An opponent for every level, from ~300 Elo to a full-strength engine.

Play the bot

Opponents range from beginner-friendly up past 2800, either by raw strength or by removing specific pieces from a full-strength engine.

Worth knowing: the handicap bots aren't "weakened" in how they think — they still search around 18 ply, so if a handicap bot's effective Elo still sits above yours, a big material head start is no guarantee of a win. Mid-game, you can ask for the best move for your side, toggle the live evaluation bar on or off, or send the current position straight to the Analysis Board to try out your own ideas for both sides.

Handicap games

Give yourself an edge that scales precisely with how big a head start you actually need.

A handicap game starts like any other — pick your color, or leave it random, and the bot's material deficit sets its effective Elo. Rather than picking only from a preset list, you can also click directly on the board to add or remove any piece except the king; the equivalent Elo rating updates live as you edit the position, which is handy for setting up one very specific practice scenario instead of the nearest preset.

Why a piece-odds engine plays nothing like a "weakened" bot →

Opening trap tutorials

Twenty scripted, trap-heavy openings you can study from either side.

Play into the trap yourself to feel why it works, or defend against it to learn the refutation. Optional narrated autoplay talks you through the key ideas hands-free — a quick way to pick up the handful of traps that actually come up often at club level, rather than working through a full opening encyclopedia.

Explore the rest of the app

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