What makes a chess training app actually useful?
Most chess apps are built around one thing: engagement. More puzzles, longer streaks, shinier badges. That's not the same as improvement. A genuinely useful training app should:
- Identify your specific weaknesses, not just offer generic content
- Adapt to your rating level so training is challenging but achievable
- Cover multiple aspects of the game (tactics, strategy, endgames, openings)
- Help you understand mistakes, not just mark them wrong
With that in mind, here's how the major apps stack up.
Chess.com
Best for: Playing games and general exposure to chess content.
Chess.com is the largest chess platform and offers a massive amount of content: lessons, puzzles, game analysis, videos, courses, and more. Their tactics trainer is polished and their game review feature (with engine analysis) is genuinely useful.
Limitations: Puzzles are not personalized to your specific weaknesses. The game review shows you mistakes but doesn't aggregate patterns across multiple games. At higher subscription tiers you get more features, but the core improvement loop remains generic.
Verdict: Excellent for playing and exploring chess. Not optimized for targeted improvement.
Lichess
Best for: Free, high-quality chess in every format.
Lichess is completely free and open-source, with strong tools for game analysis, a good puzzle system, and a solid opening explorer. The puzzle storm and puzzle racer features make tactics training more engaging.
Limitations: Same issue as Chess.com — puzzles are not tied to your specific game weaknesses. Analysis is game-by-game rather than aggregated across your history.
Verdict: The best free platform for playing and analysis. Pairs well with other improvement tools.
Chessable
Best for: Memorizing openings and endgame theory.
Chessable uses spaced repetition (the same system as Anki) to help you memorize chess lines. It's genuinely effective for drilling opening repertoires and endgame positions, and their library of courses from strong players is excellent.
Limitations: Purely memorization-focused. It doesn't analyze your games or identify where your weaknesses are. You need to already know what to study.
Verdict: Best-in-class for learning openings and endgame techniques once you know what you need to work on.
Chess Tempo
Best for: Serious tactics training with adaptive difficulty.
Chess Tempo has one of the best tactics databases available, with a well-tuned adaptive difficulty system that adjusts to your actual performance rather than just your rating. Their mixed mode (all types of puzzles) is particularly effective.
Limitations: Primarily tactics-focused. No connection to your game history. UI is dated but functional.
Verdict: The best standalone tactics trainer if you want depth over polish.
Be Good at Chess
Best for: Players who are stuck and want a systematic, personalized improvement plan.
Be Good at Chess takes a different approach: instead of offering generic content, it starts by analyzing your actual games (from Chess.com or Lichess) to identify your recurring mistakes. Then it builds exercises — puzzles, opening drills, strategic exercises — specifically around those patterns.
The core loop:
- Connect your account
- Run an analysis of your recent games (Stockfish + AI motif detection)
- See your personal weakness profile (which tactics you miss, which endgames you struggle in)
- Train with exercises generated for your specific profile at your Elo level
Limitations: Newer app with fewer courses and content than established platforms. The puzzle library, while tailored, is smaller than Chess Tempo or Chess.com.
Verdict: The best starting point for players who are plateauing and don't know what to study. Answers the "what should I be working on?" question that other apps leave unanswered.
The recommended stack by player type
Beginner (under 800)
Focus on Chess.com or Lichess for playing games. Do the basic tactics lessons on either platform. Don't worry about a specialized training app yet — just play and enjoy the game.
Intermediate (800–1400)
Use Be Good at Chess to identify your specific weaknesses, then use Chess Tempo for targeted tactics practice on those themes. Add Chessable for a simple opening repertoire (1 course for white, 1 for black).
Club player (1400–1800)
Serious analysis with Be Good at Chess or manual game review on Lichess. Chess Tempo for tactics. Chessable for opening prep. Structured endgame study (King and pawn vs King, Rook endgames).
Advanced (1800+)
At this level, a dedicated coach is more valuable than any app. Use tools for game preparation and repertoire management, but the biggest gains come from directed study with feedback.
The bottom line
No app will improve your chess if you're not intentional about how you use it. The biggest mistake is collecting apps — doing 5 minutes of puzzles on Chess.com, 5 minutes on Chess Tempo, watching a YouTube video — without any coherent focus.
Pick one weakness. Study it systematically. Then move to the next. That approach, with any of the tools above, will get you unstuck.