Hi Product Hunt! 👋 I'm the solo dev behind Limpid Chess.

The problem I kept coming back to: chess is beautiful, but for a beginner every single turn is a wall. You stare at ~30 legal moves with no idea which ones are even reasonable, and you freeze. That blank-board paralysis is where most people quietly give up before they ever get to the fun part.

So I flipped it. Instead of 30 moves, Limpid Chess offers exactly three every turn: the best move, a "not bad" one, and a blunder, all drawn in one neutral color so there's no cheating. You pick the one you think is best, and only then does it reveal the answer, explain what the best move was, and reward you. The mistakes became the lesson instead of the punishment.

My real test was my 6-year-old daughter. She couldn't get going with any other chess app, too many choices, too much "am I even allowed to do this?". With three clear arrows she just started playing, and actually began to spot the good moves on her own. That's the moment I knew the idea worked.

It grew from there: friendly bots you can actually beat (Stockfish dialed way down), a climbing puzzle streak, a review after every game, and a Face to Face mode for two people across one phone. No clocks, no ads, no accounts, fully offline. It's free and open source (GPL-3.0, powered by Stockfish).

I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially if you (or a kid you know) once bounced off chess. Happy to answer anything! 🐝♟️

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No Android? Play it free in your browser, on iPhone too: https://limpidchess.com/play (and you can add it to your home screen like an app.)

Limpid Chess

Smooth, relaxing chess: find the best of 3 moves each turn

Smooth, relaxing chess: find the best of 3 moves each turn