3 unpopular but useful features on Chess.com
Chess.com, the largest chess site,offers a wide variety of tools and features to help you improve your chess skills and connect with other chess enthusiasts. In this post, we will introduce you to 5 features on Chess.com that you may not be aware of, but which we believe are incredibly useful for chess players of all levels. Here are 5 features that you may be unaware about, but they are very useful features that can help you get better at chess.
1. Practice
Hidden in the learn > practice navigation bar, this feature is not commonly used and some might not even be aware of this feature.
Click on practice to find it!
Practice makes perfect, and here you find the best tools to practice all areas of the game. Master the opening, perfect your endgame, and play through classic games to become unstoppable.
The "Drill" feature on Chess.com is a training tool that helps you improve your chess skills by solving a series of chess puzzles. You can practise a variety of themes: Attacking, Defending, Endgames , Checkmates and more against a customisable level engine, which you can choose the difficulty of a theme and slowly improve.. It is an excellent way to hone your tactical skills, as it allows you to practice identifying and executing winning combinations on the board. Before you start, you can also take a lesson on Chess.com using the Lessons feature to learn about the drill that you are going to do before practising it. You can also practise your opening theory in this training. This feature is mostly free to all members on Chess.com (Except video lessons). Whether you're a beginner looking to learn the basics of chess or an experienced player looking to fine-tune your skills, the Practice feature has something for everyone. It's a valuable resource for anyone looking to improve their chess skills.
2. Analysis Board
The Analysis Board is a powerful tool that helps you improve your chess skills by allowing you to deeply analyze and study your games. With the Analysis Board, you can explore alternative moves and variations, and see the consequences of each decision in real-time.
This feature can be found in Learn > Analysis
Using a built-in engine in the analysis board (currently Stockfish 15), you can analyse a position by inserting an FEN, analyse your OTB games, or even, just play against yourself in the opening and see if you did anything wrong. If you have Chess.com Premium, you are able to see the top computer moves of each position and you can work on those moves, and get better in the opening. Alternatively, you can do a Game Review in the opening you play. Furthermore, you can annotate your chess games, and even write your opening prep in it, as well as show variations of different lines in your openings. You can also save highlights and arrows!
3. The Opening Explorer for yourself
The Opening Explorer on chess.com is a useful tool for players looking to improve their chess skills, especially in the opening phase of the game. It provides statistical data and performance ratings for different openings, allowing you to see which ones are most successful and how well you have fared with them in the past. By using the Opening Explorer, you can get a sense of the most popular and successful moves in a particular opening, and see how they compare to your own choices. You can also see how well you have done against certain openings, and use this information to adjust your strategy and prepare for future games. In addition to providing statistical data, the Opening Explorer also allows you to explore the underlying ideas and concepts behind different openings. You can see the key pawn structures and piece placements that define each opening, and learn how to use them to your advantage. By understanding the underlying ideas and plans of different openings, you can improve your overall chess understanding and make more informed decisions on the chessboard. It is also like OpeningTree.
Another way to use this is to look at Master Games. Review popular opening moves with Chess.com's Opening Explorer. See what masters and world champions love to play, get opening descriptions, and see how the popularity of openings has trended. You can explore the popularity of different openings using this tool, and study the way how masters play an opening.
@payetteforward made a blog about how to use it the right way: Click here to read
Note: For non-premium users, the opening explorer is only free until move 4. Alternatively, you can use the Lichess database or OpeningTree.
Improving at chess requires a combination of practice, study, and dedication. One of the most effective ways to get better at chess is to play regularly, as this helps you gain experience and learn from your mistakes. Hopefully, these 3 features I shared can also help you get better at chess. However, do not forget to play, game review and puzzles!
Hope this blog is useful to you. Cheers, and have a happy new year.
