We’re excited to announce that you can now learn with the best chess courses in the world right here on Chess.com. Pick up new openings, learn chess strategy, and sharpen your tactics with top courses from the world’s leading players and coaches!
To celebrate the occasion, we’re gifting you a free course based on your current level of play. Check out your Courses library now and try it out.
Here’s what you need to know about Courses:
What Is Courses?
Courses is our new feature that makes chess courses more accessible and easier to take. It packs most of the course library of Chessable, the world’s leading platform for chess improvement, along with its highly-praised spaced repetition technology.
Courses are just like chess books, offering theoretical knowledge, examples, and exercises for you to improve your play. However, Courses go one step further by offering the level of interactivity that books can’t, letting you move pieces, quickly explore lines and variations, and more.
Many courses also come with video explanations presented by the world’s top players and coaches.
Why Does It Work?
There are many reasons why Courses is effective, but the core reason is its spaced repetition technology. Spaced repetition is a science-backed learning technique that helps you internalize the new concepts you’ve seen throughout the course.
Courses are also much more practical than regular chess books. With all relevant positions already set up for you and the ability to move pieces around, it’s much easier to just turn your screen on and start learning.
Finally, Courses provides immediate feedback when you’re working on exercises or trying to memorize a new opening. Instead of moving back and forth to check your answers, you can simply move a piece, like you would in a real game, and learn if you’ve made the right choice.
In summary, this new feature will give you access to the best educational content out there, along with the best tools to practice what you’ve learned effectively.
We’ve analyzed the efficiency of Chessable courses, which use the same MoveTrainer technology. Our data show that, within a six-month time frame, people who use MoveTrainer improve 4.6 times faster on average than those who don’t.
What Can I Learn With Courses?
There is a course for everyone out there! Whether you’re a beginner wanting to learn the basics or a pro trying to master the Sicilian Najdorf, you’ll find a course just for you.
Our courses cover every single aspect of chess, be it openings, the middlegame, the endgame, tactics, game collections, and more.
How To Access The Courses Page
You can access Courses by using the nav bar or going to Chess.com/Courses. Once you get to the Courses page, you’ll see your current library—where you’ll notice a brand new Starter Kit course we’ve gifted you. Your Starter Kit course is based on your level, and is a great way for you to try out everything that Courses has to offer!
How To Get New Courses
You can find our entire course library in the All Courses tab. Once you click that tab, you can use the search bar to find specific courses you might be looking for. You can also use the filters on the right to refine your search.
All courses come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you don’t like the course for any reason, you can request a full refund.
Chess.com Diamond members have a 20% discount on all courses. They also have access to all Short & Sweet courses, which are mini courses on a given topic, often taken from a larger, more robust paid course.
Diamond members also have unlimited opportunities to try up to 10 variations per course to help decide whether they want to buy a specific course. Basic members can still preview variations within a course, but they have a limit of 10 variations per month.
How To Take Your Courses
Once you’ve acquired a course, it’ll appear in the Your Courses tab. Click the course you want to take to go to its presentation screen, then click the Go to Course button to get started.
You’ll see a chessboard to your left and a menu to your right. Use the menu to navigate through the lessons. You’ll sometimes have to make moves on the chessboard to advance. Follow the instructions and enjoy your learning!
You can also adjust your course settings to your preference. Click the cog icon to open the settings menu. There, you’ll find multiple options to personalize your learning experience.
Next to the settings icon, you’ll notice that you can turn video explanations on or off. You can also easily analyze any position with a chess engine by clicking the Review icon or play any position against the computer by clicking the Bot icon.
Are you ready to try out the new Courses feature? Check out your free course, and let us know what you think in the comments below!
FAQ
Can I try Courses for free?
Yes, you can! We’re gifting every one of our members a Starter Kit course so you can experience the power of our new Courses feature for free. Chess.com Diamond members can also preview up to 10 variations of as many courses as they wish; Basic members can also preview up to 10 variations of any course per month.
Can I try Courses on mobile?
Currently, Courses is only available on web. However, we’re working to bring this new feature to Android and iOS as well.
What’s the difference between Courses and Lessons?
Chess.com’s Lessons are a great resource for improvers. They go over specific topics related to chess, and then let you practice what you’ve learned with targeted exercises. Our new Courses feature is an even more advanced option for improvers, bringing multiple in-depth courses and advanced features like spaced repetition practice.
Is Chess.com’s Courses similar to Chessable?
Yes, Chess.com’s Courses brings Chessable’s core features to Chess.com, including its signature MoveTrainer technology, which is famous among chess improvers for its effectiveness.
Is Chessable going away?
No, it isn’t. Chessable is the world’s leading chess training platform, and we know it is the go-to place for many improvers. We also know that some people will prefer the interface and features of Chessable. We’re committed to making both Chessable and Courses awesome places to study chess, and we plan to not only maintain but also make improvements to each platform.
Will I have access to my Chessable courses on Chess.com’s Courses?
Yes, you can request to sync your Chessable library to your Chess.com Courses library. For now, you will be able to access your Chessable courses, but unfortunately, we can’t bring your course progress over to Chess.com. We’re working on a solution to let you sync your course progress as well.
How do I bring my Chessable courses to Chess.com?
You can use our syncing tool to bring your Chessable courses to Chess.com, though we can’t bring over your course progress yet (we’re working on a solution for this). Please note that while you can import your courses from Chessable to Chess.com, you can’t sync your courses from Chess.com to Chessable. Also note that some courses may be available on Chessable but not on Chess.com, so they won’t be imported.
If I buy a course on Chess.com, will it be available on Chessable as well?
No, the courses you acquire on Chess.com will not be available on Chessable.
