1 Square One Open Second Square
01The board · Before the first move

You start as the smallest piece on the board.

Thirty-two pieces, two sides, and the other one has a queen, two rooks and better position. You're a pawn on g2, worth less than anything else out there.

Your piece · g2
A pawn only moves forward
It can't retreat. Whatever square it leaves, it leaves for good. It's also the only piece on the board that can turn into something else.
↓Scroll. Fifty moves to the last rank.
02The opening · Moves 1–8

The first blows land fast.

Eight moves in, both queens are gone. The heaviest piece either side had, traded off before you've taken a step. Whatever you were hoping would come and save this isn't coming.

Move 8 · Queens off
Nobody is rescuing this
No single move wins it now. It comes down to position, and to whoever is still standing at the end.
03Your allies · Moves 9–19

You don't fight alone.

Knights, bishops, a rook. They come off the board one after another, and not one of those trades was an accident. Every one was somebody stepping into a square so the position would hold.

Moves 15–19 · Five exchanges
Someone takes the hit for you
A case manager who knows the whole situation decides what to keep and what to give up, once, in order. Giving up pieces that way is how you keep the ones you need.
04The long march · Moves 20–26

No glory in the middle.

Seven moves of grinding. Pawns traded on c4, c7, a5, b2. Nothing anyone would put in a highlight reel, just the slow work of getting the position where it has to be.

Moves 20–26
This is where most people stop
Classes, logged hours, a certification you might sit twice. It takes months and none of it looks like anything while you're doing it. It's also the only reason the ending is still available to you.
05The ordeal · Moves 27–32

Everything around you falls.

f2. e4. h4. One by one the board takes the pieces that stood beside you. You're still there, but the position is emptier than you've ever seen it and the other side is still coming.

Six pawns gone
The cost is real
Some of what goes here doesn't come back. Time, and people who didn't wait. Anyone who tells you this part is easy is selling you something.
06Stripped bare · Moves 33–36

One ally. One step forward.

A rook and a pawn. That's the whole army. Across the board the other side has exactly the same, a rook and a pawn and nothing else. Dead level, with everything still to play for.

Move 33 · Even material
This is the hinge
Same material on both sides of the board. From here the only difference is whether the piece standing behind you knows where to put itself.
07The turn · Move 37

They run out first.

One move. The rook takes h7 and the other side's last pawn is gone. They have nothing left to promote and nothing waiting on the back rank. You still have yours.

Move 37 · Rxh7
The tide goes over
Four moves ago this was even. What broke the tie was having somebody in the right place at the right moment.
08The escort · Moves 38–46

Somebody takes the ground behind you.

Nine moves of escort. The rook swings back to g1 and sits directly behind you, holding every square on the file ahead. The king walks up to f6 and covers the ones you could never hold on your own.

Moves 41–43 · Rh1, Rg1, Kf6
It never once touches you
It doesn't carry you anywhere. You walk every square yourself. All it does is make the ground in front of you safe and stay there while you cross it.
09The last rank · Moves 47–50

The smallest piece becomes the strongest.

You step to g7, then to g8. The last rank, the square you've been walking toward for fifty moves. The pawn is gone. What stands there now is a queen.

48. g8=Q+ · 49. Qxd5 · 50. Qh5#
Promote. Take their last piece. Checkmate.
Worth less than anything on the board at move one. Worth more than all of it at move fifty. That's the rule the game is built on.
10Start here · No wrong door

It started on g2.

Every move you just watched is a legal game, played start to finish. Nothing was arranged for the ending. The ending is what the position allowed, because of who was still standing beside that pawn.

Coming home is the same fight. Square One is what stands behind you while you walk it.

Free for members · You choose who sees what · No wrong door