Learn the chess openings your opponents actually play.
Every line is built from real Lichess games at your rating and explained move by move in plain English. Then test it against a bot, review your own games, and fix the mistakes that are really costing you points.
No account, no card, nothing to install. Works in any browser, on your phone or computer.
Real games, your rating
About 32% of players under 1600 answer the Italian with Knight to f6. So that’s what you practice against.
36
openings for White and Black, picked by the data
613
lines, each built from games at its rating band
9
practice bots, from 400 to 2400 Elo
~25,000
puzzles from real games, in 6 categories
Why most opening courses don’t stick
You didn’t quit chess. Chess openings quit on you.
THE USUAL WAY
Lines a grandmaster chose, 30 moves deep, that nobody at your level will ever play.
HERE
The replies players at your rating really make, and how often they make them.
THE USUAL WAY
Memorize the moves. The moment your opponent goes off script, you’re lost by move 3.
HERE
A plain-English reason for every move, so you know what to do when they surprise you.
THE USUAL WAY
The course ends. You never find out whether it worked in your real games.
HERE
Link your Chess.com or Lichess account and see exactly where each opening went wrong.
How it works
One loop that turns an opening into wins
Most tools do one of these. Chess Coach Academy connects all four, so every game you play tells you what to practice next.
Learn
Play every line on the board. The Coach tells you what to play, why, and how often real players choose it.
Test
Play a full game. The bot opens like real players at its rating, then plays on with Stockfish.
Review
Your real games, move by move: where you left the line, what it cost, and what was better.
Fix
Puzzles picked from how you actually lose, so you train the exact weakness, not random tactics.
The Daily Quest ties it together. Tell us your rating goal and how many minutes you have, and each day you get a plan that mixes all four and ticks itself off as you go.
Learn · The Coach
A coach beside the board, not a book on your lap
Pick one of 36 openings and play every line on a full-size board. Before each move, the Coach tells you what to play and why, in words you don’t need a rating to understand.
- Moves in plain English (“Knight takes on f3”), or switch to notation
- Your opponent plays the replies players at your rating make most
- Goals for every line: grab the center, develop, castle
- The traps players at your level really fall for
Test · Play Bots
Bots that open like the people you’ll really meet
Pick an opening and an opponent. While you’re in the book, the bot plays what real players at its rating choose on Lichess, and you have to find the Coach’s moves. When the book runs out, it plays on with Stockfish and your coach comments on every move.
- Pip · 400
- Chloe · 700
- Max · 1000
- Leo · 1150
- Dave · 1300
- Nova · 1600
- Iris · 1800
- Titan · 2000
- Zenith · 2400
Play the opening yourself, or let the bot play it against you. Stuck? Ask for the best move or who’s winning, or take a move back.
Review · Game Review & Opening Report
Find out where your openings really go wrong
Link your Chess.com or Lichess username (public games only, never a password) or paste a game. Every move is graded and explained, and the Opening Report shows how your openings went across your recent games.
- The exact move where you, or they, left your Coach line
- Brilliant to Blunder, each with the reason in plain English
- “Show me”: watch the better move play out on the board
- The openings you keep facing that you haven’t learned yet
The Opening Report
For each opening in your recent games: how far you followed the Coach’s line, who left it first, and your most common slip.
Fix · Puzzles & Daily Quest
Train the weakness that’s costing you games
Game Review sorts every mistake you make into one of six puzzle types and spots the one that decided each loss. The Puzzles page then serves you that type first, from about 25,000 positions taken from real games.
Answer a few questions about your goal and the time you have, and the Daily Quest turns all of it into a short plan for today.
Picked for you
Checkmate puzzles
Two of your last three losses turned on a checkmate you missed. Solve a few, then review your next game.
Today’s quest
2 Coach lines
5 puzzles
1 bot game
12
day streak, plus achievements as you go
What makes us different
Built for the player you are now, not the one a grandmaster imagines
Your rating, not the masters’
Courses are written by titled players, and opening explorers default to master games. Every line here comes from Lichess games at the rating band each opening is for.
A reason for every move, in plain English
No notation required. “Knight takes on f3” instead of Nxf3, and a why behind every move, so you understand the opening instead of reciting it.
Learn, test, review and fix in one place
Most players stitch together a course, an explorer, a bot site and a review tool. Here they share one record of your progress, and each one feeds the next.
36 openings that matter, every claim checked
Not hundreds of courses. The openings that really show up at your level, with every trap and “wins a pawn” checked by Stockfish before it ships.
How we compare
The honest comparison
They’re all good tools. Here’s what each one is built to do, including where they do something we don’t.
| Chess Coach Academy | Chessable | Chessly | Chess.com | Chessreps | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where the lines come from | ✓ Real games at your rating Lichess, by rating band | Courses by titled authors | Courses by GothamChess | Coach-written lessons; the Explorer defaults to master games | ✓ Lichess games at your level |
| A plain-English reason for every move | ✓ Every move No notation needed | Author notes Notation assumed | Video lessons | In lessons | Hints in Learn mode |
| Bots that play your opening like real players | ✓ 9 bots, 400–2400 | ✕ No | ✕ No | Practice vs a bot in lessons | ✕ No Drills and time trials |
| Reviews your own games | ✓ Plus an Opening Report | ✕ No | ✕ No | ✓ 1 a day free Unlimited on paid plans | ✕ No |
| Puzzles picked from your mistakes | ✓ From your losses | ✕ No | ✕ No | Retry your mistakes | Tactics from real games |
| Spaced-repetition drilling | Line-by-line progress and Daily Quest | ✓ MoveTrainer | Drills | ✕ No | ✓ Reps |
| Where it runs | Any browser, nothing to install | Web and apps | Web | Web and apps | iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android apps |
| Price | Free in beta $4.99/mo planned | Pro $11.99/mo or $74.99/yr, plus courses (~$20–100 each) | $89.99/yr | Free with daily limits; paid plans unlock the rest | Free to start; PRO $7.99/mo or $49.99/yr |
Competitor details come from each product’s website, help center or App Store listing and from independent reviews, checked October 2, 2026. Features and prices change. Chessable, Chessly, Chess.com and Chessreps are trademarks of their owners; this site isn’t affiliated with any of them.
The research
Why 36? Because that’s what the data kept
We didn’t guess. We looked at what players at each rating really play on Lichess, cut every line that shows up once in ten thousand games, and checked everything that was left with Stockfish.
- 01Find what’s common at each rating band
- 02Cut the dead weight however “important” a course says it is
- 03Verify everything every trap and claim, with Stockfish
- 04Teach the why so you cope when they go off script
Opening finder
Not sure where to start? Answer three questions.
The 36 openings
Pick by style
12
Solid & beginner-friendly
13
Aggressive & tactical
5
Positional & strategic
6
Flexible & hypermodern
New to all this? Read the best openings for beginners, grouped by rating.
Open beta
Everything is free while the beta runs
Create a free account and every line, bot, puzzle and review is yours. When the beta ends, membership will be $4.99 a month, and a free account keeps a daily routine of lines, puzzles and reviews.
- Chess Coach Academy$4.99/mo
- Chessreps PRO$7.99/mo
- Chessly$89.99/yr
- Chessable Pro$11.99/mo + courses
Questions
Good to know
I’m a complete beginner. Is this too advanced?
It’s built for you. Moves are written in plain English by default, the openings are chosen by what beginners and club players really face, and the practice bots start at 400.
Do I need a Chess.com or Lichess account?
No. You only link one if you want Game Review to read your games, and it only needs your username, never a password. You can also paste a single game instead.
How is this different from Chessable?
Chessable is great for memorizing a titled player’s repertoire with spaced repetition. We teach the lines players at your rating actually play, explain every move, let you test them against bots, and then check how they go in your own games.
Where do the opening lines come from?
From real Lichess games played at each opening’s rating band. Lines that rarely appear were cut, and every move and claim that was kept is checked with Stockfish. Read the full method.
Is there an app?
It runs in any browser on your phone or computer, and you can add it to your home screen. There’s nothing to install.
How much does it cost?
Everything is free during the open beta. After the beta, a membership is planned at $4.99 a month, and a free account will keep a daily routine of lines, puzzles and reviews. See plans.
You don’t need to know 60 openings.
You need the ones that decide your games, known well enough that you’re never guessing. Start with one today.