You're Winning. Now Actually Win It.

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

Position 1 of 4

Black to move. Mate in one.

The position

Four pieces on the board. Find it — this one takes seconds.

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.

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

Rook to the last rank, king walks nowhere. You've done this a hundred times.

I'm Ivan, International Master. Now let me show you where wins go to die.

You reach a winning position — a piece up, a pawn about to queen, his king cornered.

And then something happens. The advantage leaks away, move by move, and the handshake feels like a robbery.

Here's the number nobody tells beginners. In the public puzzle database, more than half of all puzzles at your level — 55 percent — are endgames. Endgame positions have been solved over 170 million times. The part of chess you were told to study “later” is where most of your games get decided.

You don't lose won games because you're careless. You lose them because the winning habit — grab material, give checks — stops working exactly when the board gets empty. Watch it happen to your own hand.

Position 2 of 4

Black to move. That's you — a pawn up in a rook endgame, the kind you reach every night.

The position

I'm not telling you whether there's a win here. Nobody will in a game. Play the move your hand wants.

Be honest: the pawn on b3 was hanging, and your hand took it with the pawn — the cheap way. Almost everyone does.

Now your a-pawn is gone, his rook holds the b-file, and the tables call it a dead draw — nothing you do from here wins. You were winning one move ago.

↻

The rook takes the same pawn with check — White's king must answer, your a-pawn stays alive, and the rook lands behind it. Same capture, different piece, opposite result.

In the middlegame, a wrong capture costs you a pawn. In the endgame, it costs you the whole win. That's the difference nobody trained you for.

Here's what changes at the end of the game, and it changes everything.

Your king stops being furniture. All game you hid him. Now he's a fighting piece — Capablanca wrote it a century ago: the king, a purely defensive piece through the game, becomes an offensive piece in the endgame.

And counting beats grabbing. Before you touch anything in an ending, run one check: count the race. My pawn queens in how many moves? His — in how many? Whose king arrives first? Capablanca again, 1921: the first thing is to find out, by counting, whether the opposing king can be in time — acquire the habit of counting.

Count first. Then touch. That's the whole tool — and you're about to watch it win a race.

Position 3 of 4

White to move. That's you.

The position

Two pawns racing to become queens — yours on b6, his on f3.

Don't grab, don't chase. Count: your pawn becomes a queen in two moves. His — in two as well. A tie? Count one move deeper — what happens the moment your pawn lands on b8?

You counted the race and saw one move further: the queen is born with check — his king must answer, his pawn never moves again. That's what “count first” buys: not caution. Speed.

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.

Remember the number from the start — more than half of your puzzles are endgames, solved 170 million times. Everybody drills these positions.

And still the wins leak. Because a puzzle whispers “there's a mate here”, and a real ending whispers nothing — it just sits there looking equal. Capablanca said that too: to a beginner the position probably looks absolutely even — whoever has the move, wins.

Seeing the win when nobody says it's there — that's the skill. You just used it twice.

One last board. A real online game, rated near 900 — players your level fail it about half the time, even knowing it's a puzzle.

Position 4 of 4

Black to move.

The position

A knight is left unprotected — free to take, and your hand already knows what it wants. Count instead: what each capture leaves on the board, and look at where his king is standing.

Found the mate? Look what just happened: the free knight was the trap, and the quiet rook slide was the win. Twenty minutes ago your hand takes that knight every time.