The strategy academy
Pawns, weak squares, good pieces, useful exchanges and plans for both sides. Build understanding through explanation, contrast and practical experience.
24 core topics · Three different game examples per topic · Learn, recall, apply and revisit
1. Understand. Find the feature and connect it to a practical plan. Use a reading style that makes sense to you.
2. Compare. Study a different game. Ask why the same rule might need adapting, or why an apparent weakness is compensated.
3. Transfer. Explain a new example, calculate the resistance, and test the position against the computer.
Exeter Chess Club’s public strategy topics informed the coverage. The explanations, questions and game observations here are original GolgiChess material, not reproduced Exeter articles. “Three examples” describes this course design; it is not a claim to contain three times Exeter’s entire website.
16 lessons found · Loading progress…
Distinguish a hole on the map from a square that a piece can actually use.
Square, route, job.
Explore the idea →Measure what an advance enables and what it gives away.
Every step needs a job.
Explore the idea →Compare capture, advance and maintenance before committing.
Three pictures before one capture.
Explore the idea →Choose a lever by its resulting position, not its opening reputation.
Obstruction, support, collision, new map.
Explore the idea →Choose the accessible link, not automatically the rear pawn.
Find the link you can actually loosen.
Explore the idea →Use space, central stations and opened lines before they fade.
The pawn pays rent in activity.
Explore the idea →Distinguish an abreast pair, a supported chain and an isolated pawn.
Name the family again after the trade.
Explore the idea →Judge a rear pawn by its advance, exposure and defenders.
A target with an escape is a different target.
Explore the idea →Compare reduced flexibility with files, central control and bishop activity.
Damage and dividends.
Explore the idea →Use manoeuvring room while respecting the opponent's freeing breaks.
Room, routes, restraint.
Explore the idea →A small pawn group can damage a larger one—if the pieces can exploit the result.
Make a target, then bring a hunter.
Explore the idea →A bishop blocked by pawns may still defend essential squares or escape through a break.
What work does this bishop do?
Explore the idea →Optional further viewing from Chess Strategy and GM Talks. These external videos are credited and linked—not copied or loaded in the background. Channel listings were verified; the evidence label describes what was accessible, not a claim that a whole channel was watched.
GM Talks · Verified title
Official channel title and video link verified. Suggested viewing alongside the IQP lessons; the video and transcript were not accessible for content review.
Viewing task: pause at a decision, state the plan and a defensive reply, then compare the continuation.
GM Talks · Verified title
Official channel listing verified. Use as further viewing, not as the source of a claimed quotation or a verified video summary.
Viewing task: pause at a decision, state the plan and a defensive reply, then compare the continuation.
GM Talks · Verified title
Official title and channel verified. No transcript was retrieved; the GolgiChess planning exercises are independently written.
Viewing task: pause at a decision, state the plan and a defensive reply, then compare the continuation.
Chess Strategy · Verified title
Verified on @chessgms, the Chess Strategy channel. This is a topic-matched viewing reference, not a claim to have watched or reproduced its instruction.
Viewing task: pause at a decision, state the plan and a defensive reply, then compare the continuation.
Chess Strategy · Verified title
Official title and video ID verified. Watch for yourself and compare the pawn contacts with the GolgiChess examples; no video-specific lesson is asserted here.
Viewing task: pause at a decision, state the plan and a defensive reply, then compare the continuation.
Chess Strategy · Verified title
Verified official channel listing. The promotional title is the creator's title, not GolgiChess advice that any opening is universally best. Video content was not reviewed.
Viewing task: pause at a decision, state the plan and a defensive reply, then compare the continuation.
