Know your line
Opening · tier 5
Stay in the line you studied; when they leave it, make them pay.
In the next game: Before the next game, drill the line you left — and its most common deviations.
Scorecard habit
Opening preparation: know your line and punish the deviation
On your Scorecard this row is called Know your line — stay in theory; punish when they leave. It grades one principle, each on the positions where it actually applied, and reads as clean, or a count of slips.
Why accuracy misses this
Accuracy is one number: how often you matched the engine. It cannot tell you the pattern behind the misses. This row names the habit — Know your line — and only counts a miss when Stockfish’s own line shows the principled move was better.
The principle
Frequently asked questions
Stay in the line you studied; when they leave it, make them pay. Before the next game, drill the line you left — and its most common deviations.
The board defines the opportunity — a position where the principle applies — and Stockfish is the referee: a miss is counted only when the engine’s own line at that move embodies the principle, so the row never blames you for a rule the position did not ask for. The row reads as clean, or as a count of slips.
See how your own games score on this habit — every analyzed game ends with its Scorecard, free, no account.
Analyze your games freeThe other habits
Is it safe?
before you let go of a piece
Checks, captures, threats
theirs and yours, every move
Develop and castle
a new piece every move, king safe by 10
Trade with a purpose
swap when ahead; don’t wake their pieces
Give every piece a job
rooks to open files, knights to outposts
March the king, push the passer
in the endgame