Why Chess.com Is failing for Beginners (And How It Could Improve)

I’m honestly disappointed with Chess.com.

As a beginner, I find bits of theory and scattered exercises, but there’s no clear roadmap on how to truly learn and improve. It feels more like a library than a school full of valuable content, yes, but lacking structure.

I know many will say: “Just get a coach” but not everyone can afford one. And after paying for a full year of Chess.com, I’m seriously reconsidering whether it’s worth renewing.

There’s a massive amount of information here, but for beginners, it’s overwhelming and disorganised. Lessons, bots, puzzles, videos all mixed together, with beginner and advanced content side by side.

Many players say: “Do puzzles, play, and study theory” but that’s just too basic. Advanced players already know what to focus on and how to progress. Beginners don’t. That’s the gap.

What Chess.com really needs is a fully dedicated beginner section not just scattered lessons, but a complete step-by-step system. Curated bots ,progressive theory, skill-based puzzle paths, a learning tracker that shows how far you’ve come and what’s next

Because here’s the thing: right now, we have no real sense of progress.

Yes, my puzzle rating goes up or down, but that’s not the same as tracking learning. I want something that tells me: what concepts I’ve mastered, what openings I’ve covered
what tactics I still struggle with what my next learning step should be how my practical games reflect what I’m studying, etc

That kind of progress tracking would turn random content into a real journey. It would make me feel like I’m not just “spending time” on Chess.com, but actually building knowledge.

Right now, the site feels like a powerful engine bt with no dashboard for beginners to steer. If you're not improving and don’t have a coach, you start to feel like you’re just spinning your wheels.

I truly believe Chess.com could become so much better if it structured a proper beginner pathway. Not just content guidance.

I will show you how to review games and use puzzles correctly. Most of this info is by meeeee.

you should do review and puzzles every time daily and when you review you should ask these questions. A: did I get my opening correct? If no then remember it next time and if yes then do it whenever the theory say to do it. B: what opportunities did I miss? Opportunities are tactics, squares you could have put your pieces on, and pawn structure/weaknesses and this will help you remember those things and keep it in mind in every game. C: what mistakes did I make and how could I have not done it? For example you allowed the ruining of your pawn structure so you should find out how to not do that. On how to do puzzles you need ask your self this question. why does this combination/tactic work? If you can’t find out then go to analysis(after every puzzle there is an analysis button) and see the moves of the computer. You should play your moves and moves from the computer to see how it works. The things you need to find are weaknesses and weaknesses are king saftey, pieces with a loose defense, and pawns structure. There is a piece that has a defender, but the defender has only a small amount of squares to move before letting go of the defense is a loose piece. Now how to use what you learned from a puzzle? Look at your opponent’s side of the board and do either a check, capture or attack. This narrows down your moves to choose from. If a move makes a king safety weakness then I would consider it and that goes for loose pieces. If you are sacrificing a knight for 2 pawns, but the pawns are passed I would consider it.

Question no. 1: What is the #1 way to improve at chess? (Extra: Answers how to review games and how to use puzzles properly)
you should do review and puzzles every time daily and when you review you should ask these questions. A: did I get my opening correct? If no then remember it next time and if yes then do it whenever the theory say to do it. B: what opportunities did I miss? Opportunities are tactics, squares you could have put your pieces on, and pawn structure/weaknesses and this will help you remember those things and keep it in mind in every game. C: what mistakes did I make and how could I have not done it? For example you allowed the ruining of your pawn structure so you should find out how to not do that. On how to do puzzles you need ask yourself this question. why does this combination/tactic work? If you can’t figure out why use analysis(after every puzzle there is an analysis button). The things you need to find are weaknesses and weaknesses is king safety, pieces with a loose defense, and pawns structure. A loose piece is when a piece has a defender, but the defender has only a small amount of options before letting go of the defense. How to use what you learned from a puzzle? Look at your opponent’s side of the board and do either a check, capture or attack. This narrows down your moves to choose from. If a move makes a king safety weakness then I would consider it and that goes for loose pieces. If you are sacrificing a knight for 2 pawns, but the pawns are passed I would consider it.

Thanks Josh I appreciate the offer but that’s not really the point I’m raising here.

The issue is deeper: this is a paid platform that claims to be the best chess site in the world and yet, for beginners, it ends up feeling like a disorganised archive of lessons and tools, rather than a structured learning experience.

Maybe Chess.com should listen to people like you, who know how to teach beginners how to review games or use puzzles effectively. But the reality is that there are so many essential skills that should be taught clearly and Chess.com simply doesn’t offer proper guidance for those just starting out.

That’s where the platform is failing: not in the amount of content, but in how it supports beginners to make sense of it all

Why is chess.com removing a part of it because it’s too long. It’s getting annoying

Chess.com won’t do much about it.

Well that’s not right, and they should know this platform is NOT meeting the needs of beginners. Thanks for taking the time to write all that Josh your explanation is actually really helpful. Again this is about the platform itself. As I said Chess.com should listen to people like you

Just wait for a sec. I need to shorten the text so that it won’t get too long for the application. It is too long on my side so a part of it disappeared. You’re welcome.

Yes but Chess.com is trying to serve aspiring beginning players of all ages and all levels of educational experience at the same time.

You sound more than intelligent enough to have found some good materials for beginners.

What have you studied?

Question no. 1: What is the #1 way to improve at chess? (Answers how to review and puzzles)
You should review and do puzzles daily and when you review you should ask these questions. A: Is my opening correct? If no remember it next time, if yes then do it. B: what did I miss? Opportunities are tactics, squares you could have put your pieces on, and pawn structure/weaknesses and this will help you remember those things. C: what mistakes did I make and how to prevent it? For example you allowed a tactic so you should find out how to prevent that. To do puzzles you need ask yourself. Why does this tactic work? If you can’t figure out why use analysis(after every puzzle there is an analysis button). The things you need to find are weaknesses which is king safety, pieces with a loose defense, and pawns structure. A loose piece is when a piece has a defender, but the defender has a small amount of options before letting go of the defense. How to use what you learned from a puzzle? Look at your opponent’s side and do cca(search cca online). This removes passive moves to choose from. If a move makes a king safety weakness then I would consider it and that goes for loose pieces. If you will sacrifice a knight for 2 pawns, but the pawns are passed I would check it.

Yes! I finally got it short enough! Let’sss goooooo!

Hi Justbefair, thanks for you comment. Your question is a bit too broad what have studied?? I’m not really sure how to answer it properly. I guess I could say that I’ve done a lot of puzzles and studied quite a few learning lessons. Thanks for saying I sound intelligent bt honestly I don’t feel that way at all. As a beginner what I really need is someone or something that truly cares about guiding us with a clear and structured path. Because right now Chess.com feels TOO DISORGANISED for someone who’s just starting.

You mentioned that Chess.com is trying to help aspiring beginners … can you tell me more about that? Because from what I’ve seen so far, this platform is honestly kind of discouraging for new players

Thank you Josh I managed to read it all

You’re welcome #14. #13, well you got a point, but having a system for alllllll players is going to make the site slower for sure, but all I said can be typed into a lesson so that’s a point going for ya. The problem is beginners don’t know how to implement what they practice and learn in their games which chess.com just skips, but considering that YouTube has all the questions answered I would understand a bit, but chess.com you are literally the biggest chess website and you can’t even help us in what we are stuck with. All the lessons here are overwritten by YouTube so yeah maybe that’s why, but couldn’t you just put it

Thanks Josh I completely agree with a lot of what you said. You're right having one system that works for every type of player might slow things down or be difficult to implement. But at the very least Chess.com could be honest and say “This platform IS NOT DESIGNED for beginners.”

Because otherwise why are we paying for it?

Honestly it does feel like Youtube is doing a better job guiding beginners while Chess.com, despite being the biggest chess website, skips over the real beginner problems. If all the lessons here are basically overwritten by free content elsewhere, then the platform should rethink how it's serving paying users who are just starting out.

Like I said before, I think Chess.com could help beginners and I’ve already suggested a few ways they might do that. I’d honestly be happy to give feedback directly to the developers if that would help improve the experience.

But as it stands now, the whole site feels like it was made to support tournaments, top players, and the broader chess scene… and for us beginners, it just feels like we’re being charged money to be left behind.

Go to the support ai and talk about your suggestion to chess.com. I hope chess.com will hear your answer.

A long time ago, back in the depths of time, I had "Chessmaster 2000" I think. It might have been more up-to-date, but I don't think it was. It had exactly what the OP probably wants, so someone, back then, had thought it through.

Although Chessmaster was basically a computer opponent, someone had seen fit to give it a set of graded lessons, on various themes, which you could follow and collect, each ending with a quiz of puzzles. They were eminently suited to beginners, not overwhelming with too much content, but still with enough to be useful - and they focussed, so you could see where the progress was. There were puzzles too, of course. There was an opening encyclopedia and tools for analysis, and there was a very substantial collection of "proper" games, and tools to search it. And, of course, there was a whole string of computer personalities to play, so you could see your progress up the bot rating list. All in all, it was a very-well put-together piece of software, and a lesson to anyone planning chess resources, even today.

Thank you Imh50 it seems Chessmaster 2000 was actually much more beginner oriented than Chess.com. Honestly I think the developers of Chess.com have a deep knowledge of chess, but they either don’t know how or haven’t taken the time to design a platform that helps beginners. And that’s a real shame because I see so many many beginners just as lost as I am, and I’m sure we make up a large percentage of Chess.com paying users.

Based on what you said and what others here have shared it’s clear there are many ways to support beginners more effectively. And Chess.com really should listen to us!! Because at some point you start asking yourself: why keep paying Chess.com when we’re getting so little actual guidance in return?

Sometimes I get the impression that this platform is mainly a sponsor for tournaments, a content library for intermediate and advanced players, and a place for top players to advertise their paid services… …but for beginners like us, it feels like we’ve just been forgotten

If you study incessantly you're bound to go insane