The chess-skill gym other apps don't run.
Six exercises that build into each other, plus a daily habit loop. The goal isn't more puzzles — it's the underlying skills that make puzzles, openings, and Maia sparring possible.
Sight before tactics.
Tactics depend on seeing the board. A motif you can't see is a motif you can't play. Our drills build the substrate: knowing every square's colour, the geometry of knight paths, the ability to hold a position in your head while you calculate.
Most apps assume you can already do this. Many of their users can't, and quietly plateau.
Short, daily, additive.
Each session is 5–10 minutes. You finish three drills in the time it takes to scroll Twitter at breakfast. The streak meter and XP system are there because habit beats intensity — every published study, and every coach worth listening to.
Six exercises, in order.
Each one feeds the next. You don't have to do them in this order, but it's the order they were designed in.
Square Color Beginner
Name the colour of any square instantly. Foundation drill: the board's geometry without the pieces.
Tap the Square Beginner
Hear a coordinate, tap it on a blank board. Builds fluency with the algebraic system.
Visualization Intermediate
Move a piece in your head, then answer a question about the new position. Mental simulation, drilled.
Notation Intermediate
Read a short sequence of moves and answer where pieces ended up. Fluent algebraic reading.
Blind Tactics Advanced
See a position for three seconds, then solve a tactic from memory. Calculation under realistic pressure.
Blindfold Advanced
Play a full game without seeing pieces. The endpoint. Most players never need to be this good — but it makes you better.
Daily XP, streaks, and a routine you can keep.
A small daily target beats a big weekly one. Pawnther gives you a 10-minute set every day, a streak meter that forgives one miss per week, and a weekend "deload" mode where the bar is half the size.
- Daily target: 10 minutes, three exercises
- XP curve that doesn't punish missed days harshly
- One streak freeze per week, automatic
- Weekly review: what improved, what didn't
Where you struggle on the board
Darker = slower or less accurate in drills.
Ten minutes today.
Open Square Color, set a 3-minute timer, hit "begin". You'll be using a real chess-trainer routine in less time than this paragraph took to read.