Frequently asked questions

It's difficult to answer this question generally. It depends on your level and what you want to achieve. But to give you an idea:

Beginner

If chess is completely new to you, start with the lessons at the Pawn, Knight, and Bishop levels. This way, you learn the rules and practice tactical skills, laying a very good foundation. 

Somewhat advanced player

If you are somewhat advanced (from Bishop level), it's good to play many games alongside the lessons (this can be done in the Arena, under 'Play') and learn from your mistakes. It's also valuable to learn important opening principles in the opening trainer lessons, such as developing your pieces and fighting for the center. However, tactics remain the most important. At the black level, you will encounter increasingly complex combinations. 

Advanced player

For advanced players, the lesson series from the bronze level are interesting. Here, you learn not only tactical themes but also strategic themes, such as pawn structures. Still, training a lot of tactics is incredibly important. Endgame training also becomes important, as you will increasingly find yourself in endgames with equal material on the board. 

Chessity has developed an entry test that users can take when they create an account. You are presented with a series of exercises where you can indicate what you think is the best move. Based on this, we estimate your level. Do you score high? Then you might start at the black pawn level. You can then skip all lessons at the white level. 

Even after completing the entry test, there are still options to skip lessons. Normally, new lessons must first be 'unlocked' by completing the previous ones. However, for advanced players, it is also possible to unlock lessons. You don't have to unlock lessons first, but can start at a level of your choice.

For individual users:

Go to My account - Account settings and change your current level. Do you want to unlock everything immediately? Then check the option Unlock all lessons .

For users with a student account:

You cannot unlock lessons yourself. Only your coach can do this for you.

Note!

Many (young) players overestimate their own level. They then start with lessons that are too difficult, leading to frustration. Our advice is to be very cautious with unlocking all lessons! Even players who have been playing for one or two years can better start at the beginning. They will quickly go through the lessons until they reach their own level.

Reason 1

The default setting in Chessity is that all lessons are locked. You must first unlock a new lesson by successfully completing the previous one. If you haven't unlocked a lesson yet, you can't continue.

Individual users can unlock all lessons in their account settings. Users with a student account cannot do this themselves. The instructor can do this via Manage student accounts.

Reason 2

You haven't earned enough stars to take a mix lesson. Every fifth lesson in the lesson series is a mixed exercise lesson that reviews the material from the previous four lessons. You must earn a minimum number of stars in those four lessons to take the mix lesson. If you don't have enough stars, you don't master the material well enough and need to earn more stars first.

Reason 3

Your three weeks of unlimited play with your free account are up. A free account offers three weeks of unlimited access to all features, including all lessons, of Chessity. After this trial period, you need a premium account to use everything. With a free account, you can only complete the first five lessons of each lesson level. Your results remain saved. Once you upgrade to a premium account, you can continue where you left off.

Learning chess is just the beginning. Real progress comes from training. Compare it to sports: while learning, you discover new techniques, and during training, you practice those techniques to get better at them. Chessity has developed several training games to help you sharpen your game further. You can find these training games on the Train page.

See also:

• What is Train - Tactics?
• What is Train - Practicing mistakes?
• What is Train - Visualization Practice?
• What is Train - Endgame Mastery?

The Tactics trainer is a real challenge: all lessons are shuffled, so you never know what's coming. Just like in a real chess game, there's always something happening. You constantly practice recognizing unique opportunities in a position.

You can set the level yourself (easy, medium, or hard) or choose a custom setting. Our advice: choose a level just below your playing strength and solve many problems. This way, you learn the most and build routine. Feel free to challenge yourself with a higher level and a little extra time, but don't do this too often. Just like in sports, regular training works best.

Choose your difficulty and click Start. Enjoy your training!

See also: What is Train?

With Practicing mistakes you can correct previous mistakes and learn from them. This training game brings back all the problems you got wrong in lessons, so you can try them again. They don't effect your rating, but they give you the chance to refresh your memory and stay sharp. Click Start and make your mistakes your best teacher!

See also: What is Train?

With the Visualization Practice you train your ability to visualize a chess position in your mind. This is also known as board vision. It helps you to think ahead and follow variations in your head, just like strong club players do.

The exercise works a bit like learning to read: over time, you recognize words at a glance, without having to dissect them letter by letter. With the Visualization Practice you also learn to store chess positions as a whole in your memory and visualize them. This gives you a huge advantage in your games.

Choose a level and click Start. You can train at your own level (TPR) or with different levels mixed together. 

See also: What is Train?

In Endgame Mastery, you practice with the hundred most important endgames, carefully selected by a top grandmaster. This training game is not intended for beginners. You need quite a few diplomas before you're ready for this. But once you reach the level, you'll discover how fascinating and powerful endgame knowledge is, an indispensable skill for the serious chess player.

The endgame has something magical. With few pieces on the board, even a single pawn can often make the difference. If you manage to safely bring that pawn across, you promote to a queen and can win the game, even if you have almost nothing else. At the start of the game, a pawn may not seem worth much, but a strong player knows that a single pawn in the endgame can be decisive. Those who develop endgame mastery learn to convert such a small advantage into a victory. 

Choose a topic and click Start. You can choose between Theory or Studies:

In Theory, you dive into the hundred most important endgame positions, carefully selected by grandmaster Erwin 'l Ami. These positions come directly from real games, making the positions realistic and directly applicable to your own play.

In Studies, you work on artistic exercises, each a masterpiece from the mind of international master Yochanan Afek. These problems are specially designed to surprise you with original and creative solutions, making them different from the endgames you encounter in real games.

See also: What is Train?

That varies per game.

In Frog Race, Space Race, and Castle Assault, you play with challenges at your own level. This means players of different levels can play against each other and it remains exciting, as everyone gets challenges that suit them.

In Worldcup, the challenges are the same for everyone. Here, it's all about speed: whoever solves the puzzle first "takes" it from the other.

The other games each have their own approach:

• Jumping Jack is about mastering the knight. Whoever collects three coins wins. Stronger players often have an advantage here because they can play more strategically, for example by "protecting" coins.

• Gong Chess is a game format where a gong sounds at a random time. The position at that moment determines the winner. Ideal for beginners who still struggle with checkmate, as you can also win by material advantage.

• Blitz (10 minutes) and Rapid (20 minutes) are classic game formats with a time limit. Here, the usual chess rules apply, so level differences become apparent.

• 5 Chess is a unique variant: whoever first wins 5 points of material immediately wins the game.

In short: some games use adaptive challenges at your level, while others are based on fixed rules or equal puzzles.

Chessity uses the standard tables also used by the Chess Federation and the world chess federation FIDE. This system is also known as the ELO rating, invented by the Hungarian physicist Arpad Elo.

We treat each puzzle as if it were a player. If the puzzle is not solved correctly, the puzzle 'wins'. This costs the player rating points, while the puzzle's rating goes up. If the puzzle is solved correctly, the player 'wins' and their rating goes up, while the puzzle's rating goes down. 

This way, you always get puzzles at your own level!

Your regular rating with the KNSB or FIDE gives an indication of your overall strength as a chess player. You earn this rating by playing 'official' games with a classical time control. Wins increase your rating, and losses decrease it.

In Chessity, you have different ratings: when you train tactics, you get a tactics rating, and for endgame training, you get an endgame rating. At Chessity, we aim for tactics ratings to approximate official ratings like the FIDE rating. So, you won't just achieve a tactics rating of 10000. Otherwise, Magnus Carlsen might get very jealous.

With tactics training, you are, of course, practicing only one aspect of the game! Suppose your FIDE rating is 1800, but at Chessity, you have a tactics rating of 1500. Then you are probably better at openings and endgames, and there is still room for improvement with tactics training.

If your Chessity rating is 2600 for tactics, but your actual rating is much lower, then you know that openings, strategy, and endgames are likely your weaker points.

Absolutely! You can do this on the Play page.

From there, you can challenge another player or a robot in the Playroom to:

• Blitz
  • A game with 10 minutes per person for the entire game
• Rapid
  • 20 minutes per person
• Gong Chess
  • Chess without a clock. The gong ends the game if it takes too long. The player with the most material points is declared the winner. 

Interested in a tournament? Join one of our many live events. 

The Playroom is the place where you can play fun chess games against someone else. You can find it on the 'Play' page.

In the Playroom, you go through three steps:

1. find an opponent
2. negotiate which game you want to play
3. let's play!

Let's go through these steps calmly.

1. Find an opponent

In the start screen, you can invite other players to play against you by clicking on the username. Another player can also invite you; you can see this by the cross that appears next to a name (clicking the cross means: reject invitation).

You can always play against a robot. The robots are recognizable by the icons with red names. The robots are adaptive: their level adjusts to that of the player.

2. 'Negotiate' which game you will play

Once there is a match with an opponent, different games appear on the screen that you can play. Then click on the game you want to play. If the other person also wants to play this game and clicks on it, the game starts automatically. If the other person clicks on a different game, you need to 'negotiate' together until you agree.

3. Let's play

Play games (different or the same) against your opponent until one of you no longer wants to play.

In the Playroom, you can play nine different chess games:

1. Blitz: a regular game with 10 minutes per person
2. Rapid: a regular game with 20 minutes per person
3. World Cup: a 'tug-of-war' match for the world cup. Solve chess puzzles with the theme indicated. The player who 'tugs' the world cup towards them wins.
4. Frog Race: a game that also appears in the lessons. Solve chess puzzles to move a frog. The player whose frog reaches the flower first wins. The theme of the exercises is not indicated.
5. Space Race: a game that also appears in the lessons. Solve chess puzzles to make a rocket fly faster. The player whose rocket reaches the finish first wins. The theme of the exercises is not indicated.
6. Castle Race: a game that also appears in the lessons. Solve chess puzzles to make a knight storm a castle. The player whose knight captures the treasure wins. The theme of the exercises is not indicated.
7. Jumping Jack: a game that also appears in the lessons. Collect coins with a knight. The player whose knight collects the most coins wins. This game is a very good exercise for the knight's move.
8. Gong Chess: a chess game where the goal is to earn as many points as possible by capturing pieces within 7 minutes. This game is very suitable for practicing the value of the pieces.
9. 5-Chess: a chess game where you can win not only by checkmating but also by earning five material points the fastest.