OpenDMG
Rookie icon

Rookie for Mac

An open-source chess coach that gives real-time feedback during games.

By jordanpainter. Free and open source, GPL-3.0 licence.

Get it with OpenDMG View source on GitHub

Rookie at a glance

Version
0.1.0
Released
20 October 2026
Download size
100 MB
Works on
Apple silicon and Intel
Licence
GPL-3.0
Category
Games
Developer
jordanpainter
GitHub stars
4

About Rookie

An open source chess coach for macOS. Runs entirely on your own Mac.

Screenshots

Rookie screenshot 1Rookie screenshot 2Rookie screenshot 3

How to install Rookie on a Mac

  1. Get OpenDMG. It is a free app store for open source Mac apps. Download OpenDMG.
  2. Search for Rookie and press Get. OpenDMG downloads version 0.1.0 from jordanpainter's own GitHub release.
  3. Open it. The download is checked against its SHA-256 fingerprint and its signature is checked on your Mac before it lands in Applications.

Updates to Rookie show up in OpenDMG and install with one button. No account is needed.

Prefer to do it by hand? The developer's file is on GitHub: Rookie.zip (100 MB).

What is new in Rookie 0.1.0

First release.

Rookie plays you at eight levels, warns you before you drop a piece, reviews your chess.com games, and drills puzzles built out of your own blunders. Chichi, the coach, runs locally through Ollama.

**Installing**

Download `Rookie.zip` below, unzip it, and drag Rookie to your Applications folder. The first open needs a right-click: choose Open, then Open again in the dialog, because the app isn't signed with an Apple developer certificate. You'll also want [Ollama](https://ollama.com/download) for the coach. Full instructions are in the README.

Requires an Apple Silicon Mac on macOS 14 or later, and about 10 GB free.

More Games apps

All Games apps