Pros and Cons of Chess.com

Recently, I was talking to one of my non-chess-related friends. He was talking to me about maybe beginning to learn chess. I was telling him about all the great ways to learn about chess, when he asked me an interesting question. Where is the best place to learn about chess on the internet?

I was about to blurt out, "Chess.Com!" when I stopped myself. I had played mostly on chess.com for my entire chess-playing career, was it time to try something else? Sure, chess.com has its advantages, but was there something better out there? 

It was this small-scale existential crisis that made me want to write this article. After a very quick search of the other chess websites, I had an answer to my question. And soon, so will you.

Before I went looking for information, I first wanted to find out what the general population thought. Eventually, I found this list.

1. Chess.com

2. lichess.org

3. chess24.com

4. chessbase.com

5. chessresults.com

6. chessgames.com

7. fide.com

8. sparkchess.com

9. chesstempo.com

10. 2700chess.com

To tell the truth, the rankings didn't surprise me that much. I successfully guessed the top three. What really surprised me were the differences between them. Chess.com has over 40 million members, while lichess only has 10 million. That means 30 million people went to chess.com but not lichess. Wow.

The reason I find this so amazing is that lichess is a well-known platform. It's famous in the chess world for not having any kind of membership cost, basically, it's free. On the other hand, a diamond membership to chess.com, which grants full access to every feature, costs 100 dollars per year. 

100 dollars does seem like a lot, but it's really not that much. If the owner uses chess.com once per day, which I imagine might be pretty close to the truth, then they pay about 27 cents every time they visit the site.

Of course, I'm assuming that you use it every day. After coronavirus, it may not be worth buying a diamond membership and instead going with lichess. But that also depends on the actual features of the site which you get to use.

This is where one of chess.com's key advantages over lichess comes in: the features. With a diamond membership, you get access to all features. But if you buy a platinum membership, you get almost every feature at half the price.

So who wins in the battle of objective site design quality? Chess.com, without a doubt. Even with only a platinum membership, you still get access to an amazing tactics trainer, a huge selection of articles and videos and a sparkling community that lichess just doesn't have.

Even so, lichess still has a few advantages. They have fewer spam accounts and better gameplay. This makes them a better site to send a child to. Overall, it's just a more kid-friendly site.

So in the end, who's better? In my opinion, chess.com is a better, more well-designed site, and you can lessen the cost with the platinum membership. But if you don't have the money or are looking for a site for your young child, pick lichess.