Chess Canonical

Chess Canonical teaches chess the way a coach would: on a board you can touch, not a page you have to read.

Everything works offline. No account, no sign-up, no waiting on a connection.

CHESS FUNDAMENTALS — 12 LESSONS
Start from how each piece moves. Every lesson puts a real board in front of you and lets you try the move yourself, with illegal taps explained rather than ignored. Covers piece movement, captures, check and checkmate, castling, en passant, promotion, and stalemate.

TACTICS TRAINING
A ladder of puzzles that scales with you, sorted into six tiers from Very Easy to Advanced. Forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks, deflection, and mating nets. Your rating moves with your results, and a daily puzzle is waiting each time you open the app.

PLAY AGAINST THE COMPUTER
Five opponents, from roughly 600 to 1700 Elo:

• Beginner (~600) — blunders often, so you can practise punishing mistakes
• Easy (~900) — comfortable practice
• Medium (~1200) — punishes loose pieces
• Hard (~1500) — plays every tactic it sees
• Advanced (~1700) — full strength, no mercy

Choose your colour, flip the board, and take a move back when you need to.

TRACK YOUR PROGRESS
Puzzle rating, lessons completed, activity history, and achievements — all stored on your device.

COMING IN THE NEXT UPDATE
Four full courses are being finished and will arrive soon: Opening Principles, Essential Endgames, Middlegame Mastery, and Classical Games.

Free to use, supported by occasional ads.