How do Lessons work?

The Interactive Lessons on Chess.com are a great way to improve your chess rating and knowledge on chess.com!  All Premium members have all lessons unlimited. Basic members get the 'New to Chess' section unlimited, and 1 lesson per week in all other areas.*

*Plans purchased before September 1st 2022 will be on the old lesson plan, which provides 3 lessons per week for Gold and 5 lessons per week for Platinum. All Diamond plans have unlimited lessons. 

NOTE: Lesson counts reset each week on Sunday at midnight. Repeating a lesson does NOT count toward your total for the week.

Click here to learn more, or to upgrade your membership!

To access the lessons, hover over ‘learn’ on the left sidebar, then click 'lessons'

On the lessons home page, you will see that the lessons are broken into four categories. Each category has several sections. Clicking on the sections will take you to a series of videos, each with some puzzles to solve afterwards. 

New to Chess 

These lessons involve how to move the pieces and the rules of the game, including the lesser known rules like castling and en passant. If you are completely new to chess, this is the best place to start! 

Beginner

Plus 19 more lessons not pictured here

These videos and challenges cover the beginnings of strategy, how to find checkmate, and basic openings. 

Intermediate

Plus 22 more lessons not pictured here

These lessons start to get into more challenging aspects of chess, such as endgames and full board strategies, and making your pieces work together

Advanced 

Plus 34 more lessons not pictured here

These lessons go even further in depth on the endgame, opening and various tactics. 

Click on one of the sections to see the series of video’s inside. 

You'll see an overview of the section, and the option to 'start'

Click 'start' to begin your first lesson! Or, you can simply scroll down and pick any of the lessons in the series that interests you. You don't have to complete them in order!

After you click 'start' or choose your lesson, you will be shown a short video followed by a number of problems. 

Work through all the problems to complete the lesson!

Search hundreds more lessons outside the guide!

If you've completed all the lessons in our guide, or if you just want some content on a specific subject, there are tons more lessons you can search for! 

From the lessons home page click on 'All Lessons' and you'll be able to search our entire library of lessons for just what you need. 

Click on any of the icons to view lessons about openings, strategy, tactics, endgames, or master games. Or, use the dropdowns to search by level, themes, or even by instructor! Or, you can simply type what you are after into the search bar and see what you find! 

Note: these lessons outside the Guide will count toward your weekly quota. 

Click here to get started on some lessons right now! 

If the information in this article is out of date or incorrect, or if you have questions about it, please let us know!

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