Chess in Africa - CoaChess Startup from Tunisia

What is CoaChess?

In the middle of the Tunisian capital Tunis, a chess training platform, CoaChess, was launched. The excellent play on the words “coaches” and “chess” was invented by its founder and managing director, 26-year-old Iheb Kaabi (someone accidentally put a wrong birth year at FIDE) .

Iheb is a passionate chess player himself and received a six-figure sum from French investor Omicrone for the development of CoaChess. During my visit to Tunis, I got to know Iheb a little bit better. He already ran several online stores during his studies and is very familiar with online platforms and chess.

An interactive group training session on CoaChess

So what exactly is CoaChess and how does it work? If you look at the coachess.net homepage, you will find several different elements that Iheb and his team have been working on for some time: You can arrange private chess lessons with qualified coaches on the platform itself and you can also watch all training lessons again afterwards as recordings.

Another advantage of CoaChess compared to training on other chess servers is that you don't have to use Skype or Zoom/Teams, for example, but can simply operate both the chessboard and the cameras via CoaChess.

The individual training sessions can be enriched with tasks that the trainers prepare in advance. The students can then try to solve them during the lesson. In addition to individual lessons with trainers, weekly/monthly group training sessions can also be arranged at a lower price. Trainings are also structured by a calendar that reminds you of future training sessions, deadlines for tactics homework or upcoming tournaments.

Interactive Chess AI tool "MateX"

In addition to professional chess training, CoaChess now offers "MateX," an AI-powered chess coach designed to help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, build your repertoire, and practice against the AI. You can play any prepared line against MateX and receive detailed game analysis, allowing you to practice what you're working on in a realistic, human-like manner. This helps you quickly assess which variations you understand well and which require more focus. Additionally, you can save your repertoire on the platform and review it anytime.

Trainers of CoaChess

CoaChess is already working with a number of chess coaches, including some title holders, and is currently available in English, Arabic and French. Registration is free and all that is required to join is the creation of an account, as is the case with chess servers, for example.
So if you want to take your chess game to the next level and combine it with modern tools, we definitely recommend taking a look at coachess.net for inspiration! The young start-up company is sure to come up with a few more ideas in the future, so it's worth visiting the website regularly.

OTB Chess opportunities in Tunis

Unfortunately it wasn't easy to discover any chess clubs or places to play chess in Tunis during my short visit while looking it up online, however there seem to places like Sporting ariana Tunis, the Tunisian Chess Federation, the Hammam-Lif Chess Club. I would personally recommend to ask in Facebook Groups like Communauté tunisienne des échecs where people replied to meetup requests at least. Another source of looking up tournaments is obviously Chess-Results.

Tunis - impressions of the Tunisian capital

top left: City of Culture, top right: Bab el-Bhar; lower left: Tunis Clock tower, lower right: Monument place de la Kasbah

left: Hammouda Pacha Mosque, top right corner: Sidi Bou Said, lower right corner: view over Marsa Beach

Flights to Tunis are quite affordable and the citizens of Tunis are very welcoming, guest-friendly and helpful.

Your reporter & Iheb at the CoaChess office

At the CoaChess office in Tunis: Thanks for your hospitality, Iheb!

Note that this article was first published originally in German in the October 2024 issue of the German chess magazine Rochade Europa, some additional information was added to this blog post.