The 2024 Create Your Own Course Contest Winner Is…
It took months of anticipation, careful judging, fierce competition… and now, we have the winners!
The 2024 Create Your Own Course Contest once again proves that:
Valuable, game-changing chess insight can come from any rating level or experience!
Our contestants delivered — from razor-sharp attacking lines, elastic defenses, to unique tactics training methods and more!
Here are the courses that captured the judges’ attention… courses that will soon equip you with powerful new lines and ideas for domination!
🥉 Pressure the Caro-Kann: Two Knights Attack for White by RussSouthern & presented by NM Solomon Ruddell
Nothing delights a Caro-Kann player more than an airtight endgame. One where they can eke out a win in the 6th hour of play.
Too bad they’re not getting there!
This repertoire by RussSouthern, and presented by National Master Solomon Ruddell, will have them tapping out in less than 10 moves…
Send their king to the canvas with an f7 ‘right hook’…
Or leave them with weak, doubled pawns as your pieces attack from all sides!
If you’re hunting for a Caro-counter that’s all but guaranteed to crush at sub-2000 — especially online — then keep your eyes peeled for this Two Knights repertoire.
🥈 The Practical Old Indian: A Complete Fighting Repertoire by NM Luke Calhoun
White has 1,001 ways to play after 1.d4.
From the Queen’s Gambit-style 2.c4, trying to smother you…
The Catalan-style g3 and Bg2 with lasting diagonal pressure…
To the predictable yet stubborn London System, and everything in between.
But none of these lines can trouble the Old Indian’s ‘coiled spring’ — brought to you by National Master Luke Calhoun.
Each MoveTrainer variation and video lesson is guided by an NBCT (National Board Certified Teacher). It’s the highest certification in the USA. So the entire course is designed for maximum absorption.
And now, for the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Here’s the…
🥇 1st Place Winner 🥇
Black is Back: Blumenfeld Gambit by aCupOfGreenTea & presented by IM Andras Toth
The 2024 Create Your Own Course Contest winner builds its strategy on the age-old adage: “He who controls the center, controls the game.”
Inside this course, aCupOfGreenTea breathes life into an invention by Alexander Alekhine.
First played 103 years ago, the Blumenfeld Gambit sacrifices the b-pawn, so you can build a mighty tripod of center pawns.
From here, you can turn up your pieces’ elastic energy… until they burst to the kingside.
You may also cement the center, so you can hammer weaknesses on the flanks.
Or if White tries to play solid, you simply take over every open file and diagonal — turning their extra pawn into a spectator.
When aCupOfGreenTea submitted his course, we had to pay attention.
From the attention to detail, the breadth and depth of the lines, to the selection of model games… it’s a Lifetime Repertoire on one of the most exciting and reliable gambits you’ll ever see.
And who better to walk you through this gambit than International Master Andras “Mr. Centaaah!” Toth.
The 2021 Chessable Author of the Year’s love for the center and tactical play isn’t a secret. So count on Toth to double-down on the most critical, center-seizing lines.
Congratulations To All The Winners!
…And a heartfelt thanks to every participant.
It’s through your passion for sharing knowledge that we’re able to hold the Create Your Own Course Contest year after year. So we hope you join us again for the 2025 edition!
