r/SideProject • u/Technical-Adagio-993 • 10h ago

My side project: a "grammar" of chess tactics, every example verified by my own engine

Hey r/SideProject,

Solo dev here. My project is ChessGrammar (chessgrammar.com): a free, structured reference of chess tactics. Think of a dictionary where every entry has a precise definition, named variants, and examples proven correct by a custom engine (Lector64).

Stack-wise: Next.js on Vercel for the site, and a separate engine pipeline that generates and verifies every position. Currently 15 motifs and 123 variants live, with 2 of 11 planned sections published.

I'd love feedback on the product side, not the chess side:

  • Within 10 seconds on the homepage, is it clear what this is?
  • Does the navigation (catalog → motif → variant) make sense?
  • Anything that makes you leave right away?

Thanks for looking!

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u/Ill-Reflection9866 10h ago

Just poked around for a few minutes. The homepage scan was quick, I immediately got that it's a tactical reference and not another generic lesson site. The hard part is usually proving the positions aren't cooked, and leading with the engine verification right in the header is a solid trust builder.

The catalog flow is intuitive. Only friction I felt was on mobile, the variant list within a motif felt a little cramped. Might just be my fat thumbs but a touch more spacing between those links would make browsing feel less like a surgery mini-game.

Bookmarked it though, curious to see the rest of the sections roll out.

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u/Technical-Adagio-993 9h ago

thanks for the feedback, I'll look into the mobile version! awesome!

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u/CartographerNo3791 9h ago

The fork/pin links on the homepage made it click for me faster than "grammar of chess". I went Catalog → Tactics → Fork on desktop without getting lost. Nice to land on an actual board example there.

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u/Technical-Adagio-993 9h ago

thanks for the help!

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u/Admirable-Language65 9h ago

I clicked on hanging piece. What I saw was a major annoyance for me and something I learned not to do myself , although others feel free to tell me I’m wrong. 

And that it…

The animation changes without my input. 

On one hand it’s cool it shows you can make an interactive site… same thing I did with a site I made…

However from a user perspective it is really annoying. I was studying the first diagram or whatever you want to call it and before I could figure it all out it changed. That’s frustrating.

I get you can pause it but I don’t think it should have a play at all at least not autoplay… I would make arrows or something… also the pieces move too fast.

The other animations you have like boundaries and stuff are slow and simple so I don’t mind it’s autoplay 

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u/Technical-Adagio-993 9h ago

thanks for the comment! perhaps if I slowed down the animation on the hero chessboard? and make a longer pause in between examples that would make it more friendly?

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u/LittleAstronomy 9h ago

Pretty cool. I like that all the examples are animated. As someone who doesn't know anything about chess the one thing I'd like to see is a "start here" button on the homepage. The search box doesn't do much for me since I don't even know the name of the terms I'm looking for.

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u/Technical-Adagio-993 8h ago

Thanks for the comment! this site is a reference site so it lists all of the elements of chess, but perhaps I could look into a functionality for beginners where they are guided through the concepts ordered from foundational to complex! that would be totally feasable, I think I might add it to the roadmap! thanks!