If you looked at my search history lately, you’d see a lot of “Chessly vs Chessable” and “Chessly or Chessable” in there. I found plenty of opinions on which is better, but I had to test these two sites myself. Now, I’m sharing my findings with you.
One of the few advantages of learning chess as an adult is having access to adult money. I’m not rich, but I can afford a few tools to help improve my game.
You can’t just throw money at the problem, but I believe in the value of education if you actually take the time and effort to study what you buy.
During the pandemic, I got excited about chess and bought a ridiculous number of books. I’m not joking. I have over 50 chess books, most of them classics for serious players. Then I proceeded to read almost none of them. After a year or so of random play, I quit chess.
To quote Chess.com’s Game Review insight coach: “That’s not the way!”
So this time around, whatever I buy, I’ll actually use and study it to improve my skills, limited time commitment notwithstanding.
“Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets, for it and knowledge can raise men to the divine.”
― Ludwig van Beethoven
Chessable Is a Fantastic Resource for Every Level
My research on Chessly vs. Chessable led me to a general consensus, but it’s somewhat misleading: Chessable has more and better courses than Chessly.
Having tried both, I can tell you that’s not the whole story.
Yes, Chessable has an incredible range of courses, which you pay for à la carte. They cover everything from beginner basics to material useful for grandmasters. It’s an incredible resource that everyone should take advantage of.
At this point, I own several Chessable courses, some bought during the pandemic, others more recently. But the ones I’m actually using right now are:
- Attacking Repertoire for Beginners: Jobava London by FM Midas Ratsma & Arthur Maters
- The Jobava London System by GM Simon Williams
- The Scandinavian Supercharged! by Alex Belsley (ChessForLife)
- Silman’s Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master, presented by IM Alex Banzea
They’re all high-quality. Two Jobava London courses might seem like overkill1, but the truth is, I’m not going to memorize every line in a huge course like Simon Williams’ (Ginger GM’s). So the Attacking Repertoire course, which is smaller and more beginner-friendly, is the one I’m actively studying. Ginger GM’s course is more aspirational for me; useful for correspondence games and for picking up advanced ideas, but I don’t plan on grinding through its hundreds of variations anytime soon.
Chessable’s training method genuinely works. You learn a line (the Learn phase), then get tested on it at spaced intervals (the Review phase). If you keep failing a line, it’s marked as difficult, and you’ll see it more often. The Chessable app and emails also remind you to review.
I’m not convinced that their videos justify the higher price, but if you buy just the text version with Move Trainer access, it’s a great way to use spaced repetition to master openings and more.
One of Chessable’s best features is the ability to create private courses where you store and study personalized, narrowed-down versions of bigger courses, or mix and match ideas from multiple sources to build your own repertoire.
Another underrated feature is Puzzle Connect, which creates a private course updated with your own mistakes and blunders. This helps you learn from them and ensures you never forget that one blunder that cost you a game and haunted your dreams. 😂
The Pro version offers discounts on full courses and free access to a series of mini-courses.
Chessly Is Fantastic for Beginners and a Great Value
Chessly 2.0 takes a different approach. You pay a flat fee ($89.99/year) for access to all courses. Based on what I’ve seen so far, here’s a breakdown of Chessly vs Chessable:
- Levy Rozman (GothamChess) is the only Chessly author, so Chessable has far more courses.
- Chessly courses are high quality and include videos unlike Chessable, where videos are expensive.
- Chessly is aimed at beginners and intermediate players. I haven’t seen much advanced content, which is fine for my current level.
- Unlike many Chessable courses, Chessly actually covers the moves beginners play. Levy shows how to punish bad moves often played by lower rated players, while Chessable courses often assume good players will play optimal lines, so you are out of theory and improvising in your games, 3 moves in.
Chessly also has some unique tools:
- Review – Each lesson has a Chessable Move Trainer like environment where you test the lesson you just studied. The site has reminders, day streaks, and other gamification features, but I don’t believe it has quite the same spaced memorization like Chessable does.
- The Explorer – Similar to Chessable’s Browse Tree, but limited to the current course. However, it links directly to relevant chapters/studies, which Chessable doesn’t do.
- Quizzes – Reinforce not just memorization, but also the ideas behind moves.
- Drill Shuffle – Randomly selects a position and tests you on it, with links to the lessons if you get it wrong.
- Play vs. Levi – The killer feature. This AI bot mimics human play and lets you choose its level (900–2400 Elo). The best part? You can pick a specific opening or variation, and the bot will play a full game against you. Chessable doesn’t have this. You could set up a position in Chess.com or Lichess and play from there, but Chessly makes it seamless. Plus if you go off script, the AI bot will trash talk to you and there will be a notification to review the specific lesson to address your knowledge gap.
The only major downside is that Chessly doesn’t have a mobile app yet, while Chessable does. I use a 12.9″ iPad for chess study, so I’d love a dedicated Chessly app, but for now, the website works well enough.
Choosing Between Chessly and Chessable
If you’re a beginner like me, Chessly is an ideal tool and a fantastic deal, considering how many courses it includes for a flat fee.
If money isn’t a concern, I’d recommend getting Chessly and supplementing it with specific Chessable courses; especially for topics not covered by Levy or for deeper dives into an opening or concept.
Personally, there is no Chessly vs Chessable. I’m using both and I’m glad I don’t have to choose.
- Technically, I also bought Bortnyk and Naroditsky’s Jobava London which disappointed me a bit, despite probably being an amazing resource for master-level players. But that’s a topic for another time. ↩︎