The best chess apps (2024)

 

Here are some of the best chess apps you might want to consider:

1. chess.com: offers online games, lessons, videos and puzzles. It's one of the most popular platforms and has a great community.

2. lichess.org: completely free and ad-free. Allows you to play, practice with puzzles, and analyze games. It also has a wide variety of game modes.

3. chess24: offers online games, chess courses, and tournament coverage. Great for those looking for educational content.

4. stockfish: although it's a chess engine, many apps integrate it. It's great for analyzing games and improving your game.

5. play Magnus: designed for playing against different age version of Magnus Carlsen. It also has lessons and challenges.

6. shredder chess: offers a strong chess engine and various difficulty levels, as well as puzles and analysis.

7. chessable: combines learnign with playing. Has a wide variety of courses on openings, tactics, and strategy.

Each one has its own characteristics, so I would recommend trying several to see which one best suits your needs.

World champions in chess 2023

 

Ju Wenjun (Chinese: 居文君; pinyin: Jū Wénjūn, born January 31, 1991 in Shanghai, China) is a Chinese chess player, current Women's World Chess Champion. In March 2017, Ju Wenjun became the fifth woman to surpass an elo ranking of 2600.3 She has won the last four women's world chess championships, in May 2018, November 2018, and 2020. Most recently, Ju Wenjun defended her world champion title in 2023.

Ding Liren (Chinese: 丁立人; born in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China on October 24, 1992) is a Chinese chess Grandmaster. He is the current world champion, having defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi in the 2023 World Chess Championship. In August 2015, he became the second Chinese player, after Wang Yue, to reach the top ten of the FIDE rankings. . Ding is the Chinese player to have achieved both the highest FIDE ranking and the third highest Elo rating.

Castling

 

Castling is a move in the game of chess in which a player moves the king two squares toward a rook on the same rank and moves the rook to the square that the king has crossed. It is the only move in chess in which a player moves two pieces in the same move. 

Castling may be done only if neither the king nor the rook has previously moved, the squares between the king and the rook are unoccupied, the king is not in check, and the king does not cross over or end up on a square attacked by an opposing piece. 

Castling with the king's rook is known as castling kingside or castling short, and castling with the queen's rook is known as castling queenside or castling long; here, short and long refer to the distance the rook moves. The notation for castling, in both the algegraic and descriptive systems, is 0-0 for castling kingside and 0-0-0 for castling queenside.

Castling originates from the king's leap, a two-square king move added to European chess between the 14th and 15th centuries form in the 17th century; however, local variations in castling rules were common, persisting in Italy until the late 19th century. Asian games of the chess family, such as shogi, xianggi, and janggi, but it is commonly included in variants of Western chess.

When castling, the king is transferred two squares toward a rook of the same color on the same rank, and the rook transferred to the square crossed by the king. There are two forms of castling:

- Kingside castling (castling short) consists of placing the king on the king's knight's square (g1 for white and g8 for black) and the rook on the king's bishop's square (f1 for white and f8 for black).

- Queenside castling (castling long) consists of placing the king on the queen's bishop's square (c1 for white and c8 for black) and the rook on the queen's square (d1 for white and d8 for black).

Castling is permissible provided all of the following conditions hold:

- Neither the king nor the rook has previously moved.

- There are no pieces between the king and the rook.

- The king is not currently in check.

- The king does not pass through a square that is attacked by an opposing piece.

- The king does not end up in check. (True of any legal move.)

The real Queen's Gambit

 

The Queen's Gambit is the chess opening that starts with the moves:

1. d4 d5

2. c4

It is one of the oldest opening and is still commonly played today. It is traditionally described as a gambit because White appears to sacrifice the c-pawn; however, this could be considered a misnomer as Black cannot retain the pawn without incurring a disadvantage. Also, this kind of opening is one of the oldest known in chess. It was mentioned in the Göttingen manuscript of 1490 and was later analyzed by Gioachino Greco in the 17th century. In the 18th century, it was recommended by Philipp Stamma and is sometimes known as the "Aleppo Gambit" on his honor. During the early period of modern chess, queen pawn openings were not in fashion, and the Queen's Gambit did not become commonplace until the 1873 tournament in Vienna. 

As Wilhelm Steinitz and Siegbert Tarrasch developed chess theory and increased the appreciation of positional play, the Queen's Gambit grew more popular, reaching its zenith in the 1920s and 1930s, and it was played in all but 2 of 34 games in the 1927 World Championship match between José Raúl Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine. After the resumption of international chess activity following World War II, it was less frequently seen, as many players moved away from summetrical openings, tending to use Indian Defences to combat queen  pawn openings; however, it is still frequently played. 

With 2. c4, White threatens to exchange a wing pawn (the c-pawn) for a center pawn (Black's d-pawn) in order to dominate the center with e2-e4. Note that Black cannot hold the pawn, for example: 1.d4 d5 2. c4 3. e3 b5? (Black tries to guard their pawn but should pursue development with 3...Nf6 or 3...e5) 4. a4 c6? 5. axb5 cxb5?? 6. Qf3! winning a piece. The Queen's Gambit is divided into two major categories based on Black's response: the Queen's Gambit Accepted (QGA) and Queen's Gambit Declined (QGD). In the QGA, Black plays 2...dxc4, temporarily giving up the center to obtain freer development. In the QGD, Black usually plays to hold d5. Frequently Black will be cramped, but Black aims to exchange pieces and use pawn breaks at c5 and e5 to free Black's game.

Technically, any Black response other than 2...dxc4 (or another line with an early ...dxc4 that transposes into the QGA) is a Queen's Gambit Declined, but the Slav, Albin countergambit, and Chigorin Defense are generally treated separately. There are so many QGD lines after 2...e6 that many of them are distinctive enough to warrant separate treatment. The Orthodox Defense and the Tarrasche Defense are two important examples. (See Queen's Gambit Declined for more).

After 1. d4 d5 2. c4:

2...e6 (Queen's Gambit Declined or QGD). This is the main line, with many variations.

2...dxc4 (Queen's Gambit Accepted or QGA). Less popular than the QGD, it nevertheless has a solid reputation. 

2...c6 (Slav Defense). This is a solid response, although many variations are very tactical. 

2...e5 (Albin Countergambit). A sharp attempt by Black to gain the initiative. 

2...Nc6 (Chigorin Defense). It takes the game away from the normal positional channels of the QGD and has been favored by Alexamder Morozevich at the top level; it appears to be playable for Black. 

2...Bf51!? (Baltic Defense). It is an offbeat but playable line.

2...c5 (Symmetrical Defense). This is rarely played; although it has not been definitely refuted, the play seems to favor White. 

2...Nf6?! (Marshall Defense). It named after Frankk Marshall, who first devised the move, he briefly played it in the 1920s before abandoning it. 

2...g6?! (Alekhine idea). White can gain the advantage by 3. cxd5 Qxd5 (3...Nf6 4. Qa4 +/-) 4. Nc3 Qa5 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Bd2 c6 7. e4 Qb6 8. Bc4! Bxd4 9. Nxd4 Qxd4 10. Qb3 Qg7 11. 0-0 +/- (Minev).

Chess and Health

In recent decades there is a boom in the publication of scientific studies and doctoral theses on the contribution of chess in different areas of human life: educational, social and therapeutic. The results of the different studies usually lead to similar conclusions: chess is a cognitive and emotional training that intervenes in the improvement of planning organization, problem solving attention, viso-spatial capacity, memory, emotional intelligence, among others.

Thanks to the advance of science and technology, instruments are being developed that allow us to study both the architecture and the functioning of the human brain, and in our case, it gives us the possibility of knowing the chess brain. I like to higlight the different studies published in the last decade by psychologists and scientific critics Bilalic, M. and Gobet, F. which they conclude how the brain of a chess player works differently from the non-player: 

For example, they checked how the chess players had greater activation of the lower left area of the parietal lobe, the medial para-hippocampal cortex and the fusiform area. The different investigations carried out by the group of Campitelli, G. concluded that playing chess produces a bilateral activation of the cingulum, cerebellum and frontal lobe.

ELO

The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor. The Elo system was originally invented as an improved chess rating system over the previously used Harkness system, but is also used as a rating system for multiplayer competition in a number of video games, association football, American football, basketball, Major League Baseball, table tennis, Scrabble, board games such as Diplomacy and other games.

The difference in the ratings between two players serves as a predictor of the outcome of a match. Two players with equal ratings who play against each other are expected to score an equal number of wins. A player whose rating is 100 points greater than their opponent's is expected to score 64%; if the difference is 200 points, then the expected score for the stronger player is 76%. 

A player's Eo rating is represented by a number with increases or decreases depending on the outcome of games between rated players. After every game, the winning player takes points from the losing one. The difference between the ratings of the winner and loser determines the total number of points gained or lost after a game. In a series of games between a high-rated player and a low-rated played, the high-rated player is expected to score more wins. 

If the high-rated player wins, then only a few rating points will be taken from the low-rated player. However, if the lower-rated player scores an upset win, many rating points will be transferred. The lower-rated player will also gain a few points from the higher rated player in the event of a draw. This means that this rating system is self-correcting. Players whose ratings are too low should, in the long run, do better than the rating system predicts and thus gain rating points until the ratings reflect their true playing strengh.

Arpad Elo was a master-level chess player and an active participant in the US Chess Federation (USCF) from its founding in 1939. The USCF used a numerical ratings system, devised by Kenneth Harkness, to allow members to track their individual progress in terms other than tournament wins and losses. The Harkness system was reasonably fair, but in some circumstances gave rise to ratings which many observers considered inaccurate. On behalf of the USCF, Elo devised a new system with a more sound statistical basis.

Elo's system replaced earlier systems of competitive rewards with a system based on statistical estimation. Rating systems for many sports award points in accordance with subjective evaluations of the "greatness" of certain achievements. For example, winning an important golf tournament might be worth and arbitrarily chosen five times as a many points as winning a lesser tournament.

Chess and Education

Chess is on its way to being implemented in schools, after unanimously approving the non-law proporsal that the PSOE (Spain) has presented in the Education and Sports Commission of the Congress. After this first step, Pablo Martín, deputy who has debated the proposal, explains to Verne that the objective is that this "very useful pedagogical tool that has a very small cost" ends up being a school subject.

Martín himself is fond of chess and, in fact, prepared the proposal with the help of Juan Ramón Galiana, his chess teacher in Mallorca, and Leontxo García, a specialized journalist collaborating with El País and author or a report that summarizes the benefits that He has chess for children. This report recalls that the proposal is not born from scratch: there are already more than 300 public and private schools in chess is a compulsory subject, following the recommendation made in 2012 by the European Parliament.

 1. Help develop intelligence: according to the report by Leontxo García, which collects data from studies published in several countries, "chess children develop more intelligence and achieve better academic results (by 17% on average) than non-chess players, especially in mathematics and reading (precisely the two fields where Spanish students fail most, according to the Pisa Report)". 

To give other examples: a report from the Kasparov Chess Foundation collects the results of various studies that show how chess improves creativity, problem solving, memory and concentration. Another test conducted in serveral Italian schools shows that this game contributes to the improvement of academic performance.

2. And not only intelligence: Miguel López, who has been a chess teacher, explains that this game helps children improve "their ability to concentrate and also to mature. They see that the acts have consequences and this helps them not to be excessively impulsive." For example, rules such as touched piece, played piece help to think before acting.

Leontxo García lists in his report the five intelligences that chess develops (of the eight in the Howard Garner classification): logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, intrapersonal and interpersonal.

3. It is good for the little ones: López points out that you can teach even after three years; "the smaller, the better, because it will influence your ability to reflect and your patience. Although you can't demand that they play a three-hour game."

Leontxo García considers it interesting how it helps preschool children (3-5 years old) "because it shows that - contrary to what the experts maintained until recently - abstract intelligence can be worked before 6 years", which is why Pablo Martín explains that the PSOE (Spain) will propose that "chess enters as a subject in primary education". (Also because "the high school curriculum is more loaded." García mentions the example of the Colombian Adriana Salazar, in whose center in Bogotá "4-year-old children play chess, play the violin and practice taekwondo. It uses the transverse method (teaches geometry and encourages spatial vision, among many other applications), which has also worked well with older children (for example, when explaining universal history in parallel with the history of chess)."

4. It is good for the elderly: "the frequent practice of chess delays and improves brain aging, and could prevent and delay Alzheimer's disease," explains Leontxo García, who describes the game as a "mental gym." 

5. It is a game: the game is the child's way of learning to relate to the world, improves social skills and imagination, and encourages creativity, as well as helping learn social norms and cope with frustration: "in chess you lose, as in any game, and nothing happens," López tells us. 

The fact that it is a game is also an extra motivating factor: "at the outset, it is more fun than a class," notes López, who still remembers that in the lessons he taught (optional), "you could quickly see who He had signed up for interest and who, bound by his parents."

6. But it is not just any game: the game always has positive effects for a child, but chess has other advantages over bridge, for example, which is studied in many universities because of its relationship with mathematics: "there is no luck factor," say López, recalling that the players they do not depend on the distribution of cards or the result of a roll of dice. "And in addition there are many variants. No two chess games are the same." Leontxo García adds that its infrastructure is cheap, that it is universal, that it has more than 15 centuries of history and, above all, that it has "very interesting connections with art, science, computers, pedagogy and psychology". 

Scholar's mate

In chess, Scholar's Mate is the checkmate achieved by the following moves, or similar:

1. e4 e5

2. Bc4 Nc6

3. Qh5 Nf6??

4. Qxf7++

The same mating pattern may be reached by various move orders. For example, White might lay 2. Qh5, or Black might play 2...Bc5. In all variations, the basic idea is the same: the queen and bishop combine in a simple mating attack on f7 (or f2 if Black is performing the mate).

Scholar's mate is sometimes referred to as the "four-move checkmate", although there are other ways to checkmate in four moves. Unlike Fool's Mate, which rarely occurs at any level, games ending in Scholar's Mate are quite common among beginners. It is not difficult to parry, however.

On move 1

After 1.e4, Black can play a semi-open defense instead of 1...e5. Openings such as the French Defense (1...e6) or the Scandinavian Defense (1...d5) render Scholar's Mate unviable, while other openings such as the Sicilian Defense (1...c5) make 2. Bc4 a bad move (1. e4 c5 2. Bc4? e6, intending ...d5, gaining time by attacking the c4-bishop and attaining easy equality).

On move 2

The most common response to the Bishop's Opening (1e4 e5 2. Bc4) is 2...Nf6 (see Bishop's Opening, Berlin Defense), which also renders Scholar's Mate unviable.

On move 3

After 1.e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Qh5, the cleanest way to defend against the mate threat is 3...g6. Should White renew the Qxf7 threat with 4. Qf3, Black can easily defend by 4...Nf6 (see diagram), and develop the f8-bishop later via fianchetto (...Bg7).

Fool's mate

Fool's mate, also known as the Two-Move Checkmate, is the checkmate in the fewest possible number of moves from the start of the game. This can be achieved only by Black, who can deliver checkmate on move 2 with the queen. Fool's Mate received its name because it can only occur if White commits and extraordinary blunder. Even among rank beginners, the mate almost never occurs in practice.

An example of Fool's Mate consists of the moves:

1. f3 e5

2. g4?? Qh4#

Resulting in the position shown. The pattern can have slight variations; Black could play ...e6 or ...e5, and White could play f4 rather than f3. Additionally the order in which White advances their f- and g-pawns could be alternated.

Similar mating patterns can occur early in the game. For example, in 1. e4 g5 2. d4 f6?? 3. Qh5#, the basic Fool's Mate pattern is the same: a player advances their f- and g-pawns, which permits the enemy queen to mate along the unblocked diagonal. One such Fool's Mate is widely reported to have occurred in a possibly apocryphal 1959 game between Masefield and Trinka, which lasted just three moves: 1. e4 g5 2. Nc3 f5?? 3. Qh5#. A similar mate can occur in From's Gambit: 1. f4 e5 2. g3? exf4 3. gxf4?? Qh4#.

Teed vs Delmar

A well-known trap in the Dutch Defense ocurred in the game Frank Melville Teed - Eugene Delmar, 1896:

1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 h6 3. Bf4 g5 4. Bg3 f4. 

It seems that Black has won the bishop, but now comes... 5. e3

Threating Qh5#, a basic Fool's Mate.