Stop training what you already know
Spend the session on the patterns and obstacles that actually stop you, instead of the ones you would have solved anyway.
Adaptive tactics training
Turn the tactics you miss into the tactics you see.
Skill Compass identifies the tactical idea holding you back, builds a short practice ladder around it, and checks that you can solve a fresh position without help.
Free and unlimited No credit card · Start immediately
- 26,000 puzzles, rated 800 to 2400
- 8 tactical skills, tracked separately
- Free unlimited sessions
- Weakness found →
- Targeted practice →
- Passed on a new position
One Missed Puzzle Becomes a Focused Lesson
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Discover
Solve mixed puzzles at your level, with nothing labeled.
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Identify
Skill Compass narrows down what actually stopped you.
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Rebuild
Practice that idea, from plain recognition up to full complexity.
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Prove
Solve an unseen version of it with no help at all.
Random Puzzle Feeds Adapt the Rating. Skill Compass Adapts the Lesson.
- The track always says which of the four you are in, so a session never feels like a random feed.
- Nothing about a position is named before you answer it.
Know Exactly What to Practice Next
Build recognition that transfers
See the same idea with different pieces, in a different part of the board, at rising levels of complexity — until it is the idea you know and not the picture.
Watch weaknesses become strengths
Every tactical pattern gets its own reading, based on what you can solve unaided. You can see which ones are moving.
See the Moment a Weakness Becomes a Strength
- The line is the rating you solve at with no help at all.
- Green marks a tactic that moved up in a session; red marks one that slipped. Hover for which tactic, and by how much.
- Eight patterns, weakest first, each showing how many puzzles it is based on.
- This is the list your next session works down.
What a Finding Looks Like
An example of the kind of thing a session turns up, and what it does about it.
- The finding
- You recognize direct discovered attacks, but you keep missing the quiet move that creates one.
- Where it stopped you
- A discovered attack rated 1510.
- Targeted practice
- 9 positions, rebuilding the idea from its plainest form upward.
- Unseen test passed
- A position you had never seen, rated 1640, solved with no help.
An illustrative example. Your own findings are named the same way, in the same plain terms.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this different from normal puzzle training?
A puzzle feed adapts the rating: miss one and the next is easier. Skill Compass adapts the lesson. When a puzzle stops you it follows up with a few closely matched positions — the same tactic on a quieter board, then the move that sets it up — to work out which part actually broke, and then builds a short practice ladder around that one thing.
Is it free?
Yes, and unlimited — like almost all of ChessLogix. Train as long and as often as you like, on any account. The only paid features anywhere on ChessLogix are AI Move Explanation and Meta-Coach, and Skill Compass needs neither.
Do I need to import my games?
No. Skill Compass works from a bank of 26,000 puzzles, so you can start a session immediately. Importing your games opens up the rest of the free platform — game analysis, opening work, and puzzles built from your own critical positions — but nothing here needs it.
Which tactical patterns are covered?
Eight, each tracked separately: forks, discovered attacks, pins, skewers, X-rays, deflection, removing the defender, and attraction or decoy. Every one of them is covered right across the 800 to 2400 range, so there is always a suitable follow-up position at whatever level stopped you.
Do I need an account?
Yes, a free one. Your sessions and the picture Skill Compass builds of your tactics belong to your account, so there is nowhere to keep them without signing in. No card required.
How does it decide my rating for a tactic?
From the puzzles you solved on your own, with no theme shown and no hint taken. Practice positions are deliberately made solvable, so counting those would only tell you the puzzles got easier. Your rating reflects what you can find unaided — which is the only version of it worth having.
Find Your Next Tactical Breakthrough
Start with a few mixed puzzles. The moment Skill Compass spots something worth training, it builds your first focused practice ladder around it.