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Not move lists — reasons. Every move here has a job, you watch what happens when the job gets skipped, and each module ends with you playing the whole line blind. Every claim is checked against a chess engine before it ships.
You choose the opening, so two are enough — done deeply, and built to contrast with each other.
White · 8 chapters · 62 screens · engine-verified
The most principle-dense opening there is — centre, tempo, f7, and the prepared break, all in ten moves.
White · 8 chapters · 58 screens · engine-verified
The same principles in a different order — a claim instead of a question, and a lever instead of a break.
You do not choose, so coverage comes first: one reply to each of White's two main first moves, and an answer to everything White can do after it.
Black · 10 chapters · 63 screens · engine-verified
You do not choose the opening — so this one covers everything White can throw at 1...e5, and the punishment for each version that is really a mistake.
Black · 10 chapters · 64 screens · engine-verified
Ten systems, one question: where does the c8-bishop go? The answer is decided by a single fact you can see on the board.
The two colours are taught differently. As White you pick the opening, so those courses go deep on one idea each and are built to contrast. As Black you answer, so those courses are organised by the question White just asked — and every chapter ends with the punishment for the version of that question which is really a mistake.
Four courses cover every game you will play: you open 1.e4 and meet the Italian or the Vienna, and when you are Black you answer 1.e4 with 1…e5 and 1.d4 with 1…d5. Nothing else is required. Study them in order — the Vienna re-tests what the Italian taught, and the two Black courses are built around the same habit of asking what White’s move just changed.
Openings get you to a playable middlegame. What decides the game from there is whether you see the tactics, which is what the woodpecker drills are for.