Chess calculation training: Chessable vs Peekchess

Daniel Kozusek13 Oct 2026 · 4 min

Good chess calculation training needs tactics at your level, and enough of them that you never start remembering answers. Chessable has some of the best chess teaching online, including several courses on calculation, but a course is a fixed set of positions. If your rating is stuck at 1500 and you keep blundering, the level of those positions matters as much as who wrote them. I'm a chess coach and I built Peekchess, so read this knowing that. I've tried to be fair.

Chessable vs Peekchess at a glance

Which Chessable calculation courses are most popular?

• Calculation: A Complete Guide for Tournament Players by CM Azel Chua: 116 puzzles, $29.99.
• Fundamental Chess Calculation Skills by CM Can Kabadayi: 368 lines, $29.99, recommended for beginner, intermediate and advanced players.
• Don't Panic: A Chess Master's Guide to Calculation by FM Martin Kreuzer: 570 lines, $34.99.

1. Does the board move for you?

In a Chessable course the board updates as you play each move of the line, so you can follow it one move at a time. In Peekchess the board freezes and the moves land as arrows: you calculate the whole line without moving a piece, the way a game asks you to. That trains calculation and visualization together. The method, step by step

2. Does the difficulty match your level?

None of these courses rates you. Everyone gets the same positions in the same order, which is how one course ends up recommended for beginners and advanced players alike. A line that stretches a 1200 is easy for a 2000, and one that stretches a 2000 just loses a 1200.

I took over two students from another coach, rated around 1400 and 1600. One had been solving puzzles that were too easy for them, the other puzzles that were too hard. Both had lost their motivation, and both had built a bad habit:

In Peekchess every puzzle is picked near your rating, and your rating moves as you do. The puzzles get harder exactly when you get better. How Puzzles works

3. What happens when the positions run out?

116 puzzles is a few weeks of training. After that you're repeating positions you remember, and remembering an answer is not calculating it. More positions means another course.

Peekchess draws from over 20,000 puzzles, 2 to 12 moves deep, so you rarely see one twice.

4. Is it the same for everyone?

A course is the same for everyone who buys it. Peekchess reads your Chess.com or Lichess games for your report, then gives you a daily lesson of puzzles from the openings you play, at your level.

5. What stats do you get?

Chessable tracks streaks and how far through a course you are. Peekchess gives you detailed puzzle stats, and a free report on where you lose your games.

6. Can you train offline?

On Chessable, offline needs PRO: $11.99 a month on top of the course. In Peekchess it's included: puzzles work offline in the phone app.

Is Peekchess a good Chessable alternative?

• The method: you calculate the whole line without moving a piece.
• Puzzles matched to your rating, getting harder as you improve.
• Over 20,000 puzzles, so it doesn't run out.
• Ten puzzles a day, aimed at what you miss and the openings you play.
• Detailed stats and a free report on where you lose.
• One price, offline included.

When is Chessable the better pick?

• Courses written and explained by strong players, in their own words.
• Buy a course once. No subscription needed.
• Openings and endgames, which Peekchess doesn't teach.

Is a Chessable calculation course worth it?

For a strong player's method, worked through once in order, yes. As daily training it runs out: once you remember the answers, you've stopped calculating.

What makes a good chess calculation trainer?

Puzzles at your level, enough that you rarely meet one twice, and a board that doesn't move for you. Then every puzzle asks for the whole line, the way a game does.

Sources

• Calculation: A Complete Guide for Tournament Players (13 Oct 2026)
• Fundamental Chess Calculation Skills (13 Oct 2026)
• Don't Panic: A Chess Master's Guide to Calculation (13 Oct 2026)
• Chessable PRO (13 Oct 2026)
• Peekchess pricing