Top chess teaching apps on mobile

People have been playing chess for over 1500 years, but we still find new ways and strategies for this intellectual sport.

The growth of free apps, global competitions on Twitch, and cultural trends have made chess more popular than ever.

If you are also interested in this intellectual sport, you can refer to the chess teaching applications below on your phone.

• How to play chess for beginners

1. Learn Chess With Doctor Wolf

Learn Chess With Doctor Wolf is a great app for beginners or intermediate players, for advanced players it's practically nothing but a refresher course.

For those who want to practice more, go to the Lessons page . Here you will find different sections to practice such as How to Castle and Connecting Your Rooks .

The lessons will be divided into sections including Beginner , Intermediate and Advanced . You can start from any section and choose as you like (save a few Advanced lessons as prerequisites).

If you want to play against AI, the Game section will allow you to play chess for free.

If you purchase the paid version, Dr. Wolf will walk you through each move and teach you directly. You can try out the game three times for free with instructions. After those three times, you can still play with Dr. Wolf, but you will no longer receive helpful tips during play.

If you tap the three dots to the right of the Undo button , you'll find a list of actions and options. You can adjust the intensity of the gameplay if things feel too easy or too hard. One of the coolest features is Training with Dr. Wolf , where Dr. Wolf will review your moves and give you specific custom scenarios to improve.

If you don't like Dr. Wolf, the instructor-directed selection feature allows you to switch between three other characters.

Return to the game's main screen, click on the three ellipses in the right corner, you will see the Stats and Achievements section with all the information and achievements you have gained while playing the game.

2. Magnus Trainer

You may have heard of Magnus Carlsen, the chess grandmaster and world champion. The Magnus Trainer app was developed to teach people how to play like Magnus.

The Course section takes you from basic to advanced, helping you play easily with family and friends.

You will have to complete them in order unless you sign up for a membership, you can choose to start with Basics , Easy , Medium or Hard . There is a tip from Carlsen at the beginning of each lesson which will be included in the materials section.

The Games page is divided into Foundation , Tactics and Calculation sections , allowing you to play short games to familiarize yourself with the pieces, problem solving and general chess knowledge.

The Lessons section is a treasure trove of information on any aspect of the game you want to review. While there are a number of lessons available for free, many are only available with a membership.

The lessons are broken down into different categories, such as closing moves or opening moves.

The You section shows a graph of your statistics in each area of ​​play. This is useful for seeing which areas you should improve in and how far you have improved over time.

3. Lichess

No matter how much theory you learn, you still need to practice to improve — lichess is a great free option to play chess online from your iPhone or Android, especially since all of lichess' features are completely free.

The main overview window can look a little intimidating to new users, but don’t worry if you get the hang of the layout. Quick Match, the header that contains a board with labels like 1+0 Bullet and 3+0 Blitz , will take you into a multiplayer game based on the rules you choose.

Bullet , Blitz , Rapid and Classical refer to the amount of time each player has to make their moves. For example, Blitz is typically a three-minute time limit per turn. Numbers like 1 + 0 refer to the time allowed per turn and the time increment added to your clock at the end of the respective turn.

So 10 + 5 means that each player has 10 minutes to complete their turn and the difference of five seconds is added to the clock when they complete their turn (time is only added if it takes you less than five seconds to make your move. If your move only takes three seconds, the remaining two seconds are added to the clock).

You can create games, play with friends who have lichess or play with the computer.

Scroll down a little further and you'll find the puzzle of the day section. This is a fun way to improve aspects of the game that you might not have even thought of.

Tapping the Menu button in the top left will bring up a list of other features available in lichess. Tap Puzzles to get a random scenario. The Study section gives you access to information, you can learn about real-world strategies like Sicilian Defense and Queen's Gambit .

You can play games online on this app, your opponent will be the computer or install a game so your friends can play with you.

4. Chess

Chess by Chess.com is another outstanding app for playing chess online. You will find the usual ways to play like playing online, playing against the computer, and solving puzzles to train your brain.

You'll also find some valuable features unique to the Chess app like the Videos section which contains a variety of videos by highly ranked chess players focusing on specific aspects of the game.

The Forum is a place for players of all skill levels to ask questions and share information. Want to see expert-level analysis of a game or find out the answer to a puzzle you can't seem to figure out? The Forum is the place to go.

The Drills page allows you to select an area of ​​the game to work on like King and Two Pawns vs King and lets you play against the computer in that layout.

5. Chess Tactics Pro

Chess Tactics Pro is a simple app for people who just want to solve puzzles. Instead of a bunch of different features, Chess Tactics Pro focuses on doing the basics well.

The Daily tab updates with six new puzzles (one each at easy, medium, and hard) every day. The Puzzles page has over 300 puzzles to choose from. When you play any puzzle, you can click Analyze in the top right to see what the correct moves are or the question mark icon in the bottom right to get a hint.

The Progress section generates a puzzle to match your current skill level — wins increase your Elo rating, losses decrease it.