ChessCoach
My daughter is five, and she loves chess.
That is the whole reason I started learning properly. She took a liking to the game, and I wanted to be able to play it with her.
So I tried a lot of chess apps. I subscribed to a couple of them. None of them worked for me in the first few months, which is exactly the stretch where a beginner needs the most help and gets the least.
The gaps were specific enough that I started writing them down.
- Levels that actually fit
One app I paid for had three difficulty settings. I won nearly every game at beginner and almost none at intermediate, with nothing in between. ChessCoach has twenty, so you can move up one step at a time.
- Help while I'm stuck, not after
Most apps show you what went wrong once the game is over. I wanted a hint in the moment I couldn't see the move, in any game.
- The why, not the verdict
Being told a move was bad teaches nothing. Being told why the engine preferred a different one is where almost all of my learning actually happened.
- Less decoration, more chess
No animations to sit through, no confetti between me and the board.
- My colors, my board
I play at night. I wanted full control over the theme instead of whatever the app decided looked good.
That list became this app. I built the thing I wanted to be using.
The part I did not expect: chess videos started making sense. I can follow what a commentator is saying now, because I have had the same ideas explained to me on my own board, in my own games.
© 2026 ChessCoach