Can AI help me (Us) Build Better Chess Training?! Part-1

First, a quick intro—I'm Mahmoud, currently serving as Chief Innovation Officer at my company in Egypt. And yes, I LOOOOVE chess.
Back in my college days, chess was more than a pastime—I competed and even won silver medals twice. But like many of us, life took me in a different direction. After graduation, I dove headfirst into a career in IT and left serious chess behind.
Years later, I discovered a growing and vibrant chess community here in Egypt. The spark reignited. I wanted to play better chess—not just casually, but with real understanding. So I began training again, online this time. Platforms like Chessable, GingerGM, and others became my go-to resources. They were immensely helpful.

Still, I hit a wall.

The middle game.

I could handle openings—I memorized lines well. I even had a decent grip on common endgame patterns. But the middle game? That’s where things got murky. I found it hard to come up with a clear plan. I read about concepts like material imbalance, playing on the flanks, and all the classic strategic ideas... but in the heat of a game, recognizing and applying them felt like trying to see constellations in a cloudy sky.
Even post-game analysis felt alienating. The engine would recommend a move, and I’d sit there wondering: Why this? What’s the logic? What is the engine seeing that I can’t? Understanding those suggestions—let alone learning from them—was a constant struggle.

Chat GPT - Help me out

At first, I used Chat GPT to help me understand why STOCKFISH recommended certain moves, positions..etc, it was ok, one example is this game

In one of my games, my opponent played a4, and I responded with a5—a natural reaction. I didn’t want to allow any queenside activity, and I felt I had enough time to launch an attack on the kingside. It made sense to me... but the engine recommended f4.

Now, I did consider f4 during the game—but I didn’t trust myself. I couldn’t justify it in my head, so I played it safe. Of course, a Grandmaster or even an International Master might spot that move instantly. But let’s be honest—most of us aren’t GMs.

At first glance, I just couldn’t see why f4 was so strong. But when I asked ChatGPT to explain it, it pointed out subtle strategic indicators I had completely missed. Suddenly, it clicked. I understood why that pawn push was not just good—but necessary. And that moment of clarity was eye-opening.

That raised a bigger question in my mind:

How can I train myself to think like that more often, especially in the middlegame?

Let’s be honest—most of us club players don’t memorize every opening line perfectly. We forget stuff. We make little inaccuracies. And those small inaccuracies snowball, giving us middlegame positions that look nothing like the clean, prep-based positions in books or videos.
The real struggle isn’t about blunders—it’s about playing decent chess in positions we didn’t plan for. It’s about recognizing plans, spotting the right moves, and avoiding slow or aimless play—even from slightly worse positions.

My biggest issue with most middlegame training materials? They focus on elite games—immortal masterpieces by super GMs. And while those games are beautiful, I rarely find myself in such perfect positions. I make mistakes. So do you.
And that leaves us in situations like:

• I have no idea what to do now...
• I see several possible moves, but which one is actually right?
• The engine recommends something weird... but why? What’s the logic?

Sound familiar?

Let us fight fire by fire, let us bring AI to help us understand how AI thinka?

As I said, ChatGPT was a great asset, but I didn't want to do it game by game, and I want to have a coach that can challenge me continously to enhance myself, and since I was working with AI for the past 2 years, I brought all of my weapons to this game.

I had a plan as following:

1. let us use AI to go through a lot of games and help us find middlegames
2. Let us analyze those games and see the inaccuracies/mistakes done in those games
3. ignore blunders
4. The idea or the move has to be strategic/positional not tactical.
5. Understand why the correct move was chosen
6. Generate a training on that position.

sounds like an easy plan, right ?! it wasn't

this is the end of part1, in part2 we will delve on how I built such a coach.

Till next time, stay safe.