Benner’s The Principled & Practical 1.e4 (for club players) won Chessable’s 2025 Community Course of the Year! His repertoire solves one of the biggest headaches for club players — how to play principled chess and press for an edge without drowning in opening theory.
His secret? A “dual-lens” approach in selecting lines.
One lens uses online speed chess databases to find moves that are easy to handle under time pressure.
The other lens checks those same lines against master-level play, ensuring they hold up versus tougher resistance.
This way, you get a repertoire that’s effective right now… and scales in strength as you climb.
One reviewer called it “the best, clear cut course I own.”
Another said, “This is how an opening course should look like.” And a third simply called it an “Outstanding course!”
Going forward, Chessable’s Create Your Own Course Contest and Community Course of the Year are being combined into one award.
This way, authors have the entire year to get their courses into top shape… while the Chessable community gets plenty of time to test them, enjoy them, and see which ones truly stand out.
And to celebrate this year’s winner and our entire roster of indie authors…
From March 11 to March 15, you can grab not just Benner’s 1.e4 repertoire, but all of our community courses at up to 40% off.
Every course comes covered with our 30-day “love it or return it” guarantee. So you have nothing to risk.
Now, with 300+ on offer, where do you even start?
You can grab the one that looks coolest. Or better yet, you can start with the area of chess, where you need the most help right now.
Feeling overwhelmed game after game? Not sure what to even keep track of?
Breaking 1000 simplifies winning chess into just 4 core ideas. Better yet, they’ve already been tested by author Solveig Friberg, who used them to gain 313 rating points in roughly a year!
Does your chess study feel scattered?
If your rating gains never seem to stick, that’s often why.
Chess Destiny: Lessons from an Adult Improver and His Coach helps you build a focused approach you can sustain.
Omar K. Mills and National Master Robert Ramirez drew the best lessons from their 16-week coaching journey. The result? A conversational guide to better training methods… ones that not only improve your game but make you want to study!
Now, some slightly more advanced chess rules of thumb are worth learning early, because they keep paying off for life.
Things like developing in the right order, improving your worst-placed piece, analyzing all captures, and keeping your attacking pieces close to the enemy king…
The sooner these rules of thumb become second nature, the more they’ll pay you back over time.
That’s why 50 Essential Chess Concepts is such a smart starting point. It gives you a clear improvement blueprint… the same one which drove author Kamryn Hellman’s rapid rise to 2000!
Now at some point, we all run into the question:
“What do I do in the opening?”
For White, 5-star author Benner has your back with his award-winning 1.e4 repertoire. For Black, he brings you Play Black and Attack. It’s a compact answer to 1.d4, 1.c4, and 1.Nf3.
They’re tight and compact… built around the moves you will face in the club and online.
They keep your early moves consistent, while leading to practical, tactical positions. If you already train your tactics, their lines are a match made in heaven!
Bottom line:
You don’t need to overhaul your chess life.
One step in the right direction… One good guide on your biggest area of improvement can clear the fog. It can energize your training and ultimately help you win more.
Pick that one course today. Save up to 40% off. And make your next stretch of improvement a lot simpler!