Move 2 of 7 · Review
Chess.com
A commercial chess platform built around learning: a polished free version with adverts, and paid memberships that widen the training tools and remove the ads.
What it is
Chess.com is a commercial chess site that works in a browser and through its apps on the App Store and Google Play. It covers the whole arc of a chess habit: games against people and bots, puzzles, lessons, a coach mode, coverage of top events and a news section. Where Lichess is a workshop, Chess.com is closer to a school with a busy common room.
It runs on a freemium model. You can create an account and play without paying. The free version carries adverts; the paid memberships, named Gold, Platinum and Diamond, plus a Friends & Family plan, remove them and widen access to the training tools.
How a session goes
The Play menu sets out the options in plain words. Play Online pairs you with a person of similar skill. Play Bots offers computer opponents from easy to master. Play Coach is a game with advice as you go. Play a Friend sends an invitation. Tournaments run in an Arena format, and Chess Variants is there for when the standard game needs a change. The default online game offered on the page is ten-minute Rapid, and a custom challenge lets you set other limits.
The bots deserve a word. Each one is presented as a personality with its own strength and style, which gives a beginner a sparring partner that never sighs at a blunder and is available at three in the morning. Lessons and puzzles are built in, and after a game the Game Review feature shows your best moves, an accuracy figure and the moments where the game turned.
Away from the board, Chess.com follows top events with real-time analysis and publishes chess news, so it doubles as a place to watch as well as play.
The time it asks for
Most activity on Chess.com comes in short pieces: a Rapid game, a handful of puzzles, a lesson. That suits a lunch break and suits less well anyone who struggles to stop. Because bots and the coach are always available, you never wait for an opponent, which helps when free time arrives in odd scraps and also removes a natural pause.
The interface is designed to suggest the next game and the next puzzle. It is worth deciding before you sit down how many you mean to play.
How it pays its way
Free to start, with optional paid memberships. According to the membership page, the paid tiers add unlimited Game Review, unlimited puzzles and lessons, Play Coach, move explanations, advanced statistics and course perks, and they remove the adverts. A free trial is offered on the same page; read its renewal terms there before you start it.
What you get without paying is still a complete way to play chess. The question is how much of the training side you want, and whether the adverts bother you.
Who it suits, and who it doesn’t
A good fit for
- Beginners who like a structured path of lessons and an opponent who will not rush them.
- Players who want a post-game review explained in plain language.
- Anyone who moves between phone and computer during the day.
- Fans who like to follow top-level events alongside their own games.
Look elsewhere if you are
- Someone who will not accept adverts and does not want to pay to remove them.
- A player whose main wish is deep analysis without a membership.
The balance
In its favour
- Polished, approachable design in the browser and the apps.
- Bots with distinct personalities, plus a coach mode.
- Lessons, puzzles and post-game review in one place.
- Good coverage of top events.
Against it
- Adverts on the free version.
- The fullest training tools sit behind paid tiers.
- The design keeps proposing one more game.
Checked at the source
Confirmed on the official site (chess.com) in October 2026:
- Play options on the official play page: Online, Bots, Coach, Friend, Tournaments, Chess Variants.
- Membership tiers named Gold, Platinum and Diamond, plus a Friends & Family plan.
- Paid tiers list unlimited Game Review, puzzles and lessons, Play Coach, no adverts, move explanations, advanced stats and course perks.
- Apps on the App Store and Google Play.
- Lessons, bots, puzzles and coverage of live events on the home page.
The platform itself is one click away. Nothing is played here.
Visit chess.com (opens the official site in a new tab)