Training exercises
Pick an exercise. Your daily plan uses the same ones.
34 kinds of exercises.
Flash memory
Look at a position for a few seconds, then answer from memory.
Fix your opening
Go back to the moment you went wrong in the opening, find a solid move and play the next ones.
King shield
Bring your king to safety while the engine tries to open lines against it.
Reset protocol
Before you play online, or after a loss: a few of your positions, played slowly, to reset your attention.
Replay your blunder
Go back to the position before one of your blunders and find a safe move.
Threat radar
See what your opponent threatens, then parry it on the board.
Play the trade
Decide whether a capture pays, then play the whole sequence of captures yourself.
Knight’s tourney
Take a knight to a square in as few jumps as you can, without landing where it can be taken.
Check or mate?
Tell at a glance if a check is only a check or checkmate: can the king run, block or capture?
Capture sweep
Scan the whole board: find every capture you can make, even far away or backwards.
Blind stepper
Keep a few moves in your head without moving the pieces, then play the next one.
Pawn square
Tell at a glance if a pawn promotes or if the king catches it, with the rule of the square.
Mate in 1 rush
Find checkmate in one move, again and again, as fast as you can.
Color complex
Picture the board in your head: is a square light or dark, without looking?
Impulse lock
Stop playing on reflex: choose your move, check your opponent’s best reply, then confirm.
Time-trouble survival
Six positions, one move each, against a single clock: find the simple, safe move fast.
Critical triage
Spend your time where it matters: obvious moves fast, critical positions slowly.
Tactics without a net
Positions from your games and puzzles, with no hint that a win exists. Sometimes a calm move is the right one.
Blind-spot hunter
Find the moves the eye skips: a retreat, a long move across the board, a knight jump. What it was is shown only after.
Deep line
Enter your whole line before moving anything: your move, the reply, your next move. The pieces move only once you confirm.
Candidate duel
A calm position: spot the piece to improve, then find and play the move yourself. Then compare it with your game and the best move.
Clean conversion
Turn a winning position into a win against the engine’s best defense, without giving counterplay.
Trench defense
Hold a worse position against an engine that plays like a strong human.
Endgame drill
Give the verdict of an endgame, then prove it on the board against the engine.
Safe squares
Find where your piece can go without being taken.
Legal or not?
Learn the rules that forbid a move: pins, check, castling, en passant.
Find the check
See which piece gives check, then find every move that gives check.
What changed?
Look at a position, then spot what moved or disappeared.
Knight route
Bring a knight to a square in as few jumps as possible.
Find the move
Spot the winning move in a position, one theme at a time. No clock.
Check before you play
Make checking a habit: can your opponent win something after your move?
Count the exchanges
Count the captures before you take: do you win or lose?
The squares
Learn where each square is. The letters and numbers are written on the edge of the board.
Where does the piece go?
Learn how each piece moves, and what stops it.