Chessable Roundup: May 23, 2025
Have you ever stopped to think about the word repertoire? Most people probably associate it with the field of arts—especially music and theater. For someone who is new to chess, it might be surprising to see that we use this word to refer to our opening preparation.
The word repertoire comes from the Latin reperire, which can be translated as "(re)find"/"gather"/"discover". For chess, it is indeed quite fitting to think of a repertoire as a mental list of knowledge we first need to gather and then be able to recall over the board.
The last two weeks at Chessable have been really focused on repertoires: we have published four new opening courses, three for Black and one for White. Maybe it's time for you to discover something new?
If you're happy with your current openings, there is another course that might interest you: our latest addition focuses on healthy opening habits that will be useful no matter which opening you play.
Find more details on our newest courses below:
The Fast and Furious Scotch Gambit
by IM Alan-Safar Ramoutar
This White repertoire is ideal for players who enjoy seizing the initiative early on and surprising the opponent with fresh and daring ideas. With this opening, you will hone your attacking instincts as you revive the spirit of the aggressive style of the 19th Century.
100 Repertoires: Semi-Slav
by FM Nate Solon
In just 100 lines, Nate Solon teaches you an orthodox opening sprinkled with some unorthodox continuations. You'll score with the element of surprise and through playing statistically top-performing lines, handpicked to sidestep heavy theory and push your opponent out of their comfort zone.
Lifetime Repertoires: Nimzo & Bogo-Indian Defense
by GM Eugene Perelshteyn
This course offers a complete repertoire, centered on controlling the dark squares, against everything except 1.e4. It stands out for examining typical pawn structures, helping you deeply understand the positions you'll regularly encounter.
Starting Out: Tarrasch
by NM Jeremy Kane & presented by GM Josh Friedel
In this compact repertoire you'll learn to master the Tarrasch Defense, an opening played by generations of World Chess Champions. With a beginner-friendly and yet rather aggressive approach, you'll aim at dominating the game early on. Your main plan: to overload White's center.
Healthy Opening Habits for Middlegame Success
by GM Danyyil Dvirnyy
Instead of memorizing moves, this course is aimed at improving your general strategy and pattern recognition in the opening. After studying it, you'll certainly have a deeper understanding of the opening principles.
This is your sign to focus on your openings now—or explore a new one!
And don’t forget: every course is backed by our 30-day money-back guarantee, even if it’s on sale. Try out that new opening and if you realize it's not for you within 30 days after purchase, you'll get your money back, without any questions asked.
What else is new?
On to some non-opening-related news: one of our most productive and popular authors, CM Can Kabadayi, has just released a long-awaited video update for his course My Opponent's Move: Identifying Threats, Mistakes and Misconceptions:
My Opponent's Move: Identifying Threats, Mistakes and Misconceptions
by CM Can Kabadayi
Learn to spot your opponent's threats and mistakes and build a mental checklist helping you to avoid costly oversights.
Now you'll also get personal guidance from author CM Can Kabadayi himself with over 5 hours of newly added video explanations.
We also have some new content on our blog, including a Coach's Corner article on Nate Solon, one of the authors listed above. See more below:
New on our blog:
Going Above and Beyond: Adhiban Baskaran
GM Adhiban Baskaran is one of the strongest grandmasters to create opening courses on offbeat approaches, for example his Lifetime Repertoire on 1.b3. Learn more about his chess philosophy, his recent course update and future plans.
With a background in professional poker and data science, Nate Solon has a unique approach not only to building a repertoire, but also to learning and studying chess. See his top chess tips in this article!
