Shingan Chess: free drills, paid with adverts
The closest thing to a clone of the DarkSquares exercise ladder, free, with adverts and a coin economy to switch them off.
Checked against Shingan Chess’s own pages on
Shingan Chess, at blindfold-chess.online, is the product on this page whose exercise list looks most like ours. Its practice menu runs Square Colors, Coordinate Quiz and Legal Moves at beginner level, Diagonal Quiz, Board Symmetry and Route Planner at intermediate, Position Memory and Puzzle at advanced, Knight's Tour and Recall at expert, plus Algebraic Notation, FEN Reconstruction and Quadrant Anchors as an introduction. It has a kyu ranking system, a dojo, a leaderboard and games against Stockfish.
If you put that beside the DarkSquares ladder the overlap is close to total, and it costs nothing. So the honest comparison is not about features. It is about what free is paid for with.
Feature by feature
| What you are comparing | Shingan Chess | DarkSquares |
|---|---|---|
| Board vision drillsThe closest match anywhere in this directory. On the drill list alone there is very little to choose between them. | Square Colors, Coordinate Quiz, Legal Moves, Diagonal Quiz, Board Symmetry, Quadrant Anchors | Square colours, coordinates, quadrants, diagonals, same-colour drills |
| Piece-path work | Route Planner and Knight's Tour | Knight and bishop mazes, knight and bishop movement |
| Memory work | Position Memory, Recall, FEN Reconstruction | Position memory at three tiers, plus position reconstruction |
| Playing a game | Games against Stockfish | Games against Stockfish across a difficulty ladder |
| Partial visibility | Not presented as a graded visibility scale | Seven visibility levels, from a fully visible board down to a blank one, with silhouettes and plain disks in between |
| How it is fundedThe trade behind the word free, stated plainly on both sides: Shingan sells advertising and sells the quiet back through coins, DarkSquares sells an optional one-time unlock. | Advertising, with a consent dialog naming 210 partners, plus Amazon affiliate links; coins earned in-app buy ad-free time | No advertising anywhere, on any tier; funded by the optional one-time unlock |
| Progress and ranks | Kyu ranks, a dojo, leaderboards, daily puzzle, community feed | XP, levels, achievements, leaderboards |
| Languages | English, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil) and Japanese | Nine interface languages; voice recognition in six |
| Price | Free, funded by advertising; in-app coins buy temporary ad-free time | Free tier with unlimited exercises; optional Pro Lifetime at €39, paid once |
Where Shingan Chess is better
Every comparison written by one of the two products is worth less than it claims. Here is the part of this one that costs us something.
- It costs nothing at all, and the drill ladder genuinely covers most of what a beginner needs.
- The kyu ranking and dojo framing is a clearer progression metaphor than a generic XP bar, and the community feed makes the site feel alive.
- Knight's Tour and FEN Reconstruction are exercises DarkSquares does not have in that form.
- A daily puzzle and a public leaderboard give a reason to come back that costs the user nothing.
Where the two actually differ
What you pay with
Shingan is free because it runs advertising: its consent dialog lists 210 partners, its footer carries an Amazon affiliate disclosure, and its FAQ explains how coins earned by training convert into ad-free time. DarkSquares runs no advertising on any tier and is funded by the optional one-time unlock. Both are legitimate ways to pay for a free trainer, and which one suits you is the main thing to decide here.
Graded visibility
Its drills are strong and its blindfold work is real, but the visibility is not a dial. DarkSquares moves from a full board through silhouettes and plain disks to nothing, which is the part that keeps people going when the blank board beats them.
Apps and voice
Shingan is a website. DarkSquares also ships iOS and Android apps on the same account, works offline, and lets you speak your moves and hear the reply.
Choose Shingan Chess if you want a broad, free drill ladder in a browser and adverts do not bother you. On coverage per euro spent, nothing beats free, and the exercise list is genuinely good.
Choose DarkSquares if you want the same ladder without advertising or a consent dialog, if the graded visibility levels are what you have been missing, or if you want the training on your phone and offline.
Questions people ask
Is Shingan Chess free?
Yes, and it is funded by advertising. Its FAQ explains why the adverts are there and how coins earned in the app convert into ad-free time. There is no paid subscription in place of that.
What exercises does Shingan Chess have?
Square Colors, Coordinate Quiz, Legal Moves, Diagonal Quiz, Board Symmetry, Route Planner, Position Memory, Puzzle, Knight's Tour, Recall, Algebraic Notation, FEN Reconstruction and Quadrant Anchors, organised from beginner to expert with kyu ranks.
Does Shingan Chess have an app?
It is a website. DarkSquares runs in a browser as well and additionally ships iOS and Android apps on the same account.
Which one should a beginner start with?
Either will teach you square colours and coordinates. Start with Shingan if you want to spend nothing and can ignore adverts; start with DarkSquares if you want an ad-free free tier and the graded visibility levels between a full board and a blank one.
Start at the rung you can actually reach
Seven levels, from naming one square to a full game on a blank board. Free, no card.
How this was checked
Every claim about Shingan Chess on this page was read off the pages below on . Store prices are US storefront prices and change without notice; check the listing before buying.
Shingan Chess is a product of blindfold-chess.online and is not affiliated with DarkSquares. Product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners and are used here only to identify the products being compared. Found something wrong? Tell us and we will fix it.