Version 3.

0 is being created by DMHokie and Kostya, hence I’ve stopped updating this
document. Most of what is in here would be correct, but some things have changed.

How To Dojo Like A Boss 2.0

Frequently Asked Questions For The The Dojo Training Program

Question: How long does it take to learn three years worth of study material?
Answer: It will take three years!

First Day Duties

You’ve subscribed and maybe even chosen your rating and program, but that is only the
start.

Step 1: Register and verify yourself in the Discord

On the left side of the Discord, you should see a channel under “Welcome” called “getting-
started.” In that channel, there is a link to a dyno form that you should fill out. That should
verify you in the Discord after a few minutes, and you should have full access to the server.

Step 2: Select your rating band.

Go back to the message in “Getting Started”. At about the middle of the message, you will
see “#rating-roles”. Clicking that will take you directly to the #Rating-Roles channel. Now,
simply click on the rating group you wish to join and you will instantly be assigned a rating
role which gives access to channels available only to members of that group/cohort. It’s
important to note that this does not affect the program you joined on the Dojo web site. You
may join multiple programs on the web site, but only one rating role at a time on Discord.
You may also change your rating role at any time.

Step 3: Get to the business of learning to be better at chess.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Members may not always have the correct answer, but many
are willing to try until someone with more knowledge shows up.
Training Program
What is…?

The Training Program

A training program is one of the programs on the Chess Dojo website, tailored for
players of various ratings. Although you will likely only use one at a time, you are
allowed to join/access as many as you like while you’re subscribed to The Dojo
Training Program.

Rating Band
A rating band is a reference to the rating ranges that correspond to the various
programs on the website and groups on Discord.

A Cohort
A Cohort is just the group of members who share a rating range in the program and
Discord. In other words, your cohort are the people you see when you go to the
channels only available to your Rating Role. On the Training Program server the
names of those members are displayed in the same colour.

The Score SheetIt’s a spreadsheet to help you keep track of the tasks
your program requires. Despite the name, it’s NOT a score sheet to see
who is winning at chess.

You can sign up by using this "Scoresheet" Signup form.

Sweat Work
Sweat work is the hard work that takes some time and effort to complete. Playing
slow chess for an hour is indeed sweat work. So is analysing that game for an hour.
Carefully going over a classic game to learn from it is definitely sweat work. So is
practising tactics with focus. Mindlessly moving pieces around in blitz games is not
sweat work.

“But I’m concentrating hard while I blitz?” Sure, but that is not the level of deep
thought you are able to achieve from the sweat work the coaches want from us.

Plus Minus Equal

The program uses a Plus Minus Equal system.

Plus involves working with someone stronger than yourself, like a coach or a player
rated much higher. Minus involves teaching what you know to someone lower rated
than yourself. Equal involves studying with and sparring against members of your
cohort.
Post-Mortem and Analysis
Post-mortem is when you go over a game you just played with your opponent. This is
an opportunity to ask them about their thoughts during the game, like why they
played a particular move. It is usually brief.

Analysis is when you slowly go over a game you play. This can be done alone, with a
training partner or even your opponent for the game. This task can last an hour or
more while you carefully try to find and correct mistakes, investigate alternative lines
and generally learn more about your own abilities.

Our Training Material

The program recommends different books for different levels. The list of books can
be found at Books by rating.

You will need to buy the books, digitally or physically. Some members may be lucky
enough to have access to books through their library system.

Sometimes you are able to substitute books that you don't own for books that you do
own. Best to ask in Discord for opinions on substitutions. Sometimes members or
coaches know both books and will be able to give recommendations.

Useful information: The first 700 Polgar Mates are available free in the Kindle
Preview.

Sparring
This is when you take a particular position from an opening, middle game or
endgame and play it repeatedly, from both the black and white sides.

For more on how to spar refer to the “How do I…?” section

How do I…?

Analyse/Annotate a game
How to Annotate Your Games (Without a Coach) | Lesson w/ atbeaty
 In your analysis be sure to a) have times listed b) state the dynamics of a few
positions c) identify and explain mistakes and d) show variations in key positions with
evaluations at the end of the lines.
When you start out you will likely finish your annotation in half an hour and have very
few lines, explanations and evaluations, but as your skill improves you will take
longer and create more detailed annotations that can take hours or even days to
finish.

Submit a game to the database

This explanation is dependent on your
using a Lichess study. When looking at a
game in your study, click the share icon
and select Chapter PGN. A PGN file will be
downloaded which you will open later.

Open the Training Database and select

“Submit a Game”. The information needed
in the form is self-explanatory.

Open the PGN file with whatever program

you want. PGN files are just text files
making Notepad a convenient program.
Select all the text and press CTRL-C to
copy the text. Paste the text into the
relevant area in the form, complete the
remaining sections and click Submit.

* I would include instructions

for Chesscom, but I’m having
trouble myself.

Do a post-mortem
Directly after a game, sit with your opponent and go through the game, usually for
20-30 minutes. The goal is to find improvements for both sides, as well as trying to
learn how the opponent evaluated key positions throughout the game

Look at a game with my opponent

You can create a study in Lichess and add your opponent as a contributor which will
allow both players to make move pieces on the board. My chesscom skills are not on
the same level as Lichess, but I believe you can do something similar using the
classroom or live analysis. We will add the details in the sections for those sites.

Study a Classic Game

How to Learn From Annotated Games | 1-on-1 Lesson w/ Nordovic
More information has been added to each program explaining what the coaches feel
 is the best way to study the games given to each bracket. It can be found on the web
site under the Material to Study, “How to Study Games” guide.

Progress to a new level

The easy way is to just change your rating role on your own. However, if you want an
“official” graduation and a shout-out from Jesse, contact DMHokie who will move
your name on the Score Sheet and give you a temporary “Up!” icon next to your
name.

If you’ve completed all your tasks but your rating hasn’t progressed to allow
graduation, contact the coaches who will look-see if they can find what’s keeping you
back.

Unmark steps on the website

At the moment that is not possible. However, if you install Spaces by Wix on your
mobile device you can add the Training Program and unmark it there. Finding the
Training Program on the app might be difficult, but if you can’t find it just ask in
Discord for an invitation link.

Choose my rating group

The coaches did their best to find comparable ratings for various systems, but it’s not
an exact science. Ideally you should use your active FIDE rating, but if you don’t
have one then you will need to use your best judgement to determine your rating and
group.

Change my rating group

If, soon after joining a rating band, you decide you chose the wrong band, just go to the
#Rating-Role, assign yourself a new level and start working on the material for that
level.

Set up sparring

Spar: Who
Ideally members of your cohort, but there is no real restriction on who can spar
against whom.

Spar: Time Control

The standard time control for sparing is set at 5+30, or 5 minutes with 30 seconds
increments. The idea is for the game to be short so you can get more games in, but
long enough so you can think on each move.

Spar: Win 3 in a row

Winning three in a row is just a guide. The point is that you should know the position
well enough to be able to reliably convert a winning position.
Spar: 30 Positions from Openings
The 30 positions are from your own repertoire. Your opponent does not need to know
the openings, in fact, that might be more useful because they will play moves you
would not have seen before.

Puzzle Rush
Chess.com Puzzle Rush comes in three forms: 3-minute, 5-minute and Survival. The
first two are timed, meaning you have 3 or 5 minutes to do as many problems as you
can, or until you get three wrong. Survival is untimed and you can take as long as
you need on each problem, finishing when you get three problems wrong.

As an example, let’s say your task says “Puzzle Rush Survival 20”, then you are
required to reach a score of 20 for that format.

Lichess Puzzle Streak equivalent scores are still being calculated.

Improve my calculations
Precise Chess Calculation Secrets 🕵️with GM Bryan Smith! [Master Method]
Exercises 0-1000: https://lichess.org/study/5rFqL2LN
Exercises 500-1500: https://lichess.org/study/7ZB6WqKQ
Exercises 1500+: https://lichess.org/study/bAGnzKyO

Improve my openings
How to Learn ANY Opening | Part 1: 0-1200
How to Learn ANY Opening | Part 2: 1200-1800
How to Learn ANY Opening | Part 3: 1800+

Improve my post game analysis

A Quick Guide For Analyzing Your Games | Dojo Tips
How to Analyze (& ANNOTATE) Your Own Games
Improvement Through Self Analysis | Dojo Lessons feat Ricker (1400)

NilsPhilipp posted a useful summary of his process:

Since my time budget is limited I try to spend not more than 2h not including
annotating what I thought/saw in the game (I try to do this right after the game - takes
about 15 to 25 minutes). Having a time limit means that I have to prioritize what I am
looking deeper into. Re. Opening lines I do not go too deep but write down to dos for
my work on openings (and look for GM suitable games under opening work - eg. f4-
f5 sac in the Grand Prix I identified three GM dealing with the different replies from
Black). I found the Dojo's advice very helpful when deciding what to prioritize. I took
the following notes from the video:
Analyzing Your Games Guide (14min) (06.06.2022)
• Identify the critical moments of the game
• Pinpoint mistakes from both sides and offer improvements
• Annotate mistakes/strong moves with informant symbols (!!, !, !?, ?, ??, etc.)
 • Make evaluations of key positions (White is better, Black is better, unclear, etc.)
• Use words to explain your understanding of the dynamics of the position
• Try to note the clock times/time spent on each move, especially key moves

Improve my tactics
How to Learn Tactics 1
How to Learn Tactics 2

Improve my evaluation
Simply by doing it. The more you play and analyse games, the better you will get at
evaluating positions. Evaluating with a partner could help because you’ll evaluate
positions differently and you can discuss and learn from each other.

Choose my opening
It's suggested that new and lower rated players play open games like the Italian
Game, but overall it's more important to follow opening principles than to play a
specific opening. Then you reach the 1500 bands and up you can start taking
openings more seriously, but even then it’s just a matter of play what you like or feel
comfortable with.

Can/Should I…?

Change my program/plan
Yes. Once you’re subscribed you have access to all programs on the main Dojo site.

Join another rating group

On discord, you have complete control over which rating band role you choose for
yourself and can change at any time.

Do lower rated work

Yes. It’s assumed that you already have a grasp of the material that lower rating
bands still need to master, so you are not required to do that first. However, if you
would like to fill some games then you are welcome to go over material from lower
bands. (It seems many members like going over the classic games provided for
every band.)

Play OTB and Online

Yes. You are allowed to play either as long as you meet the time control
requirements for your rating band. If you are able to play Over The Board then that is
preferred as players tend to focus better when facing their opponents over a board.
Use other time controls
Yes. However, only games that meet the minimum time control required for your
rating band will count towards your number of games played.

You are allowed to play Blitz and Rapid, but if you do that for two hours and then
complain that you don’t have time for a longer time control game then Jesse reserved
the right to ridicule you in public.

Daily chess does not count towards your requirements because it’s felt that you need
the time pressure to help you focus.

Complete certain tasks in order

There is no order in which you should complete your tasks. It’s suggested that you do
them all at the same time, a little bit of each between games. That way you dont
overload and forget what you learned, and you have a chance to use what you
learned in games.

Complete tasks in a certain amount of time

No. Many if not most of the members are adults with life commitments. Do what you
can when you can. Keep in mind that you do need to work at chess regularly and like
learning any new skill a little each day is better than a lot every two weeks.

Play all my game before analysing

Definitely not. The sooner you can analyse the better because it’s easier to recall
your thoughts during the game. On average members seem to play no more than two
games without analysing first.

Analyse my games immediately

Analyzing immediately is preferred. However, waiting is fine as long as you don’t
completely forget what you were thinking during the game.

Post non-classical game analysis

You can, but no guarantees what the response will be.

Play slower games

Yes. The only reason lower rating bands play G30+10 is because the coaches felt
that lower rated players would not be willing to play G90+30 games. If you are willing
to play longer games then you can only benefit from it.

Study on paper or digitally

It’s completely up to you. Some will argue that paper is best, and others will argue
that even if paper was better the convenience, editibility, and time savings of digital
makes up for any learning loss.
Why…?

Only slow games

As with most things in life, we need to learn to walk before we can run. Playing slow
chess allows new players to consider their moves more carefully and think deeper
than they would be able to in faster games. You can build it playing Blitz, but it will
take significantly longer when compared to slower time controls.

So many games required

Chess is hard and we need to practise what we study by playing games. The higher
your rating gets, the more difficult the game becomes and the more practice you
need to gain rating points.
Discord

The Basics
If you are brand new to Discord then a quick run-through might be useful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPmdafMo1b8&ab_channel=TechAuditTV

I attempted to create a quick reference of the main interface, but I doubt it will
compare to the video:
A: Direct/Private messages can be found here.

B: List of servers of which you are a member. The server you are currently viewing is
indicated by a white line next to the server icon. A small white dot indicates unread posts on
that server.

C: Channels in the selected server. Channels are distinguished by starting with #. You can
reference these channels directly in a post or message making it easier for the reader to
navigate directly there. Channels can be organised by groups and it is possible to mute (turn
off notifications) for channels or groups of channels. This can be done by right-clicking on a
channel and selecting “Mute Channel”

D: Messages posted in the selected channel. A red line indicated the last message posted
since you last viewed a channel.

E: View threads and, pinned posts, and change notification settings

F: Member List. You can view a member’s profile by left-clicking on their name. Right-
clicking gives more options, like sending a direct message. Right-clicking your own name
displays slightly different options, most importantly the option to edit your profile for the
server.
How do I…?

Format my display name

By consensus, the members of the training program decided to use a standard

format for display names.

<chess username> ( <preferred sites, secondary site> + <timezone> )

Chess Username is your user name on Lichess or Chess.com

Prefered Sites is the sites you play on in order of preference.
Timezone: Where you are located. This is most useful for players around the
Australian time zones.

For example, my username is AngryNaartjie on both Lichess and Chess.com, but I

prefer Chess.com. I live in UTC+9, therefore AngryNaartjie (CL+9)

To edit your name, find yourself on the right-hand side and LEFT click on your name.
Click the pencil icon to edit. Select “Edit server profile”. Enter your formatted display
name and click “Save changes” near the bottom of the screen.

Your name will be displayed in this formation only on the Dojo Training Program’s
server, not on other servers. DO NOT click “Edit User Profile” and edit your name
there because you might end up changing your account name instead of your
nickname on the server.

To add extra information about yourself, like availability or preference, you can add it
in your “About” section. Again, left-click on your name in the right-hand side list. This
time you do want to select “Edit user Profile”. Towards the middle of your screen,
slightly down, you will see a section labelled “About Me” Here you can add anything
you wish and just to the right you will see what it will look like to others members who
view your profile. Note, this is a global profile, not just for the Dojo server.

Reply to a member’s post

Hover over any post and extra options will appear to the right of the post. Click the
second icon, the arrow, to create a reply to a specific post. Note that the original post
will be referenced as part of the reply.
Send a message to a member.

Left-click on a member’s name in the

right-hand side list. A box will pop up. At
the very bottom of the box, you will see a
space where you can type a message
directly.

Alternatively, you can right-click and in

the box that pops up select the second
option. This will take your message
screen that looks similar to a private
channel with just two users.

Note that messages are private and can

only be seen by the two members
involved.
React to a post
Move your mouse over a post you would like to react to. Icons will appear towards
the right of the post with the first being a smiley face. Clicking that will show you a full
list of possible reactions.

Tag a member in a post

While typing a message, type “@” to tag a member. A list that can be tagged will
appear and you can select a member by just clicking their name. To narrow down the
list type a few letters of the name.

Tag a channel in a post

Tagging a channel follows the same procedure as tagging a member except that that
you start by typing “#” Note that some channels are restricted and some members
may not be able to access the channel you tagged.

Learn more about a member

Clicking on a member’s name, either in the right-hand side list or in the chat/message
windows will show you a small profile of that player. Useful information here includes
their rating band, any information they added to their “About Me” and any notes
you added about the member.

Find a game and complete a game

There are three possible channels for finding opponents for a game.
#find-game is open to any Training Program member.
#schedule-<rating-band> is a private channel which only members of your cohort can
access.
#cross-cohort-training is best used for training like sparring or studying games with
members from other rating bands.

Schedule a game
With users in different time zones, it can be difficult to arrange times. An effective,
although somewhat cumbersome solution, is to use Time Stamps.

1. Go to https://hammertime.cyou/
2. Enter a time and date you wish to display in a message. Use your own time
zone.
3. Select the format in which you want it displayed.
4. Click the little blue clipboard icon to copy the TimeStamp code.
5. Paste that code into your Discord message. If you have a start and end time
you wish to display then you may have to follow these steps twice.
6. Once someone agrees to a time and the appointed time arrives, you can
either invite them on your preferred site using their username or you can
create an invitation link.
Create a game invitation

Lichess
1. On the main screen, to the right of the standard game options click “Play with
a friend”
2. Move the sliders to create the kind of game you are looking for and select the
colour you wish to play at the bottom.
3. After selecting your colour you will be presented with the option to invite a
friend by using their username or copy and paste the given link into #find-
game.
4. Once posted, the first player to click the link will effectively accept the
invitation.

Chess.com
1. Click the pawn on the bar on the left of the main screen.
2. On the right-click “Play Online” then “Custom game”
3. Set up the game you wish to play and at the bottom of that, next to play, you
will see “Invite Link” Click it and you will be given a link which you can copy
and paste into #find-game along with whatever else you wish to say.
4. Once posted, the first player to click the link will effectively accept the
invitation.

Complete a game
Because we don’t want #find-game to get cluttered and hinder players from finding
games, we are asked to remove messages after we find a playing partner.

This can be done by hovering your mouse pointer over the message. More icons will
appear towards the right of your message. Click the three dots “...” and select “Delete
Message”

* Share my analysed game

It is best to link to the analysis rather than paste a text wall. It’s also useful to create a
temporary thread for members to comment in. The thread allows the comments to
stay separate from the main channel.

On Lichess you simply go to your study, copy the URL/address from your browser
and post it in the channel where you want it seen. Don’t forget to mention which
chapter members should look at.

On Chess.com, something something something

Create a temporary thread

This is useful for requesting game analysis because the comments on your game are
kept separate from the rest of the channel.
 Hover over a message, yours or that or someone else, and four icons will appear
towards the right. One is a pound sign or hashtag with a speech bubble over it. That
is used to create a new thread.

Click it and a new window will open on the right. The text of the original message is
the default title and you likely want to change that in the black box. Add the first
message to appear and you are ready to go.

To change when the thread will be closed (auto-archived), right-click on it in the

channel section. You will see the various time options to choose from there.

Invite someone to the server

Invites for the Training Program server have been disable. If you would like to invite
someone then it’s best to contact DMHokie first.

Get the Dojo tag/ Get roles

The Dojo role is similar to the role that makes you part of a cohort. It ensures that
you receive notifications whenever an announcement is made that affects the whole
server.

To assign yourself the Dojo role, just go to the #getting-started channel near the top
of the channel list. Just under the second post there you will see a red dot. Click it
and you will be assigned your new role. This role can be held along with your role for
your cohort/rating band.

Set up or join voice chat

Voice chats are interactive rooms hosted by one member and joined by others. There
are three channels where you can set up voice chat. Each cohort has their own voice
channel, the General group has a voice channel and the Dojo Classroom has one.
The first two voice channels are limited to 5 members per room while the Classroom
can hold more.

To set up a room, simply click one of the channels and the room will be automatically
created. To join a room that already exists, just click it and you will enter if there is a
slot available. Once the last member leaves a room it will automatically shut down.
 To leave a room simply click the Disconnect button.

Share my screen
Once you are in the voice channel, and you are the creator, you’ll be able to share
your screen. Once you click the “Screen” button you will be provided with a choice of
which program you would like to display.

Lichess
What is…?

A study
Lichess studies are collections of (up to 64) games/positions where you can add analysis,
variations, arrows, commentary, etc to each. The study page is: https://lichess.org/study, and
can also be accessed on Lichess any time by the menu bar at the top of the Lichess, under
“Learn.”

How do I…?

Create a study
● From the study page, click the green plus at the top right.
● Give your newly created study a name.
● If you want to keep the study private, change its visibility to “Invite only.” This
means it will not show up when players search through all studies. The only
way to access your study is when you specifically add another member to
your study.
● Play with the other options if you want (these can all be changed later at any
time as well).
● Click “Start.” You will be presented with the options for your first chapter,
which we deal with below.
If you wish to delete a study you accidentally created, select the three horizontal lines
at the very top left. There is an option in these study settings to “Delete study.” Be
careful though, for this is a permanent decision!

Manage studies
From the study page, on the far left, there are several options you can choose from.
● All studies: All studies that anyone has ever created. Most studies are not
designed for others to explore, but you might find some gold underneath all of
the poorly made ones.
● My studies: All studies that you created or cloned. This is the option you are
most likely to use.
● Studies I contribute to: All studies for which someone has added you as a
member.
● Staff picks: The highest-rated studies on Lichess according to their
moderators. These are nice for exploring instructive material other Lichess
users have created that you might not have already learned.
Once you’ve selected one of these options, you are presented with a (possibly huge)
list of the studies. If you need to sort them, there’s a drop-down at the top right that
currently reads “Hot.” Change it to whichever sorting you think is most useful to find
the study you’re looking for.
Create a new chapter
You should set up a new chapter each time you want to add a new game or position
to your study.
● While looking at your study, you will see “x Chapters” and “y Members” near
the top left.
● Select the “Chapters” tab.
● Click “Add a new chapter,” although you might need to scroll down to see this
option.
● Give your newly created chapter a name.
● Just under the name, you will see 5 options, the first being “Empty”
Empty: Create a chapter with the standard starting position.
Editor. Edit the board to start in a position you set up.
URL: Import a game directly from one of the two allowed sites using a
URL
FEN: Paste in a text string indicating the starting position.
PGN: Paste a game, or upload a PGN file you previously downloaded
into the study.
● Under “Orientation,” select which side to view the board from.

Manage chapters
You can have up to 64 chapters in one Lichess study. If you ever want to re-order the
chapters, simply left-click and drag the chapters into the order you want them to
appear on the “Chapters” tab.

To edit or delete a specific chapter, click the gear icon to the right of the chapter
name, and change the chapter settings however you want.

Add lines of analysis

Move the pieces on the board. The moves will automatically be recorded as long as
the bottom-left checkmark “REC” is selected. These lines will appear on the right-
hand list of moves/comments.

Comment on a position
Directly under the chess board, you will see 9 options/icons. The fourth looks like a
speech bubble. This is the comment tab. Click on the speech bubble icon and an
empty box will appear. Type any comment in this box, and it will be added as an
annotation for the current position of the board.

Add an evaluation to a position

Directly under the chess board, you will see 9 options/icons. The fifth looks like “?!”
Click on it and you will be presented with all the supported annotation symbols along
with their meanings.

Sometimes you may wish to turn on the engine to confirm your analysis. This is done
on the top right by toggling the local stockfish evaluation just as you would analyse
 any game after playing it on Lichess. Stockfish options are available by clicking the
three horizontal bars at the bottom right of the move list.

Manage variations
Sometimes you will go down a rabbit hole and add variations to the study that in
retrospect you want to delete or trim. On the right-hand list of moves/comments,
right-click the specific move you would like to delete and select “delete from here.”

If you have multiple variations in your study, you can right-click a move and “promote
variation” or “make mainline” to ensure the important variations you are working on
are appropriately shown as more important than other sidelines.

Draw circles and arrows

Right-click on a square to create a circle or right-click and drag to draw an arrow. The
standard colour is green, but you can change the colour by holding SHIFT, ALT,
SHIFT+ALT while drawing the arrow.

Flip my board
You can change the orientation for everyone under the chapter settings (the gear to
the right of each chapter name under the “Chapters” list at the top left). If you just
want to flip the board for you, click anywhere on the board and type “f” to flip.

Add someone else to your study

Anyone invited to a private study can view moves/annotations/etc. To invite someone
to be a member of your study, click “Members” at the top left, and “Add a new
member.”

If you want the other person to be able to edit the study as well, click the gear next to
their name in the “Members” section and add them as a “Contributor.”

Analyse together
There are many ways for people to analyse together. What we have found works
best is inviting another person as a contributor, ensuring both players have the SYNC
checkmark at the bottom left checked, and joining a voice chat on discord together.
That way both of you in real-time can chat, make moves, check out variations, and
give your thoughts both “on paper” as well as through voice.

Remember that players can individually flip the board with “f” in case you were
opponents during a game that you are now analysing together.

If you wish to analyse together and do not have voice chat, both players can type
comments into the study regardless, but now you should probably turn off SYNC.
Now players can look at different parts of the board without interfering with each
other. If SYNC is still turned on then one player might accidentally change the
position while the other player is still trying to type.
Share Lichess studies
Select the study chapter you want to copy. Just under the board, you will see nine
icons and options. The second to last is the “Share” icon, to the left of the
“Information” icon. Click it.

You will see four options:

Clone - Clone the whole study to a new study with identical settings. The two studies
can then be edited separately.
Study PGN - Download all the games in the study in a single PGN. Note that this
does not copy the names of the chapters.
Chapter PGN - Download the current chapter being displayed on your computer. This
can then be added to a new chapter or study under the “PGN” option of “Create a
new chapter.”
GIF - Download a GIF animation of the chapter. Sometimes these are nice to share
in discord.

If you want anyone to view your study, just give them the URL in discord. If your study is set
to “Invite only” however, you will have to add specific users to become members of your
study.

Create a puzzle
Sometimes you may wish to use a study to create a puzzle for others without giving
them full analysis. This is done under the chapter settings (gear icon next to the
chapter name) and by selecting “Analysis mode” -> ”Interactive lesson.”

Now, this chapter is presented as a puzzle to anyone who is not a contributor. If you
ever want to see the chapter from a random user’s perspective, you can click the
new “Preview” button below the board.

The main line in your variations on the far right is saved as the answer to the puzzle.
Feel free to set the puzzle up with comments and provide feedback to incorrect
moves or hints as appropriate.

Spar on Lichess (recommended)

1. Click “Tools”, the rightmost menu option and you will automatically be taken to the
analysis board.
2. Copy and paste the FEN from the program website into the box under the editor bar
which is labelled “FEN.” Alternatively, you can use the Board Editor under the Tools
menu to set up a position.
3. Towards the right bottom of the Lichess interface, you will see three lines stacked on
top of each other. Click it. Towards the top of the new section that pops up, you will
see “Continue from here”. Click that and select “play with a friend”
4. You will be presented with a small window allowing you to make changes to the
challenge, like the game type, time control and position. Choose your starting colour
by clicking one of the Kings at the bottom of the small window.
 5. Either invite a user using their username or copy the link and send it to them. Once
the invited player clicks the link you should be ready to go.
6. Whenever a game is over, you should have the option to go back to the starting
position with colours reversed.

Play a standard game

Various game formats can be started straight from the Lichess home page. Make
sure you are in the Quick Pairing tab, click the game type you wish to play and wait
for a match-up.
Create a custom game with a friend
On the Lichess Landing Page, just to the right of the main controls, you will see the
option to “PLAY WITH A FRIEND”

Clicking the button will bring up the

window to create a game. The
options you can set, from top to
bottom are:

Variant - Standard as well as other

types of chess

Time Control - Real time,

correspondence (daily) or unlimited,
with time setting for each

Casual / Rated - Should the game be

rated or unrated

Range - the upper and lower limit of

players allowed to accept the game.
This is not relevant of you are inviting
someone to the game

Three Kings - From left to right is You

play Black, Random Colour, play as
White

Once you select your colour you will be presented a window with two boxes. One box
contains a link you can copy and paste into Discord. The first person to click the
link will join the game.
 The second box allows you to invite a specific user using their Lichess username.

Play against the computer

Creating a game against a computer is identical to creating a custom game against a
friend, except you choose the level of the computer and don't need to invite anyone
to join.

Play from a position

See Spar on Lichess
Edit a board

Download and add my games (use lin vs download all)

Add to study after a game.

How to create an invitation on lichess

How do I get the PGN from a study or chapter?

How to copy between lichess studies (Copying PGN)

Where can I see time taken per move in Lichess

How to turn off Lichess analysis

Is there a lichess equivalent of chess.com Classroom feature

How does one include annotations in Lichess?

What's a library?
Chess.com
How do I…?

Annotate a game
Hover over Learn and go to Analysis where you can import a PGN. Alternatively, you
can just move the pieces and the moves will be recorded. Next, right-click on the
move on the right-hand side of the screen and select “comment after/before”. Near
the bottom right of your display are buttons. The icon looking like a Greek Building
represents the Library. Click it to add the game to one of your libraries.

A Library is similar to a Lichess Study. Most members prefer the functionality of

Lichess Studies though.

How to Annotate Your Chess Games

Spar on Chess.com
1. Mouse over ”Play” (the pawn & hand) and click “Play”
2. Click “Custom Game”
3. Click on the drop-down menu that reads “Standard” and select “Move
Variants” just above “Classroom”
4. You will be presented with a new board and a list of game variants. Scroll to
the bottom and you will see “Custom”...again! Click it…again!
5. Click “Edit Position” near the bottom left, set up the board the way you want it
and click “play”
6. Set the time control
7. Just under time control, you have the option to play a random player or invite
a user.
(This was as far as I got. I have not had the opportunity to use this method to spar
and as such, I don’t know whether you need to repeat the steps each time you want
to restart the position. It might be that this can be done in the Classroom. If anyone
manages to make it work, please let us know)
How to create an invitation on chess.com

How to do a study in chess.com

How to start a game with a custom position from FEN on chess.com?

What's a library?

What is a study?

Export a PGN with time stamps that Lichess can use?