Lessons

The mating patterns every player needs by heart — the back rank, and driving a lone king to the edge with a queen, a rook, or two rooks.

The recurring combinations that decide most games — forks, pins, skewers, discovered and double attacks, and the quiet moves that set them up.

The handful of king-and-pawn and rook endings that come up again and again — the opposition, key squares, the square of the pawn, and the Lucena and Philidor rook positions.

Five habits that hand you a healthy position out of any opening — take the centre, develop with purpose, get the king safe, and don't waste moves.