Connect Chess Coach to an AI provider to unlock intelligent chess coaching. Choose one provider and follow its setup guide.
An API key is a unique password that lets Chess Coach connect to an AI service to analyze your chess games. Think of it like a library card — it identifies you so the AI provider knows who is making the request.
You only need to set up ONE provider. Choose whichever suits you best. Your key is stored encrypted on your device and never shared.
The company behind ChatGPT — the account most people already have. GPT-5.6 Luna gives excellent chess explanations and, for this kind of use, costs less than Gemini.
The best value of the lot. The same quality of explanations as the big names for a fraction of the price. If you plan to lean on the coach a lot, this is the one.
Google's fast AI model, and the only provider with a real free tier — the way to try the coach without adding a card. Paid, it costs a little more than OpenAI or DeepSeek.
Anthropic's lightweight yet capable model. Excellent at producing clear, educational chess explanations with nuanced analysis.
Alibaba's models, served from Alibaba Cloud Model Studio. Qwen 3.7 Flash is by far the cheapest way to run the AI coach.
It depends on your priorities:
| Provider | Price per 1,000 analyses | Quality | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | ~$0.32 / 1,000 | ★★★★ | Most people — cheap, and you likely have the account |
| DeepSeek | ~$0.27 / 1,000 | ★★★☆ | Best value, and heavy usage |
| Gemini | ~$0.56 / 1,000 — free tier | ★★★☆ | Getting started without a card |
| Claude | ~$1.48 / 1,000 | ★★★★ | Best explanations |
| Qwen | ~$0.04 / 1,000 | ★★★☆ | Spending the absolute minimum |
Yes. Chess Coach stores your API key encrypted on your device using Android's EncryptedSharedPreferences (AES-256-GCM). Your key is never sent to our servers — it goes directly from your device to the AI provider's API.
Very little. Measured on real usage, one analysis sends about 900 tokens and gets about 115 back, so 1,000 analyses come to roughly $0.27 with DeepSeek, $0.32 with OpenAI and $0.56 with Gemini. Even Claude, the most expensive, is about $1.48. And Gemini's free tier lets you analyse hundreds of positions a day at no cost at all.
Absolutely! You can change your AI provider at any time in the app's Settings screen. Just enter a new API key for the provider you want to use and select it from the dropdown.
Not entirely. You can play against Stockfish, solve puzzles, review games, and play online on Lichess without any API key. The API key is only needed for the AI Coach feature, which provides natural language explanations and educational commentary about your moves.