This is a great course covering not only easy-to-remember and play opening systems for White and Black but also sharing Yelisieiev's thought process when playing games. The opening instruction is great, but the later is truly wonderful.

Hi. I'm a 64 year old patzer. I've never played in a competition or club. I knew the rules of chess but couldn't 'see' the board and was always getting beaten when playing my mates. This course has REALLY turned that around! The calculation strategy has helped enormously and I'm making substantially fewer blunders. I still get tripped up on a few of the more complex puzzles but have this is improving with practice. Using the techniques learned in the course against the Philidor section of Lichess' puzzle collection is enlightening. Cheers. Looking forward to signing up to the opening course in a few weeks.

I’ve finished The Opening Mastery Course and I can only say it’s well worth it. I’m currently 67 and have just retired. I played chess from the age of 15 to 20, and I haven’t played since. That’s a break of almost 50 years. Last October I joined a club and they immediately asked me if I’d be interested in playing for their team in official competitions. In this case, the Catalan League. Of course, over all these years my standard had dropped considerably and my knowledge of openings was minimal. By that time, I was already following Yevhenii’s opening videos on YouTube, and they gave me a lot of confidence because he doesn’t just teach simple tricks but aims to teach an understanding of the opening, and he also gives ideas on how to transition from the opening to the middlegame with a plan. That’s why I signed up for the Opening Mastery course. I’ve finished it and now I feel much more secure and confident. Obviously, you can’t complete the course in 10 days; you need quite a bit more time. But it’s well worth it. I’ve been able to put it to the test in real games with good results. It’s a very well-structured course and covers almost every possible variation. It’s absolutely comprehensive. You’ll love it!

I cannot say enough good things about how useful this 1000 Blueprint course has been. It cements the nearly foolproof opening for black and white with reinforcing practice sessions. I am so much more confident. Now just have to work on my end game which takes time & experience. I no longer worry about my rating or running out of time because I am building a reliable foundation. I can only say that anyone under 1000 rating will be amazed at how this helps.

Not sure how typical I am, but I'm 45 years old now and I struggled for years to get back into chess, although I really liked it when I was (a lot) younger. Chess is complex and it's really hard to make progress, when you are not great in memorizing things and so I failed year after year and lost motivation. This opening course (which I bought after Yevheniis free 30-day-course on youtube) was finally the turning point in 2025. From the 30-day-course I already knew how Yevhenii structures his lessons, so I was quite sure the new course would also fit my way of thinking. The big promise (and hope): to not have to memorize endless lines of moves. To be honest: of course it helps a lot if you are good in memorizing main and side lines. In the beginning I was so overwhelmed, that I couldn't handle all the input and my rating dropped drastically, because I got confused during my games, when I tried the new ideas. BUT there are reocurring principles throughout the course, which are pointed out every time, that I could focus on and which made life a lot easier. And of course you have time to learn at your own pace and adapted to your life situation (in the end it took me ~ 7 months). When I started focusing on the essential ideas and moves my rating went up from 1000 to now 1250 on Lichess. And the good thing: the more I played those openings and the more I trusted the ideas, the less I paniced, even when I made mistakes). Although I do not have all the lines in mind, I can play solid openings and then focus and analyze special situations when they happen. Normally I find solutions in one the videos or the pgn file (or you can just ask in the forum, if you miss something). Important to mention: You do not only learn an opening repertoire, you also get a plan how to proceed after the opening (something I often struggle with). AND the whole course is growing, in reaction to user feedback. I finished all the main videos, but there are tons of bonus videos, new practical puzzle tasks after each "day" to internalize the learnings (I will use them as reminders in the future), there was a live Q&A (which was recorded for those who couldn't participate) that motivated me a lot and just a few weeks ago we got a new quickstart path for under 1000 and 1000-1500, where the most important knowledge is compressed into ~ 1 hour, especially for those ratings. I rewatch those videos from time to time, just to keep the main ideas in mind. And I'm sure, there still more to come :-) All in all: I can absolutely recommend the 10-day Opening Mastery :-)

I can highly recommend this opening course! I started playing 9 months ago and bought this course only 4 1/2 months ago, when my Elo rating was around 850. Today - 4 1/2 months later my Elo is almost 1300! It's incredible! :) And most of this progress is due to this opening course! No Doubt! I love how lines are explained so you get the ideas behind. Very helpful! And the best part is that I don't even have to play the specifik lines in the videos, but you get the general ideas and that will for sure ''improve your chess'' :) High recommendations from here!

My rating is now 1616. It was around 1300 when I started the course. I believe that this course helped me refocus and was instrumental in getting me were I am now. I had stopped playing for about 35 years and this course not only taught me a lot but it forced me to train regularly. Very important as it has helped me develop a focused, directed and consistent training program. Thank you very much and as a consequence, I'm considering taking your 10 day opening course.

I am a 70 year old retired professor. I have played chess informally all my life, struggling with textbooks and even had some of the first chess computers. I never had a mentor and never got interested enough to study hard. And I found playing chess perhaps more stressful than enjoyable. Since then I have discovered your training on YouTube and now the 10 day opening course. It was exactly what I was looking for and is very well designed as a learning platform. Also very well designed course. I am enjoying it and seeing results in my informal play. Furthermore, I have finally developed a unique philosophy about playing chess: I don't play to win, I play to find the most beautiful move (similar to mathematics or computer programming) - for me or my opponent. There are many benefits but mostly no emotional rollercoaster (it does not matter much who wins apart from being a learning metric), just pure zen chess

Hello, I am a 65 y/o beginner of chess, been playing just over 1 year. My rating is 544 on Chess dot com. My biggest struggle was when playing black, my first few opening moves seemed ok but I lost the plot in the middle game hence losing the game. I saw the Philidor opening on Youtube for the 1st time i played by IM Yevhenii Yelisieiev, it was just what I was looking for. After watching his games where he is taking you through every move I needed to learn more. Playing the Philidor made me slow down as I knew my opening was going to lead me to a better middle game. Watching the training videos in the "1000 ELO Complete Blueprint" course helped me learn about my opponents moves something that I had never done previous to this training course ..

I am so glad that I took this course. Prior to taking this course, I felt something was missing in my chess game. I started playing over the board competitively this past June. I had won a couple of local quad tournaments. After the provisional rating period, my rating was 938. Then in games that followed, I started committing blunders in rated competitions and consequently my rating dropped to 775. My mindset was such that after the opening is completed, I felt lost as to what to do in the middlegame. Taking this course has increased my confidence and knowledge on how to handle the middle and end game. One of the many things I learned is the CCTA( Checks, Captures, Threats, Active moves) principle. I know that this principle will serve me well in my chess future. I am very excited to implement everything that I have learned. Also, I feel I am using my time wisely now and therefore not have the time pressure towards the end of the games. I felt this difference in the last games I played online, even before I finished the course. Three days ago, I participated in a Simultaneous exhibition or Simul with 17 others to play against a chess master. During that game, I felt confident in my moves. Usually, the master would spend less than 1 minute at each board to make his next move. But at one time, it took him more that 2 minutes to make his next move against me. At that moment (which was captured on video), I felt that my 1000 ELO Complete Blueprint education was starting to pay off already. I was 1 of 4 players who lasted the longest, even though at the end, all of us lost to the master. Had I not started taking this course, I would not have had the courage to participate. I believe this is just the beginning of the benefits of taking this course for me. This course gives me a strong foundation to play much better and consistently increase my rating. I am confidently looking forward to competing in 2 or 3 day competitions here in the NY/NJ area. I wouldn't be surprised if my rating jumps to over 1000 ELO in the next competition or two. I enjoyed and learned so much from this course that I highly recommend it.

I'm Jase a 56 year old chess beginner. I really clicked with the training design. I'd struggled previously failing to Memorise a multitude of openings This approach worked. I moved from 400 to 1200 ELO. More importantly I've learnt solid principles and enjoyed my games even when losing as thats learning too. I'd give this a full 10 out of 10

Hello! My name is Paul, and I last played chess about fifty years ago. Since then, I've only played around 50 online games on Lichess, where my rating hovers around 1200. I could remember how to move the pieces, but that was about it. I had no real understanding of openings, middle games, or end games. My strategy was simply to look ahead enough to avoid making obvious mistakes. However, the 30-day opening course has set me on a path to address these gaps, and I've noticed significant improvements in my chess skills. The course material is well-structured, progressive, and detailed, reinforcing and building on previous lessons, all at my own pace. The highlight for me has been discovering Lichess and chess puzzles, which have allowed me to see my chess skills gradually improve. I would highly recommend this course to anyone looking to enhance their chess game. It truly is a fantastic resource that must have required an immense amount of effort to create.

Excellent course, it must have been arduous work and dedication to develop this and I'm very appreciative. I am retired from both the military and Federal Service, my career in the military was cryptologist (code breaker and analyst) and a Certified Criminal Analyst in Federal Service. Ive always loved chess, but never new openings or tactics, I just played against the person in front of me :-). I finished the ELO 1000 Course in one day (maybe to fast) and started playing, the players don't always do some of the steps provided in the course, but it gave me a great foundation and I plan on taking the Openings course and expand my journey. Thank you Yevhenii for all the work in putting this together and you can be assured that we will meet in the future sitting across from each other over a chess board :-) Don't give us all your secrets, you will need them.

Im Gabriel, young chess player who took this course a year ago, my struggle was general, no real strentgh stuggling at about 1400 rapid on chesscom, the course helped me learn and understand profound chess, the best part is that you can see results months after, you skyrocket

Hi, I’m a physicist by profession and a lifelong chess enthusiast. My current rating is around 1600 on Lichess. Before taking this course, my biggest challenge was opening preparation. I’ve always preferred making my games tactical and creative rather than memorizing long theoretical lines, but that often left me unsure how to reach good positions without falling behind early on. The 10-Day Opening Mastery course helped me tremendously by providing a clear, practical repertoire built on understanding rather than memorization. IM Yevhenii Yelisieiev explains each position in a calm, structured way, making it easy to grasp the key ideas and typical plans. The best thing about the course is Yevhenii’s teaching style: approachable, insightful, and focused on helping you truly understand chess. It’s clear he put a lot of thought and effort into crafting the material. Overall, the course gave me confidence to enter the opening without fear of being out-prepared, and it made studying chess genuinely enjoyable again. Highly recommended!

I'm Diego Moritz from Brazil, FIDE 1904 standard, and my struggle before taking the course was not having a clear and organized way to think everything that really matters during a chess game. The 30-day Training Plan helped me to have a mind map, a well structure thinking process that really makes my life much easier from now on whenever it comes to look at a chess position and understand right at the spot how to procced and what should be done. The best thing about the course is the way it's structured, offering us the chance to be active in the full process, as well as the straigthforward approach that IM Y. Y. has to conduct the lectures and his special skills on recognizing and teaching what really makes the difference for whoever wants to reach the next level. I can barely define the happiness of this moment in time. I'll now manage to acquire the 10-day-oppening course as well as binge-watch all his youtube videos. Thank you a lot dear master, thank you!

Hello my name is Hasan Warren, I completed the 30-day training program. My ELO increased by 200 over the past month. When I started the program my ELO was around 550. Now my ELO is currently at 766. I learned how to play chess at 11 years old and was only taught the basics. I was able to reach an ELO of 785 on my own before plummeting to 550. This 30-day course was very beneficial to me because I never learned any of these concepts covered by the course when I was taught how to play chess. I noticed a significant difference in how I plan strategies, calculate, attack and defend. Thank you IM Yevhenii Yelisieiev.