ChessTactics
Learn each tactical motif on a path, then find it in your own games.
ChessTactics at a glance
| Price | Free · from $39 one-time |
|---|---|
| Free tier | Yes |
| Platforms | Web, Android |
| Best for | Beginner (0 – 1200), Intermediate (1200 – 1800), Advanced (1800 – 2200) |
| Publisher | ChessTactics |
| Website | chesstactics.app |
| Launched | 2026 |
| Last reviewed |
About ChessTactics
ChessTactics is a web-based tactics trainer that treats motifs as a curriculum rather than a random puzzle feed. Each of forty motifs (fork, pin, skewer, discovered attack, back-rank mate and the rest) is a chapter of lesson, drill and test on one continuous path, with the puzzles drawn from the Lichess database and verified move by move on the server. A rated gym serves puzzles at your level with the theme hidden, so you have to spot the pattern instead of being told which one to look for; a practice mode lets you pick a motif and a difficulty band; a puzzle-rush sprint (3 minutes, 5 minutes or survival) has its own leaderboards. A game scanner runs your recent Lichess or Chess.com games through Stockfish and names the tactics you missed by motif, then replays them until you find them. Built by ChessDir's editor; disclosed here for transparency.
The verdict
Disclosure first: ChessTactics is built by ChessDir's editor. The listing follows the same template and the same standards as every other app here, and the cons above are the ones a competitor would raise.
The pitch is structure, not volume. Lichess offers five million free puzzles with a theme filter, and Chess.com has Puzzle Rush, a puzzle rating, and puzzles from your own games behind Diamond. What neither does is treat a motif as something to be learned and then verified cold. ChessTactics gives each motif a chapter of lesson, drill, and test on one continuous path, and the gym hides the theme so the pattern has to be spotted rather than named in advance, which addresses the bias Lichess itself documents: solving by theme overstates real recognition. The scanner is the other half. It walks a Lichess or Chess.com account through Stockfish, names each missed tactic by motif, and turns it into a drill from the player's own game with a review schedule.
The reasons to hesitate are age and scope. It launched in 2026, there is no iOS app and no language other than English, and it trains one phase only. The free tier is generous at twenty rated puzzles a day, but a player who only wants unlimited puzzles is better served by Lichess for free. For a player between roughly 800 and 2200 who keeps missing the same pattern in games despite a healthy puzzle rating, the path plus scanner loop is the specific thing on offer, and the one-time $39 is a reasonable price for it.
Pros
- A real curriculum: every motif is taught, drilled and tested in order, not served at random.
- The gym hides the theme, so pattern recognition is trained the way it is needed in a game.
- Game scanner names the tactics you missed in your own Lichess or Chess.com games, by motif, and turns them into drills.
- Every move is verified on the server; the client never holds the solution, so the rating means something.
- A miss comes back the next day, then three days later, then a week later, until it is solved on schedule three times.
Cons
- Web and Android only - no iOS app yet.
- English only.
- Single-phase trainer: tactics only, so it complements a play platform rather than replacing one.
- Very young product (launched 2026); smaller community than Chess.com or Lichess puzzles.
- Editorial conflict of interest: built by ChessDir's editor (disclosed in description).
Features
Pricing
- Pro Lifetime$39 /one-time
Free tier includes the first two sections of every motif course, 20 rated gym puzzles, 10 practice puzzles and 3 sprint runs a day, the daily puzzle, the review queue, and a scan of your 20 most recent games. Pro is a single one-time payment (no subscription): the third section of every course, no daily caps, and the scanner on more of your games. The $39 lifetime price is a founder offer (regular $59) limited to the first 100 seats.