Black to move.
What would you play?
The pawn on a3 is close to promotion. Would you push it, or move another piece first?
Tap a piece, then its destination, or drag it. With a keyboard, use the arrow keys and Enter.
Your move: Choose a move
See Stockfish’s move
Nb7. The knight retreats to protect the bishop on d6. After Nxd6, Black can recapture with the knight. Pushing the pawn straight away loses that option.
Play through both linesFour examples to study, then five positions at a time. No account needed.
Why these positions?
I’m studying moves that Stockfish likes but Maia, a model of human play, is unlikely to choose. The original collection contained 123,405 Black-to-move positions; 5,155 met that first filter. The trainer uses 320 of those positions, organised into eight groups.
The research now includes both colours. Read about the expanded collection and its checks.
The question is whether practicing them helps us find similar moves in our own games. I haven’t tested that with a controlled study yet. For now, you can try the positions and read what I’ve found so far.
Take the twelve-position test if you’d like to try a longer set.
Choose a group
Each has four study examples and 36 practice positions. The group numbers are labels, not difficulty levels; Learn suggests an order.