People have been playing the game of chess for over 1,500 years, yet we are still finding new ways to improve how we strategize and execute game plans.
The rise of free chess apps, global competitions on Twitch, and pop culture trends only fueled the fire; the reality is more people are playing chess today than ever before.
Are you intimidated by chess? Not sure what the pieces do? Do you think you have to be Magnus Carlsen's better to play? Think again! We've put together five of the best free chess apps that you can use to learn chess on your iPhone or Android.
1. Learn Chess With Doctor Wolf
Learn Chess With Doctor Wolf is a great app for beginners and intermediate players; advanced players won't find much here besides a solid refresher course.
For those looking to become advanced, or even just brush up on a skill or two, the Lessons page is your best friend. Here you'll find specific areas of the game to focus on such as How to Castle and Connecting Your Rooks.
The lessons are sorted into Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced sections, though you can start anywhere you want and jump around as you please (save for a few Advanced lessons which have prerequisites).
If you'd rather just play chess against an amiable AI, you can do that too. The Game page will always allow you to play chess for free.
If you sign up for the unlimited coaching subscription, Dr. Wolf will analyze your moves and teach you to improve in real-time. You can demo three free games with coaching—after these three games, you'll still be able to play chess against Dr. Wolf but he won't give you helpful tips during play.
If you tap the three dots to the right of the Undo button, you'll find a list of actions and options. You can Adjust the strength of play if you feel things are too easy or too difficult. One of the most interesting features is Train with Dr. Wolf, where he'll look at your past moves and produce specific custom scenarios for you to improve on.
Don't like Dr. Wolf? Get rid of him. Select coach allows you to swap him out for three other personalities who also happen to be a doctor with the last name Wolf.
If you head to the Home page and tap the three dots in the top right, you'll have access to your Stats and Achievements where you can see info like how many games you've played and won, how many moves you've made, and how many lessons you've completed.
Download: Learn Chess With Doctor Wolf for iOS | Android (Free, subscription available)
2. Magnus Trainer
Perhaps you've heard of Magnus Carlsen, world-renowned chess grandmaster and World Chess Champion. Magnus Trainer was developed to coach anyone and everyone to play more like Magnus.
The Course page takes you all the way from the basics of moving pieces to advanced strategies you can use to pummel your friends and family.
You'll have to complete these in order unless you sign up for the membership subscription, though you can choose whether you start with Basics, Easy, Medium, or Hard. There's a tip from Carlsen at the start of each lesson which briefly goes into the material you'll learn.
The Games page, separated into Foundation, Tactics, and Calculation, lets you play mini-games that get you acquainted with the pieces and solve chess puzzles to improve your situational awareness and overall chess knowledge.
Lessons is a treasure trove of information on any aspect of the game you'd want to review. While there are a host of lessons available for free, many are only included with the membership subscription.
The lessons are broken down into different categories of game concepts, such as the Opening moves and Endgame strategy.
The You section displays a graph of your statistics in each area of play. This is helpful to see which areas you ought to improve in and how far you've come over time.
Download: Magnus Trainer for iOS | Android (Free, subscription available)
3. lichess
No matter how many lessons you take, you still need to play the game of chess to improve—lichess is a great free option to play chess online from your iPhone or Android, especially since all of lichess' features are completely free to use!
The Home dashboard might look intimidating to new users; don't worry, we'll break it down a bit. Quick Pairing, the header containing the table with labels like 1 + 0 Bullet and 3 + 0 blitz, will put you in a multiplayer game based on the rules you choose.
Not sure what these mean? Bullet, Blitz, Rapid, and Classical refer to the amount of time each player has when making their moves. Blitz is most often a three-minute time limit per turn, for instance. The numbers such as 1 + 0 refer to the time allowed per turn and the increment of time added to your clock when finishing a turn respectively.
So 10 + 5 would mean each player gets 10 minutes to complete their turn, and the difference of five seconds added to the clock when they complete their turn (time is only added if you took less than five seconds to make your move. If your turn takes three seconds, the remaining two seconds will be added to your clock.)
You can create a game, play with friends who have lichess, or play with a computer.
Scroll a bit further down and you'll see the puzzle of the day. This is a fun way to improve on aspects of the game you may not have even thought about getting better at.
Tapping the Menu button in the top left will show a list of other features available on lichess. Tap on Puzzles to get a random scenario. Study gives you access to a world of information; you can learn about real-world strategies such as the Sicilian Defense and the Queen's Gambit.
Watch lichess TV will show you a live broadcast of high-ranked players (usually Grandmasters) battling it out on the chessboard. Watching others play is an excellent way to learn new moves, recognize mistakes and learn to capitalize on them, and understand how others construct their gameplans.
Analysis and Board Editor allow you to build any scenario you want. This is particularly helpful coming off a losing game—you can rebuild the board and find out what mistakes you made that lead to a loss. Clock is a simple chess clock for playing in person.
No internet connection? No problem. You can play offline against a computer or set up a board to play against yourself or a friend.
Download: lichess for iOS | Android (Free)
4. Chess
Chess from Chess.com is another outstanding app for playing chess online. You'll find the usual methods of play such as playing online, playing against a computer, and puzzles to train your brain.
You'll also find some valuable features unique to Chess like the Videos page which holds a plethora of videos put together by highly ranked chess players that focus on specific areas of the game.
The Forums are a place for players to ask questions and share information regardless of skill level. Want to see expert-level game analysis or learn the solution to that puzzle you can't seem to get past? The forums are where you need to be.
The Drills page lets you choose an area of the game to work on like King and Two Pawns vs King and pits you against a computer in that layout.
Download: Chess for iOS | Android (Free, subscription available)
5. Chess Tactics Pro
Chess Tactics Pro is a simple app for those who just want puzzles to solve. Instead of a bunch of extra bells and whistles, Chess Tactics Pro focuses on doing the basics well.
The Daily tab updates with six fresh puzzles (two each in Easy, Medium, and Hard) every day. The Puzzles page has over 300 puzzles for you to choose from. When playing any puzzle, you can tap Analyze in the top right to see what the correct moves are or the question mark symbol in the bottom right to get a hint.
Progress generates a puzzle to match your current skill level—wins increase your Elo rating while losses decrease it.
Play the puzzles and implement the solutions you find into your games! The amount you improve is limited only by the practice you put in.
Download: Chess Tactics Pro for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)
More Ways to Improve Your Chess Game
You've got a list of quality mobile apps to get started learning chess, but it's always a good idea to be on the lookout for new ways to practice and play.
Aside from mobile applications, desktop web apps offer a wealth of information and exclusive features for improving your game.