Built a free Android tool to train Board Visualization & Knight Geometry (ChessVisualizer) • page 1/1 • General Chess Discussion • lichess.org

Hi all,

Like many players, I’ve always found board visualization to be the biggest bottleneck in my games. Standard tactic puzzles help with pattern recognition, but they don't really train calculating several moves ahead in your mind or feeling piece geometry.

To tackle this, I spent the last few months developing an Android app called ChessVisualizer. It focuses on two specific training modes:

Puzzle Stepback:
You are given a tactical position, but instead of moving immediately, you have to calculate a sequence of moves in your head (with configurable depth, e.g., 2, 3 or 4 moves ahead) and then execute the follow-up on the board without pieces having moved yet.
Knight Pathfinder:
You have to navigate a knight across the board to a target square in the minimum number of moves, dodging enemy threat rays and red danger zones. Great for building intuitive knight vision and avoiding blind spots.
Coordinates Trainer:
60-second speed drills to sharpen algebraic notation recognition.

It’s completely free on Android and just launched:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.misaelbroertjes.chessvisualizer

I’d love to hear from other players:

What visualization depth do you find most challenging in Stepback?
Are there specific drills you’d like to see added in future updates?

Thanks for checking it out!

Hi all, Like many players, I’ve always found board visualization to be the biggest bottleneck in my games. Standard tactic puzzles help with pattern recognition, but they don't really train calculating several moves ahead in your mind or feeling piece geometry. To tackle this, I spent the last few months developing an Android app called **ChessVisualizer**. It focuses on two specific training modes: 1. **Puzzle Stepback:** You are given a tactical position, but instead of moving immediately, you have to calculate a sequence of moves in your head (with configurable depth, e.g., 2, 3 or 4 moves ahead) and then execute the follow-up on the board without pieces having moved yet. 2. **Knight Pathfinder:** You have to navigate a knight across the board to a target square in the minimum number of moves, dodging enemy threat rays and red danger zones. Great for building intuitive knight vision and avoiding blind spots. 3. **Coordinates Trainer:** 60-second speed drills to sharpen algebraic notation recognition. It’s completely free on Android and just launched: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.misaelbroertjes.chessvisualizer I’d love to hear from other players: - What visualization depth do you find most challenging in Stepback? - Are there specific drills you’d like to see added in future updates? Thanks for checking it out!

RemRus

Can you check out my blog? Visualization of moves using arrows without moving pieces.

ThaMies

@RemRus said ^

Can you check out my blog? Visualization of moves using arrows without moving pieces.

Sure, can you point me where to find it?

@RemRus said [^](/forum/redirect/post/VZ9Z9jN8) > Can you check out my blog? Visualization of moves using arrows without moving pieces. Sure, can you point me where to find it?

RemRus edited

@ThaMies said ^

Thanks for checking it out!

Strange. I played 10 tasks for the horse (too simple, maximum 3 moves) and now I can’t solve the problems because time has run out.
Dark cells are too dark, dark figures are not visible.
When I make the first move, the program goes to the last one.

@ThaMies said [^](/forum/redirect/post/cvrL1PoD) > Thanks for checking it out! Strange. I played 10 tasks for the horse (too simple, maximum 3 moves) and now I can’t solve the problems because time has run out. Dark cells are too dark, dark figures are not visible. When I make the first move, the program goes to the last one.

ThaMies

Thank you for the feedback. I will look into it. :)

RemRus

It seems to me that the moves should be shown in squares in one line. Not vertically. The color of the frame can indicate the color of the piece, so that there is no need to show text hints.