Starting Out with 1. d4 by GM Ben Finegold

Ease Into An Opening Edge with This Simple,
Evergreen, and Tournament-Proven
1.d4 Repertoire

If you’d love to start every game with the upper hand — with clear-cut lines built through decades of competitive play — then Starting Out: 1. d4 is your ideal starting point.

It’s the first ever Chessable course by Grandmaster Ben Finegold — based on his own tournament repertoire.

It helped Finegold achieve his biggest successes for the past 35 years — including shared first place at the 1989 US Junior Championship, the 1994 US Open Championship, and the 2002 World Open.

Starting Out: 1. d4 stays true to Finegold’s winning formula:

Play simple chess.
Keep time trouble and blunders away.
Profit!

Forget the engine moves and nerve-wracking tactics which only complicate your game. Inside, you’ll stick to thematic plans you can reuse in many variations to…

Get Everything You Could
Ask For In The Opening

And set yourself up for a convincing win in the middlegame or endgame.

Case in point:

Whenever possible — such as in the Queen’s Gambit Declined, King’s Indian, and Grünfeld Defense — you’ll head for the classic structure with pawns on d4, c4, and e3…

Securing your lion’s share of space, and denying Black of targets for counterattack.

Your stronghold in the center and
the “tall pawn” on c8 give you
a lasting edge

If the second player captures your pawn with …dxc4 — like in the Queen’s Gambit Accepted and Slav Defense — you’ll simultaneously regain the pawn and build a lead in development with e3 and Bxc4.

With Bxc4 played in one swoop, you’ll be
ramping up the action before Black castles

And against provocative tries — like the Dutch Defense, Benoni, and Benko Gambit — you’ll play for a quick e4, neutralize the opponent’s tricks, and stabilize your space advantage.

You enjoy a huge space advantage all over the board,
while Black’s queenside stay out of play

Starting Out: 1. d4 is a FULL repertoire for White. So rest assured you’ll be ready for just about anything Black will throw your way.

Finegold also served the lines with quick positional evaluations, as well as practical tips for navigating the arising positions.

So when the game progresses beyond theory — and it will — you’ll know where to put your pawns and pieces to close out the game.

Here’s a quick recap of what’s under the hood:

👍 A full, single-volume 1.d4 repertoire… with only 231 MoveTrainer® variations. So you can play the queen’s pawn game with confidence, minus the overwhelm.

👍 Over 7.5 hours of video instruction… from a true expert in the opening with more than 40 years of experience.

👍 Plus 19 Quickstarter lines… to get you up and running in the shortest time possible.