r/ComputerChess • u/Competitive-Sun9780 • 1d ago

Building a chess platform combining engine-assisted analysis, opening exploration, and puzzles

https://chesslumen.com/

I’m an electronic engineering student and chess player building ChessLumen.
The platform brings together AI-assisted game analysis, an opening explorer, and chess puzzles.

One challenge I’m particularly interested in is making analysis more educational. Engine evaluations can identify strong moves, but helping a player understand the reasoning behind them is another problem entirely.

I’m curious about how other developers approach chess software:
How do you balance engine accuracy with understandable explanations?

What makes an opening explorer genuinely useful beyond displaying a database of moves?

What would you prioritize when designing tools for players who want to improve?

I’m building and iterating on the platform, so technical criticism and suggestions are welcome.

Website: https://chesslumen.com/

I’m interested in a genuine discussion about chess software, not just promotion.

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u/vonbartroth 1d ago

How come there are no colossal discussions among developers here? There are hundreds of you, posting links and asking opinions. So help each other out.

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u/TicTacTake 1d ago

This sub is being flooded with AI trash. Multiple posts per day sometimes even. Low-effort stuff where OP doesn't even explain the difference to other tools like in this case. He probably doesn't even know what AI came up with.

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u/Competitive-Sun9780 1d ago

Fair criticism, so here's the actual difference, no marketing:

The engine does the chess, not the AI. Stockfish 18 runs in your browser; the language model never chooses moves or evals.

Before the model writes anything, the code computes the facts from the board (what's hanging, what's attacked, material, the engine line). The model only gets to phrase those.

Then its answer is checked against the board. If it names a move that isn't in the line, mixes up whose piece is whose, or gets material wrong, that sentence is thrown out and you get the plain facts instead. Most routine moves never touch the model at all.

The part I think is actually different: the Coach scan replays your last 5–30 games and looks for the same mistake repeating (hung pieces, missed threats, bad trades, and in which phase), instead of reviewing one game at a time.

Limits: it's good at tactical/material mistakes, weak on slow positional stuff, and the checks catch a lot but not everything. If it says something wrong on your games, tell me and I'll fix it.

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u/anon65438290 1d ago

wow thank you for that detailed reply! i am eager to check out your website after baking a chocolate cake! do you maybe have a recommendation, perhaps even chess themed, fitting your websites style and teaching methods? thanks again!

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u/TicTacTake 1d ago

Brilliant, I'm gonna steal this for the next AI post I see.

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u/TicTacTake 1d ago

"The engine does the chess, not the AI." Thanks, chatgpt. I don't need to read further.

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u/Competitive-Sun9780 1d ago

Honestly, that’s a really good point. A lot of us are so focused on getting feedback and users for our own projects that we forget the value of helping each other build.
I’d be down to see more actual collaboration here testing each other’s projects, sharing knowledge, and helping solve problems instead of just dropping links and leaving.
Maybe we should start with that right here. What are you working on?