Getting Started with Chess365: Your First Mate in 2

A book of mate problems works like this. You look at the diagram, you work out a line, and then you check the answer at the back. If your first move was right but you missed a defence on move two, the answer key will not tell you which defence. Chess365 has no answer key. You play the moves, Black replies, and the board shows you what happens. This post walks through the first ten minutes.

What Is Chess365?

Chess365 is a daily chess puzzle app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Each puzzle is a mate problem: you play White, White moves first, and you have to checkmate the black king within the number of moves given. The app holds 4,000 puzzles, 1,000 each at mate in 2, 3, 4 and 5. It works offline, needs no account, and has no ranking.

It is the chess sibling of Shogi365 and Sudoku365, and it follows the same design: one puzzle a day and a streak to keep.

Step 1: Read the Four Pages of How to Play

On the home screen there is a HOW TO PLAY button. It is four short pages, and I would read them even if you already play chess, because they explain what this board expects of you.

The short version: find the moves that mate within the count shown. In a mate in 2, your second move must be mate whatever Black replies, and the first move is often a quiet one that gives no check. Black answers each of your moves with the toughest defence. Stalemate is a draw, not a win. You tap a piece, then its destination.

Those four pages do not teach how the pieces move. If you are still learning that, StudyX Mindsports has beginner chess lessons, and Chess365 will make more sense afterwards.

Step 2: Start at Mate in 2

Tap NEW PUZZLE and you choose a difficulty. Easy is mate in 2, Medium is mate in 3, Hard is mate in 4, and Expert is mate in 5.

Start with Easy, even if you play at a club. Mate in 2 is where you learn how the app behaves, and that is quicker to learn on a short puzzle. Moving up is a tap away whenever you want it.

Step 3: Play the Move You Believe In

Here is the part that is different from a book. The board accepts any legal move, right or wrong. It does not have to be a check, and it will not stop you from making a mistake.

After your move Black thinks for a moment and answers. While your line still forces mate, Black defends as well as it can. Once your line no longer forces mate, the king escapes. So a wrong idea does not produce a red cross. It produces a king walking out of the net, which is what would happen in a real game.

If the moves run out without mate, the puzzle fails. If Black is left with no legal move and is not in check, that is stalemate, and it fails too. You can retry from the start up to three times, and when the retries are used up you can watch an ad to refund them.

When a pawn reaches the last rank, the app asks which piece it becomes: queen, rook, bishop or knight. Usually it is the queen. Sometimes it is not, and the under-promotion is the solution. Castling never comes up, because the puzzles do not allow it.

Step 4: Use a Hint Without Giving Up the Move

Stuck on a move is different from stuck on a puzzle. For the first kind, press HINT. The piece to move and the square it goes to blink on the board. You still make the move yourself.

You start with ten hints. You earn another each time you solve the daily challenge, and you can also watch an ad for one. A hint on the last move of a mate in 2 teaches you very little. A hint on the first move of a mate in 4, after you have really tried, often shows an idea you had not considered.

Step 5: Solve the Daily Challenge

The home screen has a DAILY CHALLENGE button. Everyone in the world gets the same puzzle on the same day. The date is counted in UTC, so in Japan the new puzzle arrives at 9 in the morning, not at midnight.

The daily puzzle is a mate in 2, 3 or 4, never Expert. Solve it and your streak grows, and the home screen shows your last seven days. Solving it also earns you one hint.

Step 6: Set the Board Up the Way You Like It

Settings has a few choices worth a look on the first day.

Board colors. Wood, Green or Blue. This is only about what is pleasant to look at for a few minutes.

Show legal moves. On by default. The squares a selected piece can move to are marked. It helps while you are getting used to the board. Seeing those squares yourself is part of the exercise, so you may want it off later.

Theme. Light, Dark, or System to follow your device. There are also Play reminders, which send a notification on the days and times you choose.

What to Expect in the First Week

The STATS screen shows, for each difficulty, puzzles completed, best time and average time. In the first week the numbers will be modest, and that is fine. A good first week is a streak of daily puzzles and a few Easy puzzles on top.

If a puzzle is interrupted, the app remembers it, and CONTINUE takes you back to the same position.

Where to Go Next

Once the first puzzle is behind you, see how it compares with other ways to practise mates, pick up practical tips for daily use, or see who the app is for. If checkmate patterns are new to you, the beginner’s guide to checkmate puzzles is a good companion. All related posts are under the Chess365 tag.

Today’s puzzle is waiting, and it is the same one everyone else is looking at.