Checkmate Champ
Learning and science
chess training
SHOW HN2024
192points
39comments
#415of 3,515 in 2024
Top 12%of 2024 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
1 positive, 7 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 10 critical, out of 21 comments about the project. Thread score -0.37.
Design: 0 for, 6 againstIdea: 0 for, 4 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Fun to play and curated puzzles are good
From 2 comments
This is quite fun. I tried the first 5 where you seems to just sac your queen in each. Maybe adding variation in the types of mates could make it more engaging?
tibanne on HNGreat tool! I like that the solution puts you in the eyes of the defender (so you can see all variations of the solution). I didn't really like how the board gets reversed though.
nomilk on HN
Objections
Drag and drop is confusing and misplaces pieces in some browsers
From 4 comments
Other chess apps have the mouse approximately in the center of the piece so that when you drop the piece it's dropped where the piece and the mouse is located. I've accidentally…
colund on HNYeah, strange behavior in Firefox on Mac.
cobrabyte on HNFirefox on windows as well. As soon as I try to drag it, the piece gets much larger and moves left and up from where the mouse is.
matsemann on HNI love curated checkmate training, and I would disagree with the other posters. I would in fact recommend you don't make the training "random", but keep them in line with the…
jurassicfoxy on HN
Random puzzle order is less useful than progression
From 2 comments
Is the goal to give players an engaging experience, or guide them through specific chess material? I had a similar experience to the person above - after a few puzzles where the…
sram1337 on HNThis is quite fun. I tried the first 5 where you seems to just sac your queen in each. Maybe adding variation in the types of mates could make it more engaging?
tibanne on HN
Solution mode is unclear and hard to exit
From 2 comments
One thing I observed during my format analysis was that the solution mode was not very intuitive. It is not clear that the "Reset position" would restart the animation (which…
lifthrasiir on HNI would also like to be able to revert from solution mode to problem mode, and didn’t find a good way to do that.
elygre on HN
Puzzles repeat the same forcing queen sacrifice theme
From 2 comments
Even doing it randomly, I found the content is extremely heavy on "play the most forcing move, ideally sacrificing the strongest piece possible with check". It took me 10+…
dmurray on HNThis is quite fun. I tried the first 5 where you seems to just sac your queen in each. Maybe adding variation in the types of mates could make it more engaging?
tibanne on HN
Requests
Allow illegal moves to do nothing and clearer drag or click-to-place
From 1 comment
I love curated checkmate training, and I would disagree with the other posters. I would in fact recommend you don't make the training "random", but keep them in line with the…
jurassicfoxy on HN
Show chapter or theme context
From 1 comment
Is the goal to give players an engaging experience, or guide them through specific chess material? I had a similar experience to the person above - after a few puzzles where the…
sram1337 on HN
Bigger board on mobile
From 1 comment
Can the chessboard be bigger on mobile? My old eyes need to zoom in and then the other buttons dissapear
bluGill on HN
Clearer button labels instead of arrows
From 1 comment
Instead of using "<<" and ">>" buttons, with instructions and popups explaining these mean next puzzle and previous puzzle, just make that the label on the buttons.
Vvector on HN
Questions
How were positions entered and could games be mined automatically
From 1 comment
> Positions marked "1001" are taken from Fred Reinfeld's 1955 book 1001 Ways to Checkmate. How did you enter these positions into the app? Manually? One idea you can try to avoid…
gurchik on HN
Is the book out of copyright
From 2 comments
I love curated checkmate training, and I would disagree with the other posters. I would in fact recommend you don't make the training "random", but keep them in line with the…
jurassicfoxy on HNIf you don't want to drag, you can click the piece and then click the target square. > Is this book out of copyright now? I think so. The copyright term back then was 28 years,…
Tommah on HN
Why use this over chess.com puzzles
From 1 comment
Why would I use this over the puzzles on chesscom, where the UI is much better, where the puzzles are integrated with social features, where there are many more puzzles and you…
wly_cdgr on HN
Alternatives named
Chess Tempo
From 3 comments
The best app for chess problems I've used is 'Chess Tempo' Really large set of curated problems, which can be divided into particular problem types (e.g. attaction or desperado…
SubiculumCode on HNFor tactics training, one can also check https://chesstempo.com/chess-tactics/
gokhan on HNEven doing it randomly, I found the content is extremely heavy on "play the most forcing move, ideally sacrificing the strongest piece possible with check". It took me 10+…
dmurray on HN
Lichess puzzles
From 2 comments
Isn't that what Lichess already does, plus estimate difficulty based on which bot Elo is required to solve the position? (The OP's site doesn't have difficulty estimates but it's…
ryanjshaw on HNEven doing it randomly, I found the content is extremely heavy on "play the most forcing move, ideally sacrificing the strongest piece possible with check". It took me 10+…
dmurray on HN
Chess.com puzzles
From 2 comments
Why would I use this over the puzzles on chesscom, where the UI is much better, where the puzzles are integrated with social features, where there are many more puzzles and you…
wly_cdgr on HNMeh. There are a TON of good puzzles there, this one is not good, the UI is sluggish. I see the mate, then I should enter it as fast as I can, and not in 6 seconds or so.
bmacho on HN