Your first week with an AI chess coach

A coach is only as useful as the routine you build around it. The first week is where that routine forms, so here is a simple plan for it: about twenty minutes a day, no prior study needed, and nothing to pay: everything below is free. Skip days if you need to; the coach picks up where you left off.

Day 1: Meet your coach

Your first visit is a chat, not a menu. The coach asks whether you've played before, how often, and whether you've solved puzzles. Answer honestly. If you play, it offers a few placement puzzles: do your best, but don't worry about getting them all. They only shape the plan, and you can show the answer if one stumps you.

At the end you get a plan: where to start in Learn, which puzzles to train and how strong your Chess AI opponent should be. If it feels too easy or too hard, tap Easier or Harder. That moves everything along together.

Today's goal: finish the chat and accept a plan.

Day 2: One lesson, one question

Open the first step your plan suggests. Work through it, and when you reach a move you don't understand, open the coach and ask about it. The coach knows which position is on your board, so "why this move?" is enough.

Today's goal: one lesson and at least one question.

Day 3: Your first guided game

Start a game against the Chess AI at the strength your plan suggests, and turn on Guided. For this first game, tap to see the options each move and read the reasons as you go. Notice how often the best moves share a theme: developing a piece, meeting a threat, putting pressure on something loose.

If you've played a fair amount already, use Think first properly: choose your move before you tap, then compare. We explain why in guided play without autopilot.

Today's goal: one guided game, win or lose.

Day 4: Puzzles at your level

Go to Train and solve puzzles. Your plan points them at the themes that got away in your placement, and the difficulty follows your puzzle rating. When you miss one, ask the coach what the idea was before moving on. The pattern matters more than the specific move.

Today's goal: ten puzzles, and one question about a miss.

Day 5: Drill one line

Pick one opening line from your lessons and drill it. The bot plays the other side and corrects you the moment you drift. Don't try to learn a whole repertoire; one line you know well is worth more than five you half remember. Spaced repetition will bring it back just before you'd forget.

For the thinking behind this, see how to study openings without memorising everything.

Today's goal: drill one line until you get it right twice in a row.

Day 6: Review a game with your coach

Open the game from day 3, or play a new one. Go through the walkthrough, which stops only where something happened. At each stop, before you read the coach's note, ask yourself what you were thinking. Then read it. Where you disagree, ask.

Finish by writing down, in one sentence, the single idea you most want to remember from the game. Our review routine has more on this.

Today's goal: one full review and one sentence.

Day 7: Ask your coach what's next

Open the coach and ask, "What should I work on next?" By now it has your placement, a game or two, your puzzles and your drills to go on. Its answer comes with the lesson, puzzle or position right beside the chat, so you can start straight away.

Today's goal: a plan for week two.

After the first week

The shape of a good week stays the same: a lesson or two, puzzles most days, a line to drill, and one or two guided games with a review. The coach's suggestion on Home is there when you don't know where to start. Three habits matter more than any schedule:

• Ask when you don't understand. The coach doesn't mind the same question twice.
• Think before you look. Choose your move before you tap for the options.
• Review what you play. Your own games are the best study material you have.