Chess
Counterplay
Hand-built, checked puzzles and an opening coach that explains every move: the chess an AI is honestly good at.
- Players
- 1
- Length
- 15–30m
- Ages
- All ages
- Version
- 1.1.0
- Updated
Works with ChatGPT · Claude · Gemini. Free, no signup.
Opens ChatGPT or Claude with the play prompt ready; press send if it hasn't started. Same link on your phone as on your desktop. Another app? Copy the play prompt into it, or, if it can't open links, copy the full game card below. What works where.
No web access, or want it as an installed app?
The game card is the entire game — every scene, rule and answer, about 11k characters. Paste it when your assistant can't browse the web. The Skill installs Counterplay into Claude on any plan: download it, then turn on code execution under Settings → Capabilities and add it at Customize → Skills → + → Upload a skill.
Counterplay is a free chess trainer you play inside ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. Fixed-answer chess puzzles and an openings coach, not a full-strength opponent. Solo, 15–30m a run. No signup and no app — open it in your assistant, or paste the play prompt anywhere else.
How to start
- Open it in your AI. Tap Open in ChatGPT or Open in Claude, and press send, or paste the play prompt into any assistant that can open links. No paid plan required.
- The game loads. Once it loads, say "puzzles" or "openings". Puzzles is the default and opens on CP-1.
- Solve or drill. Work the position or the opening line. The coach explains ideas and nudges you toward the plan.
- Check the answer. Solve it, or give up, and the coach shows the written solution and the one-line reason it works.
Questions
- Can ChatGPT actually play chess?
- Not reliably. Language models predict text rather than legal chess moves, so in a long game they drift into illegal moves and blunders, and in a 2026 benchmark that handed them the full board every turn, even the strongest models still had to be asked to retry illegal or malformed moves. They are genuinely useful for coaching, explaining ideas, and drilling puzzles, which is exactly what Counterplay uses them for.
- Why puzzles and openings instead of a full game?
- Because those are where an AI helps and does not fail. Every puzzle's answer is written on the card, so the coach checks your move against a fixed, known solution, and opening lines are known theory the AI can explain. You get accurate positions and a coach, not a shaky opponent.
- How do you know the puzzle answers are right?
- Every puzzle was hand-built, and every solution has been checked against the Stockfish chess engine: each is the engine's best move or a forced mate. The solution ships written on the card, and the coach reads that fixed answer instead of computing chess, so it grades your move against a checked line rather than inventing an evaluation.
- Do I need to know chess notation?
- No. You can describe moves in plain language and the AI will translate, though standard notation works too. Counterplay meets beginners where they are and still gives stronger players the precise lines and explanations they want.