I first heard of Aimchess in 2021.
The software was all the rage then especially after it was acquired by Magnus Carlsen’s Play Magnus Group in 2021 (It was also recently acquired by Chess.com in 2022).
The software is not as popular as before but it’s still talked about in chess circles and has been used by 100,000+ registered users since inception. That’s huge.
But what is this platform and is it as good as they say it is? Let’s take a deep dive.
What is Aimchess?
Aimchess is a chess platform that tracks the unique playing styles of players to craft the best chess training for every individual.
In simpler terms, the software was created to help players train and analyze their games, whilst getting value from them.
When I talk about value, I’m referencing chess engines which show you the best move with evaluations but do not tell you why a certain move is bad or why a quiet knight move is the best.
This is why Aimchess exists – to bring meaning to your chess improvement journey through its platform with several features.
Let’s see most of the features one by one.
Features Of Aimchess
Advantage Capitalization Trainer
This feature helps you learn how to take advantage of your better positions in chess.
Most chess players tend to blow winning positions because chess is just that complex.
As an amateur or intermediate, you don’t need to beat yourself up when you lose an advantage, because there are elite players who have also squandered advantageous positions.
In October 2022, Levon Aronian squandered a mate-in-one against Duda after thinking for over five minutes! The only way to improve on this problem is to train specifically on how to convert these positions to wins.
Aimchess sees the game from your perspective and crafts the perfect training routine for you.
Opening Improver
You’re bound to struggle throughout the game without a good opening.
It’s advised that players take time to study their preferred openings and refrain from randomly trying out new openings, especially in tournament games.
Aimchess stops you from falling into opening traps and helps you make the best moves that get you up and running in every game.
Practice Visualization
Sometimes, what costs you the game is your inability to recall efficiently. What do I mean?
You know how you resign after you forget about a bishop on a long diagonal—so long that you placed your unguarded queen on that square to deliver a fork via check, then the bishop captures your queen for free…sounds familiar?
If you had remembered the position of the bishop, you’d have done better to find a much stronger move.
Aimchess helps to improve your vision of the board by testing your memory using challenges. This feature helps you train your blind spots so you can avoid huge blunders in games.
Blunder Preventer
Aimchess helps prevent you, in like fashion as the Practice Visualization feature, from making moves that force you to throw in the towel.
Blunders don’t just come in the form of forgetting the position of enemy pieces. Some blunders are well-checked and cross-checked.
But due to poor calculation skills, the blunders are made anyway, especially in the endgame.
Aimchess technology pinpoints the areas where you often make blunders, and gives you the appropriate training on how to avoid blunders.
It simply means that Aimchess gives you the “why” when calculating chess moves accuracy.
360 Trainer
Aimchess tend to remind you of the mistakes you made in your previous games. You get to revisit the areas in the game where poor moves were made, and after finding the moves, you’re made to understand why the best move is the best move.
You can expect corrections in all positions: how to continue an attack, how to tame an attack by your opponent, and how to control the initiative in an equal position.
Intuition Trainer
If you don’t have the ability to make these quick decisions, based on the INTUITION, mostly confidently, then you will miss out on many opportunities because you see dangers that aren’t actually real’
— Former World Champion, Magnus Carlsen.
The World Champion
If the former World Champion and current world #1 says it, then every chess player will do well to heed his words.
The desire to improve intuition is not enough to improve one’s intuition.
Intuition is one of the most difficult assets to train in chess. It’s like knowing when to make a good sacrifice by just looking at the position without any real calculations.
Aimchess will recommend the right dumbbells for training your intuition.
How will this training be executed? Aimchess picks out a sequence of moves made by you and asks you to identify which move or moves were mistakes.
Tactics
What is a game of chess without tactics?
Tactics come in various forms but most are forks and pins. As basic as they sound, they are the most known and most used tactics in all levels of chess skills.
Aimchess sharpens your usage of every tactic, that is knowing where and when to apply them.
Aimchess will also place more emphasis on tactics that you tend to miss more than others.
Retry Mistakes
This feature is like a regular puzzle but of course, personalized.
The puzzles are taken right out of your past games and although the mistakes will be pointed out for you, unlike the 360 Trainer, you’ll still have to search for the best move. With time, you’ll learn to make better moves in future games.
Endgame
As simple as the endgame looks, it is arguably the most complex phase of the game.
A player’s options are greatly lessened and one has to be extremely careful with every move.
The moves in the endgame must be made with laser precision, lest a player lose the game.
Aimchess teaches important rules and theories to be applied in the endgame. The training will cut across rules like corresponding squares, Tarrasch Rule, and so on.
Defender
Aimchess reveals the secrets of the great Iron Tiger (Tigran Petrosian) and Mikhail Botvinnik through this feature.
The Defender feature trains you to defend losing positions and salvage something from the game. With practice, you can design a fortress to frustrate your opponent.
Of course, defending a position isn’t the only aim. As a player defends, they must also look out for counter-attacking moves, in case the opponent relaxes and makes a small mistake.
This feature gives you a heads-up on how to maneuver around some of the most complex positions ever seen in chess.
Aimchess also employs the use of the positions that are most likely to appear in your games.
Time Trainer
Whether it’s playing speed chess or not, every chess player must have the ability to manage their given time.
Time is an important factor in a chess game, and every player must be careful not to slip into a Zeitnot.
Aimchess provides registered players with training that helps improve rapid thinking.
No more wasting precious time pondering on a move that is as obvious as sunlight.
If you’re one player who almost always struggles with keeping up with time, even in classical time controls, then Aimchess will be helpful.
You’ll be trained on how to know when to calculate variations of a position before playing and how to play a good enough move that makes you think on your opponent’s time.
Blindfold Tactics
Blindfold chess is one of the most difficult skills in chess.
We’re all so used to using our sight on the pieces in front of us that the more we look, the less we see.
Sometimes, our eyes betray us. This is when blindfold tactics come into play.
Checkmate Patterns
Playing chess has to do with more than just capturing pieces and decimating your opponent’s material. Checkmate must always carry the highest priority.
In certain positions that look equal, chess players can end the game swiftly with the right combination of moves.
Checkmate patterns are numerous and can be achieved using a partnership of the chess pieces at a player’s disposal.
A rook and a knight can combine for the Anastasia mate, a bishop and rook can combine for the opera mate, and the like.
Furthermore, you get to learn and master these patterns with Aimchess.
Aimchess Pricing
You can simply select one of the three types of subscription plans to use Aimchess. The plans include:
Standard
The standard plan is free and provides you with one 40-game analysis per month, a weekly personalized study plan, one training session, one daily warmup, and unlimited studies.
Premium
This plan goes for just $7.99 monthly, and it has lots of benefits.
- There will be no limits to analysis reports on your games
- You get x2 deeper analysis of your last thousand games online
- Your accounts on other chess platforms like chess24, Lichess.org, and chess.com will be tracked
- You get unlimited daily training, and
- Your statistics page will be available for you to track your progress.
- As a cherry on top, you have the luxury of sharing data with your coach for inspection.
Annual Premium
Lastly, the Annual Premium plan goes for just $4.85 monthly to be paid in one yearly deposit. This plan is similar to the premium plan but cheaper.
Cons Of Aimchess
From the extensive description I just provided, it’s easy to think that I work at Aimchess because of the praises, lol.
Sorry, but the platform is not all roses. First, you should know that it’s not free.
No surprise there as you won’t really see any platform that works this way for free (Lichess is trying to beat the odds though).
According to the site, you’ll have to pay about $8 monthly to gain access to most premium features.
I don’t feel that it’s too pricey but hey, not everyone has the same pockets.
Regardless, I’ll advise that you try it out for a month before getting into it.
You don’t want to get the annual premium only to realize that your expectations were not met at all.
I’ve read other reviews and they complained that it was sort of buggy. This was really common in 2021.
Well, I’m just trying it again since then and I didn’t notice any bugs…guess it’s been worked on.
Should You Subscribe to Aimchess?
If you’re a beginner or even an advanced player who cannot afford a professional coach but needs insights into your games for improvement, I recommend getting it.
But honestly, you’re better off using Lichess for training and play, and showing your games to your master coach so they can tell you what’s wrong and help you. This step is much more practical but also very pricey so be the judge here!
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