How to Play Chess by Yourself: 8 Ways to Practise Alone

Can you play chess by yourself?

Chess is a two-player game, but almost all of the work that makes players better can be done alone.

Strong players spend far more time practising alone than playing rated games: solving positions, studying games, preparing openings and analysing their mistakes. If you don’t have an opponent right now, you are not stuck. You just need to pick the right kind of solo practice for what you want to improve.

New to the game? Start with how to play chess and how to set up the board, then come back here.

8 ways to play chess by yourself

1. Play against a computer

   The closest thing to a real opponent. Set the engine to a level where you win some games and lose some.

   Trains: Everything: openings, tactics, endgamesPlay against Stockfish →

2. Play both sides yourself

   Move for White, then turn the board (or move your chair) and play the best move you can find for Black.

   Trains: Seeing the board from both sidesBoard editor →

3. Solve puzzles

   Short, focused positions with one correct answer. The fastest way to improve at tactics.

   Trains: Tactics and calculationPuzzles →

4. Guess the move in master games

   Cover the moves of a famous game and predict each one before you look.

   Trains: Planning and judgementTry it below →

5. Practise openings

   Drill the lines you play until you know the ideas, not just the moves.

   Trains: Your first 10 movesOpening practice →

6. Review your own games

   Go through a game you played and find the moments it turned. An engine shows you what you missed.

   Trains: Fixing your real mistakesGame review →

7. Drill endgames

   Set up a basic ending, such as king and queen against king, and play it out until you can win every time.

   Trains: Converting winsLessons →

8. Analyse positions

   Set up a position from a book or game, decide what you would play, then check it with an engine.

   Trains: Calculation and evaluationAnalysis board →

How to play chess against yourself properly

Playing both sides is the most literal way to play by yourself, and it has one big problem: you always know what the other side is planning. Here is how to get the most out of it anyway.

1. Switch sides physically. After each move, turn the board around or move to the other chair. Looking at the position from the other side really does change what you notice. On a screen, use a board you can flip, such as the board editor.
2. Ask the same question every move: “What is the best move for the side to play?” Not “what fits my plan for White”. Try to beat yourself.
3. Check every move for checks, captures and threats for both sides before you play it. This is the single most useful habit in chess, and solo games are a safe place to build it.
4. Write down each side’s plan in a sentence every few moves. It forces you to think strategically, and you can look back at where the plans changed.
5. Play slowly. There is no clock pressure, so use it: take a minute per move, or even get up between moves.
6. Check the game afterwards with an engine to see which side you played better. Most people find they unconsciously favour one colour.

Playing both sides is best for learning how positions work. For practising decisions under pressure, you need an opponent who can surprise you: a computer or another person.

Playing against a computer

A chess engine is the best stand-in for a human opponent. Modern engines are far stronger than any human, so the trick is to set the level so that games are competitive.

• Pick a level where you win about a third to half of your games. Losing every game teaches less than you’d think.
• Don’t take back moves during the game. Play it out, then review.
• Use a clock sometimes, so you practise managing time. See chess time controls or use our chess clock.
• Start from specific positions to practise an opening or an endgame you keep getting wrong.

You can play against Stockfish here at any strength, and use the move finder afterwards to see what you missed.

Try it: guess the move in a master game

Guessing the moves of a strong player’s game is one of the best ways to practise alone. Here are five moments from Paul Morphy’s famous Opera Game, played in Paris in 1858.

Morphy (White) played against the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard, who chose Black’s moves together, in a box at the Paris opera (game record). Every position and option was replayed with chess.js 1.4.0; all options are legal moves, and the correct answer is the move Morphy played, not an engine evaluation.

How to do this with any game

1. Pick a well-annotated game by a strong player, in an opening you play.
2. Play through the first few moves, then cover the rest.
3. At each move for the side you are “playing”, write down your choice before you look.
4. Score yourself, but focus on why the player chose a different move. That is where you learn.

A simple weekly solo routine

If you want a plan, here is a balanced week built around 20–30 minutes a day:

For a fuller improvement plan by level, see how to get better at chess.

Mistakes to avoid when practising alone

• Only playing fast games against the computer. Speed builds habits, good and bad. Mix in slow games.
• Checking the engine too early. Decide what you think first, then check. Otherwise you train recognition, not thinking.
• Never reviewing. Playing without reviewing repeats the same mistakes.
• Only doing what you enjoy. If you love tactics but hate endgames, the endgames are where the easy rating points are.
• Never playing people. Solo practice prepares you, but real opponents test you. Join a club or play online when you can.

FAQ

Sources and how we checked

• Opera Game, Wikipedia: players, venue (Salle Ventadour, Paris, 1858) and full move list.
• The guess-the-move trainer replays the full game with chess.js 1.4.0, checks that it ends in checkmate on move 17, that every answer option is legal, that 16…Nxb8 is Black’s only legal reply, and that 17.Rd8# is the only mate among the final options.
• The practice advice reflects common coaching practice; it is guidance, not a guarantee of results.