves disaster and it's over eleven million solved positions from the first ten moves alone.

Everybody drills these punishments — in puzzles, with labels. Games don't come with labels. Eight rules are how you survive without them.

One last board. Cologne, 1911. You're playing Black — against Alekhine. Yes, that Alekhine.

Position 4 of 4

Move ten, and it's your move.

The position

Move ten. Your knight is eyeing e5 — active, aggressive, it even sets a trap for his queen. Your other option is quiet: castle, like the rule says.

Tenner took the bait — grabbed the queen, even — and Alekhine's pieces walked his king to the middle of the board and mated it there.

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Every white move was a check or a capture. The rule would have kept him safe; greed felt safer.