thinking of upgrading.

Hey guys i have been playing chess off and on for years, but the pasr year or so i have been playing on a daily basis and i love the game. I have been on this site for a week now and i am thinking of upgrading to the diamond plan for the videos so i can improve my skill. Anyways i was just looking for some feedback from the other members. How has it helped your game and what features do you use the most? Thanks so kuch in advance. Matt

I haven't watched many of the videos. (I would load them to my Ipod and do so, but chess.com won't let me).

But the chess mentor alone is worth the diamond membership. Go for it, its worth the money.

Chess Mentor is one of the best tools for chess training out there. It teaches a WIDE range of topics for a wide range of skill levels. You can see more about it, (and I think there is still even a trial for it) here: http://www.chess.com/chessmentor/myhome.html

I could not be happier with my Diamond membership.  Chess Mentor is the best chess training program out there... I have Zero doubt about that.

The fact its teaches everything from how the pieces move up to GM level thought processes is just amazing.  And it explains every move and why it won't work and its just amazing I cant even put it into words.  You could spend 60$ an hour on a chess coach and after 3 hours you would probably get less than what the chess mentor would do for you.

Not to mention the videos, there are a lot of good ones... I had a lot of fun watched the best moves of all time top 10 by IM Shankland.  Unlimited tactics trainer puzzles.... the list goes on. 

You will not regret it.

If i sign up for the gold membership annually and then decide to upgrade to diamond will I just owe the differance?  How does that work?  I would like to support the site and get rid of the ads, but i can't afford the 96 bucks for diamond right now.

Here's a message from the staff about upgrades/downgrades after you become a member:

"you can upgrade or downgrade at ANY TIME without losing any of your membership credit. So if you wanted to temporarily upgrade to a Diamond Membership for one month (or even for a day) so you could watch a video or do some Chess Mentor lessons, you can do that. Then you could downgrade and your remaining credit is applied to your new membership. Or, if you wanted to go from a monthly to a yearly plan (or vice-versa), you could do that as well. At any time you can go to the Membership page and see see what your existing membership credit is and how to upgrade or downgrade."

 I did that, and yes you will just owe the difference.

Prorated, of course.  I believe that if you do it six months into an annual gold membership you'll owe the difference between a full year's diamond membership and a half year's gold membership and your new renewal date will be a year from when you upgraded.

I respectfully disagree. Most of the courses aren't worth the gold they're printed on.

The gold membership is an absolute steal.  I did not notice a huge increase in value from gold to platinum, although the extra computer analysis and tourneys have been nice.  Just start out with the gold and see how much of it you use, then if you want more, upgrade some more.  Its a great system.

I upgraded recently. The videos are great and make it a worthwhile buy in my opnion.

What do you mean by tourneys?? are some of the tournements only for certain member levels?

You are limited to only joining one member run tourney as a free member.

just do it. if you don't like it, you have a 30-day moneyback guarantee :)

 Yeah, I only play tourney and team match games, so being able to be in 10+ tournaments at a time has been nice.  I should also mention, I play a lot of moves on my phone, premium members get a lot more phone moves per day.

Listen to Erik, he is wise.  Go for it!

Well the unlimited tactics trainer is useful and does help to improve my board vision. When I feel like looking at strategy I do some chess mentor stuff and every day when I need to relax a bit I watch a new video about something. Well worth the money.

well you guys conviced me!!!!!  Got my diamond membership today.  Looking forward to watching the videos and playing some turnies.  Also the chess mentor stuff and tatics.  woot i have some exploring to do.

Watch the videos the IMs and the GMs make. They are really instructive and you could see the chess.com TV (for diamond and platuim members only) ones. Like some of the Anand cames right now. There are a lot of things you can do when you have a diamond membership thats why I got one!