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# One chess opening, every morning, on the terrace
- URL: https://side-quest.peachfin.site/one-opening-on-the-terrace/
- Published: 2026-08-30T09:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-12T15:20:56.000Z
- Description: Seven mornings with the board set up outside, playing the same first moves until they stopped being a decision. Move nine is still a guess.
- Author: Sam Ellery
- Tags: Practice, Chess, Mornings, #Import 2026-10-13 14:13

Takes

Seven mornings, twenty minutes each

Needs

A board, a notebook, one opening written on a card

Result

The first eight moves are automatic now.

I play chess badly and slowly, mostly because every game starts with me wondering what to do on move two. The plan: pick one opening, set the board up on the terrace before breakfast, and play it until the first moves need no thought at all.

## Write the opening on a card

Eight moves for each side, in pencil, on an index card propped against the board. Reading them aloud while moving the pieces helped more than I expected.

## Play it against yourself

Moving both sides felt silly for a day and then became the useful part: I started to see why each move is there, not just where it goes.

## Put the card away

On the sixth morning the card stayed in the notebook. I got to move eight without it, and then sat looking at the hills for a long time over move nine.

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**Finished note**  
The first eight moves are mine now. After that I am back to thinking hard and guessing, which is fine; that is where the game actually starts. Next week: the most common reply, one move at a time.