The AxiomChess Blog
Data-honest writing on getting better at chess — analyzing your own games, finding the weaknesses that actually cost you rating, and what the engine really says.
What Is a Brilliant Move in Chess? The Gates a Move Has to Pass
A brilliant move is a real sacrifice that is also the engine's best move, leaves you no worse, and was not already winning. Every gate, with the numbers.
Aggressive Chess Openings, Measured: Which Ones Actually Make Club Opponents Go Wrong
We ranked 70 openings by the share of club opponents at each rating who reach them and go wrong in the first 15 moves, and what it costs them.
Lichess Rating vs Chess.com Rating: The Gap, With Actual Numbers
Chess.com ratings run roughly 300 points below Lichess at club level. Here is the honest conversion table, where it comes from, and where it breaks.
How Does a Chess Clock Work? Presses, Flags, and Time Controls
Two linked timers, only one ever running: how pressing works, what 10+5 and 40/90+30 actually mean, and why increment and delay end games differently.
Chessigma Alternative: An Honest Head-to-Head
Chessigma is genuinely good free analysis. Where the free tier stops, depth-14 verdicts, no memory between games, is where the alternatives differ.
How to Learn Chess Openings: Fewer Lines, Learned for Keeps
Openings are a memory problem before they are a chess problem: a few sound lines, ideas attached, reviewed on a spaced schedule until recall is automatic.
Do Chess Puzzles Actually Help? Yes, If They're Sound and Matched to Your Games
Puzzles work under two conditions the skeptics are right about: the puzzles must be sound, and they must connect to the mistakes you make in real games.
Chess Analysis Depth: What We Measured, and Why We Changed Our Minimum
We measured mistake detection at every Stockfish depth from 10 to 24, then tested the network against the depth. The second test moved our minimum.
How to Find Your Chess Weaknesses (Pattern, Not Accident)
A chess weakness is what repeats across your games, not your worst single moment. The systematic version: a fixed sample, explicit rules, honest counts.
The Chess Eval Bar, Explained: What It Measures and When to Trust It
The eval bar compresses an engine's search into one number in pawn units. What centipawns are, how they become winning chances, and when to distrust the bar.
AI Chess Coaches in 2026: What Makes the Judgment When One Calls Your Move a Mistake?
AI chess coaches differ on one question: what makes the judgment when your move is called a mistake? A field guide, and why our coach isn't an LLM.
How to Get Better at Chess: Fix the Thing That's Actually Costing You
Most chess advice is generic because it wasn't written about your games. A diagnosis-first plan: what to work on, in what order, and how to know it worked.
The Best Chess Analysis App in 2026: An Honest Comparison
No single chess analysis app wins for everyone. The criteria that actually separate them, disclosed depth, both-sides review, and what happens next.
What Is a Good Chess Accuracy? How the Number Is Made, and When It Lies
There is no universal good accuracy, the number measures the game as much as the player. How accuracy is computed, when it misleads, and what to track instead.
Lichess vs Chess.com: An Improvement-First Comparison
Both are fine places to play, improvement lives in the after-game loop. Where they really differ: openness, analysis access, and who controls your data.
How to Convert a Winning Position in Chess (and Find Your Conversion Leak)
Winning positions fail in predictable ways: vigilance drops, goals invert, counterplay lives. How to convert, and how to tell if this is your measurable leak.
Aimchess Alternatives in 2026: What Happened, and Where to Go Now
Aimchess is Chess.com-owned, its iOS app last updated in June 2024, and its site still sells subscriptions. The verifiable story, and honest alternatives.
How to Stop Blundering in Chess: Install the Check, Then Find the Pattern
Blunders are not an ability gap, they are a skipped check. The pre-move habit that prevents them, and how to find where your blunders cluster.
Chess Time Management: Your Clock Data Already Knows Which Mistake You Make
Losing on time is an allocation problem, not a speed problem. The three clock mistakes club players make, and how your own games reveal yours.
Why Am I Not Improving at Chess? You Don't Have a Ceiling. You Have a Leak
Most chess plateaus aren't a talent ceiling, they're one recurring leak repeating across your games. Here's how to find yours and fix it.
Chess Game Review, Explained: What the Numbers Tell You, and What They Hide
What a chess game review actually tells you, how to read the numbers honestly, and the free tools worth using, from someone who builds one.
Reading about improvement is the easy half. See what your own games say.
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