Chessly Review: Is it worth it?

Chessly is a website created by IM Levy Rozman to sell chess courses. In this article, we are going to see more details about chessly. 

In the past, Gotham Chess, aka Levy Rozman, was selling his courses on a course platform where he found the problem that he could not add the custom functionality required for chess players. Chess players usually require access to the engine on the same platform, puzzles features, etc. Because of this, he decided to create his own platform and named it chessly. 

Chessly is similar to chessable but with more powerful features. As you know, chessable is the world’s best chess course creation platform; it is too early to say that chessly is a competitor of chessable.

What is Chessly?

Chessly is basically a chess course platform where all titled chess players can upload their courses. This platform is launched in 2022 by GothamChess. Chessly aims to provide high-quality chess courses. Currently, chessly hosts nine chess courses which are created by Levy Rozman. Chessly can become a major platform in upcoming years as they are coming up with various features. 

Who is Chessly’s Founder?

Chessly is founded by GothamChess, whose real name is IM Levy Rozman. During the global pandemic, he became very popular, and currently, he is the top chess streamer and content creator on Twitch and YouTube. 

He also gained the International Master title in 2018. Obviously, he is a strong chess player. Levy took retirement from professional chess recently and is now focusing on content creation and his new business, chessly. 

He is also launching his book How to Win at Chess in October 2023. We have already created a blog post on the book, which you can read from the following link.

The book is on presale and costs $23. If you are a Gotham Chess Fan and a beginner chess player, this is the perfect book for you!

Why Chessly Started?

Levy found that there is no perfect platform to host chess courses. Many platforms that provide chess courses are not perfect. There are some features lacking. Due to this, he started this platform, which turned out to be a super game changer. I have seen the chessly platform, and believe me, it has a lot of potential. 

Chessly provides many features like drills, puzzles, etc. Also, all the courses have a massive free version available, which you can watch first and buy later. 

Chessly Features

Lesson Drills

In lesson drills, you can revise your opening easily. You can easily play with a computer on the same platform and analyze your mistakes. Hopefully, they will introduce a feature where you can save the same game. 

Lesson Quizzes

Some courses come with quizzes, and I am sure that many quizzes will be added in the future. Quizzes are the best way to generate a retention rate. 

Engine Analysis

You can also do engine analysis on the same platform. This will also save you time to go on other platforms and use the engine there. 

Free Trial

The first chapter is free in each course. Even you don’t need to sign up to watch free content. I recommend everyone to watch atleast free videos. You will not regret it!

Chess Courses on Chessly

Currently, there are nine chess courses hosted on chessly. All these courses are created by Gotham Chess. In their Q&A section, chessly said that they would add more and more courses by titled players. Right now, you have to purchase each course individually. 

Currently, the following courses are listed on the platform

• Beginner Chess
• C6 Caro Kann
• D4 Dynamite
• E4 New York Style
• E6/B6 Defense
• G6 Modern Defense
• Gambits for Black
• Gambits for White
• Intermediate Chess
• Middlegame Masterclass
• Queens Gambit Declined

Chessly pricing

Each course on chessly is originally priced at $64, which is expensive for sure. It will be interesting to see their pricing strategy in the future. 

Chessly Plus (Chessly+)

In Levy’s YouTube video, he said that chessly would introduce Chessly Plus, which will come with a monthly subscription fee where you gain access to all the courses. They will also provide live classes in the Plus subscription. The price of Chessly Plus will be around $10. It will be launched before December 2022. 

Latest Update:

Chessly Plus is officially launched, and it costs $9.99 a month or $89.99 a year. The following are the main benefits that Chessly Plus is providing.

• Full access to Training Games
• Full access to Lectures
• Exclusive Course prices

If we compare this pricing to chessable, it costs more. Chessable yearly pro is for $75, and often they give 6 months free extension. The effective price becomes $75 for 18 months.

Chessable Pro provides a lot more free courses and discounts on many chessable courses.

Chessly vs. Chessable

This is a very interesting comparison. Chessable is by far the best course-creation platform for chess coaches. It is also owned by Play Magnus Group and has a lot of funding. Right now, we really cannot compare it with chessly. But there are a few points where chessly is better. Right now, chessly doesn’t have dozens of chess courses on its platform.

Hopefully, they will speed up and add in upcoming years. But if they successfully add many chess courses and develop a chessly premium model, it will be a huge game changer. 

Chessable has its own move trainer technology, which is highly effective in improving chess. Obviously, it is very difficult to create such technology, atleast in the upcoming few years. 

Chessable also has a course with almost all top chess players, which is a major advantage.

Chessly has an interesting feature called drills, but it is not as powerful as a move trainer.

Overall, chessly requires a lot of improvement compared to chessable. But if they do everything right and in a speedy process, chessly can become as good as a top chess course platform.

Chessly vs. Chess.com

Chess.com wins! This will be a very wrong comparison. Chess.com has hundreds of features suitable for beginners, intermediate, and even master-level players. They have 100s of lessons to study and many videos by Top Grandmasters and even by World Champions.

Chess.com membership costs roughly $120 a year and it is the membership that everyone should have.

If you are a beginner with an 800 chess.com rating, you don’t need any other membership to reach a 1500-1700 chess.com rating. You can use various chess.com features to climb your rating!

Chessly Alternatives

There are a lot of alternatives available for chessly. These platforms also provide high-quality chess courses at the lowest cost. Here are some of the best chess alternatives for Chessly.

Modern Chess

Modern Chess is a chess course-selling website founded by 2 Grandmasters. They have high-quality, in-depth courses by famous Grandmasters. Most of the courses are priced at $20-80.

They often run a sale of 60% on all courses. Also, you get an additional 45% off with our code NIKHIL45.

If you are going to purchase chess courses from any other site, I highly recommend you to check Modern Chess courses.

P.S. – I managed to win some fantastic games against International Masters by using Ivan Cheparinov’s Modern Chess Courses, which I purchased in my Summer Europe Tour of 6 tournaments.

Chessable

Chessable is no doubt the number one website for chess courses. Anyone can create a chess course and sell it on a chessable. Chessable has its flagship product called Lifetime Repertoire. There are hundreds of chess courses on openings, middlegame, and endgame, which you will get between $10-75.

They also have their movetrainer technology, where you can play and practice on the same website.

Chess.com

Chess.com is no doubt the most famous chess website in the world. They also have hundreds of chess courses as well as hundreds of lessons on their platform.

If you are a beginner and just starting Chess, I would highly recommend chess.com Platinum membership, where you will get to watch unlimited chess courses for a year.

Chess.com have videos on all topic, ranging from beginner to advanced players.

We have written an entire article about the chess.com membership review, which you can read by clicking the following button.

ChessMood

Chessmood is a chess course and community membership platform created by Armenian Grandmaster Avetik Grigoryan. Chessmood sells its membership with many benefits, such as videos on demand, community, and live streams.

All the members of their team are grandmasters. We have already reviewed the chessmood platform. You can click the following link to read.

Chessly Discount Code

Chessly sometimes provides 50% discounts on all courses. If you are looking forward to purchasing the chessly course with discounted pricing, you can either create an account so that you will get notifications from the team or you can follow Levy on Twitter or YouTube.

Is Chessly Worth It?

We come to a final conclusion. I would say Yes. The courses are expensive but not beyond imagination. I believe $64 is a moderately high price. Usually chessbase courses usually cost $30-35 with 3-5 hours runtime, and most chessable courses cost $100+.

It is interesting to see how chessly changes there plans and strategies. 

I would say that chessly is a small business that will improve in the next few years. You can support them so that we can see more high-quality chess and potentially increase the number of chess players.