♔ SCIENCE-BASED CHESS TRAINING

Chess.com is where you play.
This is where you improve.

Science-based tactics training with spaced repetition — built around your games and your weaknesses.

Start Free — No credit card required See How It Works →

3M+

Puzzles, 800–2800

Tactical patterns

Adaptive

Learning engine

Try a puzzle right now

No sign-up needed — just find the best move

White to move — find the fork

See exactly where your tactics are breaking down

We analyze your recent games, show which tactical patterns you're strongest and weakest at, and turn those blind spots into your training plan.

Coach Analysis

Where You Are Losing

•Based on your recent games

•Pattern-specific strengths and weaknesses

•Training recommendations tied to your blind spots

Train the scan strong players use before every move

Checks, Captures, Threats helps you slow down, find forcing moves first, and stop missing tactics because you moved before scanning the position.

Checks

Can I attack the king right now? Strong players look for forcing moves first because checks change everything immediately.

Captures

Can I win material right now? Captures often reveal the tactical move hiding in plain sight.

Threats

Is anything hanging or under attack? This is where blunders get caught before you commit to a move.

Why it matters

Most players don't lose tactics because they can't calculate. They lose them because they move before they scan. CCT turns that scan into a repeatable habit, so your puzzle training transfers into real games.

Train smarter, not more

♟️

Your Games, Your Puzzles

Connect Chess.com and we analyze your blunders, then build a personal puzzle queue targeting your exact weaknesses — not generic positions.

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Spaced Repetition

Adaptive learning tracks what you know and what you forget. Nail a pattern and it fades from your queue. Miss it and it comes back at exactly the right moment — before you would have forgotten it permanently.

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Pattern Tracking

28 tactical patterns across 3 tiers — from forks and pins to windmills and zugzwang. Track your weakness per pattern, not just your overall score.

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Beginner to Master — Never Outgrow It

Puzzles range from 800 to 2800+ rating. Your training set calibrates to your level and gets harder as you improve. Whether you're 600 or 1900, the challenge scales with you.

Puzzles from 800 to 2800 — calibrated to your level

Your training set starts at your calibration rating and scales harder as you improve. You'll never outgrow it.

Beginner

800+

Intermediate

1200+

Advanced

1600+

Expert

2000+

Master

2400+

All puzzle ratings sourced from Lichess — 3M+ positions rated by millions of players worldwide

Why this works — and why random puzzles don't

Most chess apps give you an endless stream of random puzzles. The research says that's the wrong approach.

Pattern internalization requires repetition

Chess tactics are about recognizing patterns — forks, pins, back rank weaknesses. You don't build that recognition by seeing a pattern once. You build it by seeing it enough times that your brain expects it before you consciously calculate it. Random puzzles scatter your reps across hundreds of patterns, giving each one minimal exposure.

Weakness-targeted practice compounds faster

If your blind spot is back rank mates, doing 100 puzzles that hammer that theme overloads your brain with that specific signal. Random puzzles might show you 3 back rank mates in 100 attempts — nowhere near enough reps to wire the pattern in. Chess Tactics Trainer analyzes your Chess.com games and weights your puzzles toward the exact patterns costing you rating points.

Spaced repetition is the gold standard

The optimal method isn't just repeating the same puzzles — it's repeating them on a forgetting curve schedule. You review a puzzle right before you'd naturally forget the solution. This is what makes repetition efficient rather than brute-force drilling. We use the SM-2 algorithm (the same one used by Anki) to schedule every puzzle automatically.

Random puzzles have a role — but it's secondary

Random puzzles are good for testing whether pattern recognition transfers to novel positions. They're a diagnostic, not a training method. Chess Tactics Trainer uses them exactly this way: once you've mastered your core patterns, Drill All Patterns tests whether that recognition fires in mixed, unpredictable positions.

The model that actually works

Identify your weak patterns → drill targeted puzzles with spaced repetition → use mixed puzzles to test transfer.
This is exactly how Chess Tactics Trainer is designed — the SM-2 algorithm and pattern-based organization aren't just features. They're the reason it works.

Simple pricing

Start free. Upgrade when you're serious.

Free

✓10 puzzles per day
✓Tier 1 patterns (8 patterns)
✓Basic stats & streak tracking
✓Spaced repetition queue
✓No credit card required

Start Free

FAQ

Is this really free?

Yes. The free tier gives you 10 puzzles per day and full access to Tier 1 patterns — no credit card required, ever.

How is this different from Chess.com Tactics?

Chess.com shows you random puzzles. We show you the puzzles you need based on your actual game history and spaced repetition science. We're not competitors — we're complementary.

What is spaced repetition?

It's called spaced repetition — a technique backed by decades of memory research. You review material right before you'd forget it. The system tracks every puzzle and schedules your next review automatically.

Do I need a Chess.com account?

No. You can train with the full puzzle library without connecting Chess.com. The Chess.com integration just lets us personalize your queue based on your actual blunders.

When is the Chess.com import available?

Chess.com game import and full personalization is available on the Improver plan. Sign up free now to get early access.

Ready to stop blundering the same patterns?

Join thousands of players training smarter with spaced repetition.

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Chess.com is where you play. This is where you improve.