Chess: Your First Moves
Like Duolingo, but for Chess: Your First Moves. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
Free during early access · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Chess: Your First Moves
- Pieces in the center control more squares than those on the edge
- Minor pieces need to get into the game before major pieces like the Queen
- Central control allows pieces to swing to either the kingside or queenside quickly
- Moving too many pawns leaves your pieces stuck on the back rank
- The four central squares (e4, e5, d4, d5) act as a crossroads for the whole board
- Early center control provides the space needed for pieces to move out
- Why controlling the center is strategically superior to the edges
- The ideal priority of moves in a standard opening
- Castling moves the King away from the open center files
- Time in the opening is measured in 'tempos' or turns
- Castling connects the Rooks or brings one Rook toward the center
- Every move should ideally bring a new piece into the action
- The King is protected behind a wall of three pawns after castling
- Moving the same piece twice lets the opponent get more pieces onto the board faster
- The benefits of castling early
- The consequence of moving the same piece twice in the opening
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Chess: Your First Moves the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
In the very first few moves, which of these should you prioritize bringing into the action?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
Where Chess: Your First Moves takes you
Stop guessing and start playing with purpose. Learn to control the board, win trades, and spot the tactical traps that catch every beginner.
- 1
Claiming the Board
- The Opening: Controlling the Center
- Piece Power and Smart Trading
- 2
Finding the Finish
- Tactical Patterns: Seeing the Trap
- Checkmate: Closing the Net
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Chess: Your First Moves is taught in the The Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Chess: Your First Moves today.
Download Tomo, search Chess: Your First Moves, and play your first lesson in under a minute.