Free Resource — Decatur Chess

FREE PGN LIBRARY
FOR CHESS TEACHERS

Every major opening and essential mating pattern — accurate, annotated, and ready to load into any chess app. Download individual files or use them as a teaching curriculum.

White Openings

Repertoire choices for White — from sharp tactical battles to solid positional systems.

White Opening
Ponziani Opening

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 — A sharp, underestimated weapon with rich tactical complexity and traps for the unprepared.

Main line + 8 variations
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White Opening
London System

1.d4 2.Nf3 3.Bf4 — Solid, reliable, and dangerous. Build the same structure every game and let Black make the mistakes.

Main line + 2 variations
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White Opening
Italian Game

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 — Classical development with rich middlegame play. Includes the Fried Liver Attack and Modern Italian.

Main line + 3 variations
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White Opening
Queen's Gambit

1.d4 d5 2.c4 — Fight for the center from move one. Includes the QGA, QGD Orthodox, Slav, and Ragozin lines.

Main line + 3 variations
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Black vs 1.e4

Solid and combative responses for Black against 1.e4.

Black vs e4
Sicilian Defense

1.e4 c5 — The most popular response to e4. Asymmetrical, combative, full of counterplay. Includes Najdorf, Classical, and Kan lines.

Main line + 2 variations
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Black vs e4
French Defense

1.e4 e6 — Solid and strategic. Black builds a strong pawn chain and strikes back. Includes Winawer, Classical, Advance, and Tarrasch.

Main line + 3 variations
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Black vs e4
Caro-Kann Defense

1.e4 c6 — Solid and reliable. Black develops easily and reaches excellent endgames. Includes Classical, Advance, Panov-Botvinnik, and Karpov lines.

Main line + 2 variations
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Black vs e4
Scandinavian Defense

1.e4 d5 — Immediately challenge the center. Black plays for quick development and activity at the cost of a tempo.

Main line + 2 variations
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Black vs 1.d4

Dynamic and solid defenses for Black against 1.d4 — from hypermodern to classical.

Black vs d4
King's Indian Defense

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 — Hypermodern and aggressive. Let White build the center, then attack it. Includes Classical, Petrosian, and Samisch lines.

Main line + 2 variations
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Black vs d4
Queen's Gambit Declined

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 — Solid and classical. Black defends d5 and fights for equality. Includes Orthodox, Lasker, and Exchange variations.

Main line + 2 variations
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Black vs d4
Nimzo-Indian Defense

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 — Pin the knight, disrupt the center, create imbalances. Includes Classical, Samisch, and Rubinstein lines.

Main line + 3 variations
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Black vs d4
Dutch Defense

1.d4 f5 — Ambitious and uncompromising. Black fights for the initiative from the first move. Includes Leningrad, Stonewall, and Classical lines.

Main line + 2 variations
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Endgame Mating Patterns

Essential checkmate patterns every chess student must recognize and be able to execute.

Mating Pattern
Fool's Mate

The 2-move checkmate — the fastest possible. White weakens the kingside with f3 and g4 and pays immediately.

2 moves
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Mating Pattern
Scholar's Mate

The classic 4-move checkmate targeting f7. Every beginner must know this pattern — and how to defend against it.

4 moves + defense line
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Mating Pattern
Legal's Mate

A stunning queen sacrifice leading to checkmate by minor pieces. Named after de Legal, played in Paris around 1750.

8 moves
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Mating Pattern
Back Rank Mate

The most common pattern in all of chess. A rook mates on the back rank while the king is trapped behind its own pawns.

Set position
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Mating Pattern
Smothered Mate

A knight delivers checkmate while the enemy king is completely surrounded by its own pieces. Astonishing to see in practice.

3 moves — set position
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Mating Pattern
Anastasia's Mate

Rook and knight combine to trap the king on the h-file. Named after an 1803 German chess novel.

2 moves — set position
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Mating Pattern
Arabian Mate

Rook and knight work together in the corner. One of the oldest recorded mating patterns in chess history.

1 move — set position
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Mating Pattern
Opera Mate

Morphy's Mate. Bishop controls the diagonal, rook delivers on the open file. From the immortal Opera Game (Paris, 1858).

4 moves — set position
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Mating Pattern
Ladder Mate

Two rooks drive the king to the edge in a staircase pattern. The most fundamental endgame technique every player must master.

3 moves — set position
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Mating Pattern
Boden's Mate

Two bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver checkmate. Named after Samuel Boden who demonstrated this pattern in 1853.

2 moves — set position
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Mating Pattern
Hook Mate

Rook, knight, and pawn create an inescapable mating net against the castled king. The pieces form a hook shape.

3 moves — set position
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Mating Pattern
Epaulette Mate

The queen mates in the center while the king's own rooks block both escape squares — like epaulettes on a uniform.

1 move — set position
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Mating Pattern
Philidor's Legacy

Queen sacrifice into smothered mate. One of the most beautiful combinations in chess — shocking to see, deeply satisfying to execute.

3 moves — set position
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Mating Pattern
Dovetail Mate

Also called the Swallow's Tail Mate. The queen checkmates while the king's own pieces seal every escape square.

2 moves — set position
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