Introduction
Improving your skills in chess requires dedicating an immense amount of time and effort into studying and practicing a variety of concepts such as chess openings, middle and endgame tactics, when to trade or sacrifice chess pieces, how to assess your position on the chess board as well as many other important principles. Thankfully there are a plethora of informative chess courses and instructional videos online that can help you along your way to becoming a better chess player. Chess is a very powerful game that can greatly improve your memory and your ability to think strategically which also has numerous mental health benefits as it has been proven to be an effective antidote against a large number of mental health disorders such as ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, anxiety and dementia. One of the most effective ways to fast track your progression in chess is by learning from the right teachers and mentors as learning from teachers that lack credibility and experience can delay your progression and negatively impact your growth in chess.
There are several options to choose from when it comes to chess education which includes: personally booking and learning from qualified chess coaches or titled chess players, watching instructional videos online, reading chess books, independently studying the games of legendary chess players which can be found on chess databases or buying chess courses online from chess coaches or titled chess players. After mastering the game of chess it’s very common for titled chess players to go on to teach the next generation the secrets to becoming a successful chess player by either becoming chess coaches and tutoring students one on one or by creating online chess courses in order to reach a wider audience. In this article I’ve outline some of the best online chess courses created by the top chess players of our current era in order to shortcut the time it would usually take aspiring chess players to improve their skills in chess and raise their game.
1. Chess Mood
Chess mood is a website that enables chess players to improve their game by partaking in online chess courses, study guides, daily chess puzzles and interactive lessons which have been put together by grandmasters. There are over 400 hours of video content on chess mood covering a variety of topics such as openings for both blacks and whites, middlegame and endgame tactics, countering various openings, the psychology of a grandmaster, how to increase your Elo depending on your current Elo rating and much more. The length of the courses on chess mood ranges from 19.5 hours to 1.5 hours and members of the site benefit from having unlimited access to all courses. Chess mood also has a community forum which is one of it’s most helpful features as it enables chess players to interact with other members of the site who may be experiencing similar difficulties in chess and talk directly with grandmasters who can give expert advice on members of the platforms personal challenges in chess. There are dozens of testimonials on chess mood highlighting the positive impact utilising chess mood has had on numerous chess players overall improvement in chess in all areas of the game. Chess mood is one of the best platforms online when it comes to chess education which has virtually everything you need to improve in chess regardless of your current level whether you’re a beginner, intermediate or an advanced chess player.
Remote chess academy is the official website of Grandmaster Igor Smirnov which features chess courses, videos and lessons all created by Grandmaster Igor Smirnov himself. The remote chess academy enables chess players from all over the world to access a wide range of high quality information on chess such as the most effective ways to raise your Elo rating, understanding your position on the chess board, pawn structures, chess openings, middle and endgame tactics, how to sharpen and utilise your intuition in chess and much more. There are over 60 courses on remote chess academy and the length of the courses on remote chess academy ranges from 1.5 hours to over 9 hours and each chess course thoroughly covers the most important chess principles in great detail. In order to successfully complete each chess course students are required to demonstrate an adequate level of understanding of the lessons taught in the course and complete up to 6 practical tasks to help with the memorisation of the various concepts. In addition to the numerous chess courses that’s available for purchase on the remote chess academy website Grandmaster Igor Smirnov also offers free training courses as well as the occasional gift voucher which can be used to get an additional discount on any of the paid courses that’s available for purchase. Over 65,000 students around the world have enrolled in courses on remote chess academy and there are numerous testimonials from students expressing the massive improvement they have had in their chess games due to the information within the courses on remote chess academy. Remote chess academy is an extremely valuable resource when it comes to online chess education with options for students that’s willing to pay for their chess education as well as for students in search of free educational resources.
3. The Complete Guide To Chess Tactics By Tryfon Gavriel (Udemy)
The complete guide to chess tactics by FIDE candidate master Tryfon Gavriel is a great resource for any chess player that wants to improve their skills in chess and raise their Elo rating. The complete guide to chess tactics is 21.5 hours in total and is broken down into 10 chapters with the length of each chapter ranging from 1 to 4 hours. The course covers some of the most important concepts in chess such as chess tactics, why and when to sacrifice chess pieces, how to identify patterns on the chess board, how to utilise checks, captures and threats to checkmate your opponent, how to calculate which moves will be the most effective and much more. Students of the complete guide to chess tactics will also gain access to 5 articles and 5 downloadable resources to further accelerate their chess education. Many of the top companies such as Nasdaq, Volkswagen, Box, NetApp and Eventbrite offer this course to their employees as a self-development resource and to improve their strategic thinking skills. Over 8,500 students have enrolled in the complete guide to chess tactics course by FIDE candidate master Tryfon Gavriel which has received over 1000 4.5 star reviews on Udemy. The complete guide to chess tactics is best seller on Udemy and is a great educational resource for chess players at any level that wants to improve their skills and raise their game.
4. Understanding Chess Tactics By Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko (Udemy)
Understanding chess tactics by International Grandmaster Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko is an excellent educational resource for chess players of any level which has been proven to improve chess players skills and raise their game. Understanding chess tactics is 2.5 hours in length and is broken down into 5 chapters which ranges from 17mins to 1 hour long. The course breaks down easy and hard examples of how to use tactics in chess, how to recognise tactical patterns in chess by looking out for common themes that frequently appear in chess games as well as examples of some of the tactics that’s been used in Grandmaster level chess games. Students of understanding chess tactics are able to gain access to 22 downloadable resources that along with the course will help to increase your skills in chess. After completing the course you will be able to identify many of the most common and some of the most rarely seen tactical patterns in chess and determine the most effective next moves based on logic and calculation. Over 2900 students have enrolled in the understanding chess tactics course by international Grandmaster Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko which has received over 600 4.9 star reviews on Udemy. Understanding chess tactics is one of the most sought after chess courses on Udemy and is an excellent educational resource for chess players of any level that wants to improve their skills and raise their game in chess.
5. Garry Kasparov Teaches Chess (Masterclass.com)
Garry Kasparov teaches chess on Masterclass.com is one of the most informative chess courses that’s currently available online. Who better to learn from how to improve your skills and raise your game in chess than the former world chess champion Garry Kasparov? The length of the course is 7 hours and 20 minutes in total and consists of 29 videos covering topics such as chess fundamentals, double attacks, skewers, pins, discovered attacks, deflection/attractions, interference, overloads, winning trades and much more. Garry Kasparov eloquently demonstrates his mastery over the game of chess in the course and provides great insight into the psychology of a grandmaster in chess. Students that enrol in the course will be able to gain access to a downloadable 86 page workbook that coincides with the lessons within the course in order to practice how to handle the various positions that can arise on the chess board during a chess game. In addition to the downloadable workbook, students of Garry Kasparov teaches chess will also be able to benefit from gaining access to Masterclass’ community forum which is one of the sites key features that will further accelerate your understanding of chess as you’ll be able to correspond with and learn from other chess players that are more advanced as well as interact with chess players that may be experiencing similar challenges. Many of the students that have enrolled in the Garry Kasparov teaches chess course have rated the course between 4.5 to 5 stars. Garry Kasparov teaches chess is an outstanding educational resource for chess players that are willing to study and genuinely want to improve their skills and raise their game in chess.
6. Chess.com
Chess.com is one of the best free alternatives to some of the paid chess courses online which has dozens of lessons from several titled chess players such as Magnus Carlsen, Benjamin Finegold, Surya Ganguly, Dejan Bojkov, James Canty, Judit Polgar, Jan Gustafsson, Hou Yifan, Leinier Perez, Jeremy Cane, Viswanathan Anand, and many others. The courses on chess.com are also divided into tiers of difficulty depending on your level of understanding of chess. The length of the courses on chess.com ranges from under an hour to over 10 hours and covers topics such as openings, strategy, tactics, middle and endgames as well as example chess games from Grandmasters in chess. Students on chess.com are also able to practice what they have learned in the courses during live chess games against computers and real chess players on the site as chess.com is also a chess gaming platform which has millions of active users. One of the main benefits of taking lessons on chess.com is that the courses are organised so that students are able to learn in stages according to their rating and study one concept before moving on to others as opposed to studying multiple concepts which can be time consuming and a generally less effective way to study chess. Many of the students that have taken lessons on chess.com have found the courses to be extremely valuable. Chess.com is a great free educational resource for chess players that want to improve their skills and raise their game in chess.
7. Lichess.org
Lichess.org is another great free alternative to some of the paid chess courses online which has several lessons covering topics such as the basic rules of chess, the fundamental principles of chess as well as intermediate and advanced concepts in chess. It’s also possible to learn and practice playing in various chess positions on Lichess.org as there are lessons covering topics which include: checkmates, basic and intermediate tactics in addition to pawn and rook endgames. After taking lessons on Lichess.org students are able to practice what they have learned in real time against chess bots and other chess players as Lichess.org is also an online chess gaming site with over 4 million active users. After completing the courses on Lichess.org and practicing what you have learned in real chess games against opponents you will have a much greater understanding of chess and how to handle playing in a variety of positions on the chess board. Some of the most helpful features of Lichess.org is it’s analysis tool which allows you to identify any blunders or mistakes but also strong moves made during games so that you can focus your attention on improving on the weaknesses in your strategy and the titled coaches that are available to teach. Thousands of students worldwide have been able to increase their Elo rating substantially by utilising the free courses and enrolling in lessons by the titled coaches on Lichess.org. Lichess.org is an incredible free educational resource for chess players that are keen on improving their skills and raising their game in chess.
8. Benjamin Finegold Lectures (Youtube)
Benjamin Finegold’s lectures on Youtube is an excellent free educational resource for beginners, intermediate and advanced chess players that want to improve their skills in chess. Benjamin Finegold is a Grandmaster in chess with hundreds of video lessons on Youtube covering a range of topics which include chess openings, tactics, strategy and example chess games from other Grandmasters in chess. Benjamin Finegold’s lectures also addresses some of the most common mistakes chess players make during their games that greatly impacts their ability to increase their Elo rating and provides tips on how to overcome them. Improving in chess by watching Benjamin Finegold’s lectures on Youtube is almost guaranteed as he often breaks down why particular moves are considered to be more effective or less effective than others during chess games and step by step instructions on what patterns to watch out for as well as how to assess your position on the chess board from a Grandmasters perspective. The average length of the lectures on Benjamin Finegold’s Youtube channel is 45 minutes however many of his lessons range from 5 minutes to over an hour long. Benjamin Finegold has over 120 thousand subscribers to his Youtube channel and has helped thousands of chess players become better chess players. Benjamin Finegold’s lectures on Youtube is an incredible free educational resource for chess players that want to improve their skills and raise their game in chess.
9. NM Robert Ramirez (Youtube)
National master Robert Ramirez’s Youtube channel is a fantastic free educational resource for beginners, intermediate and advanced chess players that want to improve their game in chess. NM Robert Ramirez’s Youtube channel has over a hundred thousand subscribers and hundreds of video lessons covering a range of topics such as chess openings, how to attack and defend isolated pawns, castling strategies, middle and endgame tactics and much more. The length of the courses on NM Robert Ramirez’s Youtube channel ranges from a minute to over an hour long and each video lesson consists of a live screen recording of NM Robert Ramirez’s chess board whilst playing chess games against other chess players with commentary on the reasons behind each of his moves. Robert Ramirez demonstrates an expert level of understanding of chess in his video lessons and provides great insight into how to incorporate the principles of good chess in your chess games regardless of your current Elo rating. Chess players can easily increase their level of understanding of chess and improve their current Elo rating by studying the lessons on NM Robert Ramirez’s Youtube channel. The lessons are separated into playlists with three tiers of difficulty for beginners, intermediate and advanced chess players which makes it easier to find the right lessons according to your current rating. NM Robert Ramirez’s Youtube channel is a great free educational resource for chess players that want to improve their skills and raise their game in chess and thousands of chess players around the world have seen significant improvements in their games by taking Robert Ramirez’s courses on Youtube.
10. Hanging Pawns (Youtube)
Hanging Pawns is among one of the best channels on Youtube which provides free education for chess players that are trying to improve their game. There are over a thousand video lessons on the Hanging Pawns Youtube channel covering a range of topics which include chess openings, middle and endgame tactics, chess traps, chess game analysis, examples chess games of Grandmasters and much more. Stefan, the host of Hanging Pawns is a high rated chess player who teaches chess players how to improve their skills in chess by understanding the tactics within the numerous chess openings and by limiting the amount of blunders and mistakes made during chess games. The length of the video lessons on the Hanging Pawns Youtube channel ranges from 7 minutes to just over an hour long and consists of Stefan explaining different concepts in chess via a live screen recording of his chess board. Stefan demonstrates an expert level of understanding in his video lessons and helps to simplify complex topics in chess for beginners, intermediate and advanced chess players alike. The Hanging Pawns Youtube channel is an excellent free educational resource for chess players that want to improve their skills and raise their game in chess and chess players of any level can expect to see a significant improvement in their game by studying the material on the Hanging Pawns Youtube channel.
11. Gotham Chess (Youtube)
Gotham Chess is one of the most popular channels on Youtube for chess players that want to improve their skills in chess and be generally entertained by chess related content. Gotham Chess is run by International Master Levy Rozman and the Gotham Chess Youtube channel has over 4 million subscribers and 1600 videos covering a a variety of topics such as chess openings, chess tactics, middle and endgame strategies, example Grandmaster games and live demonstrations with subscribers of the channel as well as various tips on how to improve in chess. The length of the video lessons on the Gotham Chess Youtube channel ranges from about 5 minutes to over an hour and consists of a live screen recording of Levy Rozman’s chess board whilst he provides commentary on a variety of chess topics. Levy Rozman exhibits a great understanding of chess during his video lessons in an entertaining but very informative format. Millions of chess players around the world have been able to improve their skills in chess due to the content that International Master Levy Rozman creates via the Gotham Chess Youtube channel. Gotham Chess is a great free educational resource for beginners, intermediate and advanced chess players that want to improve their skills and raise their game in chess.
12. Chessly.com
Chessly.com is the official website of International Master Levy Rozman which features chess courses on many of the topics that’s taught on the Gotham Chess Youtube channel although the courses on Chessly.com are much more in depth. There are also numerus training tools for students of Chessly such as chess puzzles, memory training games, visualisation games, coordination games, speed thinking games and much more. Chessly has 14 lectures and 13 courses which covers subjects such as chess openings for whites and blacks, middle and endgame tactics as well as beginner, intermediate and advanced chess courses for chess players with an Elo rating of up to 2200. One of the best features on Chessly is its game analysing tool which allows students to review, study and analyse their chess games all within the platform which eliminates the need for students to use multiple platforms in order to measure their strengths and weaknesses in chess. The chess courses on Chessly consists of video lessons, chess drills and quizzes which is extremely beneficial as it ensures that students are able to both memorise and demonstrate their understanding of the principles within the courses in positions that are likely to arise on the chess board. The length of the video lessons on Chessly are up to 10 minutes however much of the value of the courses on Chessly is in the chess drills and quizzes.
13. Fiverr.com
Fiverr.com is the go to website when it comes to finding experts in various fields including chess and there are numerous reputable chess courses on Fiverr that’s been put together by credible chess players both titled and untitled. The type of lessons that are taught on Fiverr include topics such as chess openings, how to calculate in chess, positional chess skills, chess tactics, chess strategy, middle and endgame principles, chess game analysis and much more. There are three packages that can be bought depending on your budget which includes the basic package, the standard package and the premium package. Both the basic and standard packages usually comes with one lesson, exercises and supporting materials such as books and quizzes and the premium package usually comes with five video lessons, exercises and supporting materials. Many of the course providers also offer ongoing support for students even after the course has ended which is extremely helpful especially for students that may need extra guidance. The average length of the video lessons on Fiverr is 30 minutes although some of the video lessons are up to an hour long depending on the course provider and the tier of the chosen package. Nizar is a great example of a excellent chess tutor who has achieved an Elo rating of 2500 and has over 600 five star reviews from students who have seen significant improvements in their chess games. Fiverr.com is an excellent educational resource for chess players that want to improve their skills and raise their game in chess.
14. Aimchess.com
Aimchess is an online chess site that analyses your chess games and creates personalised lessons based on your strengths and weaknesses in chess. Aimchess uses artificial intelligence to measure and better understand how to help you improve your chess games in key areas such as opening performance, time management, tactics, middle and endgames, resourcefulness, advantage capitalisation and how well your able to handle disadvantageous positions on the chess board. Aimchess also utilises the wisdom of chess grandmasters and coaches to create puzzles based on the blunders and mistakes made in your previous chess games in order to help you identify areas of improvement. One of the most helpful features of Aimchess is that it offers students personalised weekly study plans which allows students to continue their studies in their free time and retain the information learned from previous classes much better in preparation for upcoming lessons. Chess coaches are also able to use Aimchess for their coaching sessions as the analysis tools within the platform makes it much easier for chess coaches to identify and highlight students mistakes made during previous games which eliminates the need to manually review games and allows chess coaches to focus on providing instructive support which is the opinion of GM Ankit Rajpara. Aimchess has a free standard plan and a paid premium plan which costs $7.99 or $4.85 with an annual subscription. Aimchess is an outstanding free and paid educational resource for chess players that want to improve their skills and raise their game in chess which is also considerably cheaper than many chess courses that’s currently available online.
15. Chessable.com
Chessable.com is a chess education website that merges neural science with chess for the purpose of increasing students ability to retain information and ultimately become better chess players. Students of Chessable are able to retain up to 95% of the information learned in the courses due to the scientific approach that goes into the creation of the courses on Chessable. There are over a thousand video lessons on Chessable and over four hundred chess coaches, many of whom are Grandmasters and titled chess players with many years of experience playing chess at a high level. The courses on Chessable are taught by some of the best chess players in the world such as GM Anish Giri, IM Levy Rozman, IM Andras Toth, IM Christof Selecki, GM Jan Gustaffson, GM Peter Svidler, GM Erwin L’ami and GM Hans Niemmann. The topics that are taught on Chessable include subjects such as chess openings, middle and endgame best practices, strategy, tactics and much more. The length of the video lessons on Chessable ranges from 15 minutes to an hour long and are extremely insightful. There are numerous free courses on Chessable as well as paid in depth courses for chess players that want to take their chess education to the next level. Currently Chessable has one million students and has achieved a plethora of positive testimonials by students of all ages that have improved their skills in chess significantly. Chessable is a brilliant educational resource for chess players that want to improve their skills and raise their game in chess.
Conclusion
There are numerous options when it comes to chess education both on and offline however the internet makes it much easier to gain access to world class chess teachers, coaches and software to make the task of learning chess much easier especially for beginners. Learning how to play chess today is fairly inexpensive and there are many online platforms that will allow you to learn the basics as well as advanced concepts in chess for free. There are numerous high quality chess teachers on free platforms such as Youtube with Grandmaster, International master, National master and FIDE master titles that have years of experience playing and teaching chess that can shortcut the time it takes anyone to learn how to play and improve in chess. There are also a plethora of resources such as chess game analysing tools, chess quizzes and chess puzzles on both paid and free online websites such Chessly.com, Aimchess.com and Chessable.com that are extremely beneficial for chess players that want to improve their chess skills.
The free chess courses and resources will be more than enough for most people to see a significant improvement in their chess games however there is also an immense amount of value in some of the paid chess courses and resources such as ChessMood.com, Remote Chess Academy, Udemy.com, Garry Kasparov teaches chess on Masterclass.com, Chess.com, Fiverr.com, Chessly.com, Aimchess.com and Chessable.com. Many of the paid chess courses will enable students to gain access to community forums and gain access to a variety of different resources which can decrease the time it takes students to grasp the lessons within the courses. Chess players that take advantage of both the free and paid chess educational resources and apply the lessons learned in their chess games will be able to improve in chess significantly. The internet has enabled anyone with a smartphone or a computer to gain access to high quality chess education and it’s almost certain that the quality and availability of online chess educational resources will continue to improve and become even more prevalent in the future.
