LICHESS.ORG is 100% free, it has no ads, so you cannot get a malware (it is malvertising-free). Lichess has all tools for a beginner player as well as for higher ranks. Tons of training and sparring tools, opening explorer, the main forum divided into several sub-forums such as General Chess Discussion, Game Analysis, off-Topics, Lichess Feedback, etc… no paywalls.
There on the Analysis board you can try your moves and see computer evaluation on the top right from the board (green-color slider). Computer, the engine, is Stockfish 17.1 (January 2026) of approximately 2600+, so, there you have more than enough capacity to rely on. Click and drag a piece to its destination square (you can also use the space bar to make the engine play the best move). Once you have done it, you can see the engine’s suggestions for blacks. You can play your own moves and see engine’s numerical evaluation. The positive symbol + favors white and negative numbers favor black (+1.0 means white have the one-pawn advantage; -1.0 means black have the one-pawn advantage). Numbers represent the engine’s evaluation assuming both players play their best moves. There you can build your workhorse opening for white and black (you’ll find the info further in this book).
By hovering over a move string you’ll see the its corresponding position. It allows you to see the position without having to click through the game. This is a great Visualization Skills practice, as well: you mentally move pieces on the board without any help from lichess tools, you imagine the end-up position… then hover over the specific move to see and compare the position with the image you have in your head.
Developing your Visualization Skills is absolutely necessary for you to mentally calculate your moves and moves of your opponent in a life game. To see the end-up position after a few moves mentally played is what you absolutely need to play chess.
Image: collage of Lewis chessmen from Wikipedia
The image above: The gear icon in the top right is your access to the engine (computer) analysis settings. On the image right above I have 3 lines to show me and 8s search time… enough to be sure your analysis is strong enough. The fattest of the grey arrows is the engine’s best suggestion for black 1… e5.
You still don’t know board coordinates? Go top menu – LEARN – Coordinates and get busy with the universal language for communication and study chess:
Click on Quick Pairing and select time for your game.
You begin with provisional 1500 rating for each variant. Lichess will be adjusting your rating after a few of your games played until it is stable.
A beginner player is recommended to play at least 30+0 time-format games.
When you get tired of losing and want to learn more about chess, you can start studying chess in this book.
You can play and study chess on lichess.org on the internet and on your app you can download from the App Store for iOS and from Google Play Store for Android devices.
Welcome to a fascinating journey into the world of chess.
