Playing the computer is Rovian's practice mode: train on your own without waiting for an opponent. No camera required, your rating isn't touched, and you can restart whenever you like.
The interesting part: the engine runs on your device, inside the browser. Moves don't travel to a server and back, so you never queue, and a slow connection doesn't slow the engine down.
Three opponents, three characters
♟️ The classic engine (Easy / Medium / Hard): a conventional chess engine. It blunders at Easy and calculates deeper as you raise the level. The most practical way to warm up and spot basic mistakes.
⚔️ AlphaZero-style: an experimental opponent built around activity and attack. It prefers initiative to material, and if you're used to permanent defence it will play the kind of move that bothers you.
🧠 Maia (neural network): the genuine deep-learning side of it. Maia is a network trained on millions of human games played on lichess. Its goal isn't to find the best move but the move a human at a given level would actually play.
Why does Maia feel different?
Classic engines play strangely when they're “weakened”: flawless for ten moves, then a piece dropped for nothing. Humans don't err like that.
Maia makes human mistakes in a human way — it misses a passed pawn, castles into the wrong side, finds the right plan one move too late. For preparing against a real opponent, that beats raw engine strength.
One technical note: Maia needs a particular browser memory feature (SharedArrayBuffer). If your browser lacks it, moves quietly come from the AlphaZero-style bot instead — no error on screen, no interrupted game.
Playing with the coach on
The practice screen has a Coach toggle. Turn it on and each move gets a short explanation: why the centre, why this piece, why this square.
You can pick your colour, take moves back and start a new game at any point. To drill a specific opening, the same page has an opening study mode.
Does it affect your rating?
No. Games against the computer are unrated, on purpose: the practice screen exists so you can experiment, ruin a position and try again. Without rating pressure you can test a new opening or calculate a sacrifice all the way through.
Once you're warm, move to a real table: find an opponent. Or start with some tactics — puzzles are right next door.
See you in the next story.
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