Learning chess as a beginner is hard – but it’s easier than it’s ever been. There are many chess websites with tools that either didn’t exist at all, or cost thousands of dollars, just 10 years ago. And now you can get all of that for free or cheap in many places. In this article I’ll point you to the best chess website for beginners to play and learn chess.
The best Chess website for beginners
Here’s our top picks for the best chess websites for beginners to learn and play chess for beginners.
| Chess website | Best for |
| Chess.com | Playing and learning (free) |
| Chessly | Paid courses |
1. Chess.com: The best chess website for beginners to play and learn (free)
Chess.com is the best chess website for beginners to learn chess. it’s free and and you get the following goes to learn chess:
- Play chess online against strangers
- Play chess against friends
- Play chess against the computer ( on different difficulty settings)
- Chess puzzles
- Chess analysis artificial intelligence
- Chess lessons, including:
- Chess opening lessons
- Chess endgame lessons
- Chess tournaments and divisions
Chess.com is also by far the most popular website out there. It has over 70 million people playing chess on it, most of them beginners. So every game you play will be by against someone of your own skill level.
It’s also the website where all the famous grandmasters play chess: Magnus carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Hans Niemann, Levy Rozman (Gothamchess), and so forth.
So if you’re looking for a the best chess website for beginners to play chess, there’s a very clear winner: Chess.com.
Click here to play chess on Chess.com
Also read: Is Chess.com Premium worth it?
2. Chessly: The best chess courses platform
Chessly is the newest chess courses website online. It was launched in October 2022 by GothamChess (Levy rozman).
In my opinion this is the new standard for chess course platforms. Normally when you buy a chess course for beginners you only get videos that explain what you need to do. With Chessly you also get:
- Quizzes to test your memory
- Training drills for the different lines in your opening
- Quiz randomizer (new)
- Drill randomizer (new)
- Tool to analyze if you played your games correctly (new)
On top of this I think Charlie is the best horse platform for beginners because got them is the best chess teacher for beginners online. Even though he’s less good at chess than some of the grandmasters, he’s much better at explaining chess to beginners.
When you study videos from grandmasters, they often say things like: “And after rook a4, bisschop b3, rook b4, white is clearly winning” – and you have no idea why white is winning.
When you watch Gotham he says things like: “And knight c7 is not a fork here because your opponent can give you a check to get out of it.” – thanks Gotham, I didn’t see that check!
So the best website for beginners to learn chess with chess courses is Chessly.
Also read: Chessly Review – The Best Place to Learn Chess Online?
3. Lichess: the second best chess website for beginners (free)
Lichess is probably the second most popular chess website for beginners, but it’s much smaller than Chess.com. It simply has much less and lower quality features. Yes, you can play chess there with beginners, but there’s not the same level of chess lessons, puzzles, analysis software, and so on. And the player pool is much worse, which makes the elo ratings inflated.
Also read: ELO converter: Chess.com, FIDE and Lichess conversion
4. Chessable: the biggest chess courses platform
ChessableIs a big chess courses platform. They have chess courses from many different teachers and famous grandmasters, such as Anish Giri, Hans Niemann, Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, and many others.
It’s a very big chess platform so you kind of need to know what you’re looking for. And a lot of the courses are aimed at more advanced chess players, but they do also have courses for beginners.
Chessable was also recently bought by Chess.com in the acquisition of the Play Magnus Group. It’s unclear whether Chess.com will continue Chessable as its own brand or include it somewhere on the Chess.com website.
5. AimChess
AimChess is another website to learn chess online. It uses artificial intelligence to analyze your games and point out your most common mistakes, and it suggests lessons for you to improve these mistakes.
I think AimChess is fantastic for more advances chess players, but I don’t know if it’s the best website to learn chess for beginners. I think beginners can just use the built in analysis software on Chess.com to improve their games. I believe the engine behind AimChess is stronger, but you don’t necessarily need that as a beginner.
AimChess was also included in the recent acquisition of the Play Magnus Group by Chess.com, so it remains to be seen if it will be integrated in the Chess.com software.
6. Chess24
Chess24 was recently bought by Chess.com. It used to be part of the Play Magnus Group, but that whole business got bought by Chess.com. That’s also why Magnus Carlsen now plays on Chess.com. So in the future Chess24 players will also play chess on Chess.com.
Conclusion: The best chess website for beginners to learn and to play chess
In conclusion, these are my recommendations for chess websites for beginners:
- To play chess: Chess.com
- To learn chess:
- Still chess.com for puzzles, lessons and analysis software
- Chessly for chess courses
Good luck and have fun!
Also read: What is a good chess rating?