Whether you’re inspired by The Queen’s Gambit or just tired of losing to your cousin in three moves, chess is one skill worth mastering.

Played by millions across the globe, chess isn’t just a game. It’s a brain workout, a memory booster, and a powerful tool to improve focus and strategy. Studies even show that regular chess playing can help sharpen IQ and reduce the risk of memory loss in older adults.

In this updated 2025 guide, we’ve handpicked the best chess courses and lessons for every level, whether you’re a complete beginner or looking to climb your next rating bracket.

Top Chess Courses List

1. The Complete Guide to Chess Tactics
2. Learn to Play Chess: From a Novice to a Fierce Competitor
3. The Complete Guide to Chess for Beginners (Rated 0 to 1500)
4. Chess Openings for White and Black Taught by a Grandmaster
5. Chess for Beginners – Learn Chess Strategy From Scratch
6. Understanding Chess Openings | How to play ANY opening well
7. Understanding Chess Tactics | How to Calculate Tactics Well
8. Building Chess Habits
9. Chess: From Beginner to Advanced at Warp Speed
10. Chess For Everyone!
11. Chess Openings for White and Black Taught by a Grandmaster

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Instructor: Tryfon Gavriel (FIDE Chess Candidate Master)

This course is all about tactical pattern recognition and calculation. If you know how the pieces move but struggle to convert positions into wins, this one’s for you. Tryfon Gavriel (also known as “Kingscrusher”) breaks down tactical ideas with clarity, giving you a strong mental framework to spot combinations and crush weak positions on the board.

• Platform: Udemy
• Course Rating: 4.4 out of 5.0
• Duration: 6.5 Hours
• Students Enrolled: 13,155+
• Certificate: Yes
• Best For: Beginner to intermediate players focused on tactical mastery.

Quick Highlights:

• Great for players who know the basics but want sharper combinations.
• Covers 70+ tactical patterns and common mating nets.
• Teaches both the “process” of calculation and the “content” (patterns).

What You’ll Learn:

• Key tactical themes like fork, pin, decoy, and discovered check.
• Calculation skills to find and execute strong combinations.
• How to recognize the opponent’s weaknesses and convert them.
• A rich library of mating patterns and tactical traps.

Requirements:

• A basic understanding of how chess pieces move.
• Any board or digital platform for practice.

Why Take This Course:

This is one of the most exhaustive and pattern-focused tactical chess courses online. Best for improving players who want to sharpen their calculation and tactics. Certification included via Udemy.

Final Note:

If you’ve ever felt lost mid-game, unsure of what to play next, this course builds the intuition and pattern memory to help you find winning moves faster.

Instructor: Alex Davidovic

This beginner-friendly chess course helps you go from your first move to confident gameplay. Created by an International Chess Master, it blends expert video lessons with interactive software exercises to reinforce your learning.

• Platform: Udemy
• Course Rating: 4.6 out of 5.0
• Duration: 3.5 Hours
• Students Enrolled: 9,831+
• Certificate: Yes
• Best For: Absolute chess beginners who want a strong foundation and fast progress.

Quick Highlights:

• Learn to play chess in under an hour.
• Includes the Chess Mates Companion software for hands-on training.
• Focuses on early development, king safety, and tactical checkmates.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to develop your pieces efficiently
• Opening principles for beginners
• How to protect your king and avoid blunders
• Checkmating strategies from common positions
• How to use interactive software for real practice

Requirements:

• No prior knowledge required
• A computer (Windows, Mac, or Linux) for Chess Mates Companion exercises

Why Take This Course:

Most beginner chess courses only explain rules, this one teaches you how to win. You’ll apply what you learn instantly using practical tools, making it perfect for learners who want rapid results and real improvement.

Final Note:

This course is best for complete beginners who want to build a strong, practical foundation in chess. Certification is included upon completion via Udemy.

Instructor: Tryfon Gavriel (FIDE Chess Candidate Master)

This course is built for learners starting from zero. With structured sections on openings, middlegame, and endgame, each divided by skill level, you’ll gain a complete understanding of chess fundamentals, tactics, and common patterns.

• Platform: Udemy
• Course Rating: 4.4 out of 5.0
• Duration: 40.5 Hours
• Students Enrolled: 7,170+
• Certificate: Yes
• Best For: Absolute chess beginners and casual players looking to build a strong base

Quick Highlights:

• Fully beginner-friendly structure
• Covers all game phases (Opening, Middlegame, Endgame)
• Led by a FIDE Candidate Master
• Explains traps, tactics, and core strategies in-depth

What You’ll Learn:

• Rules of chess and how each piece moves
• Opening strategies, traps, and gambits
• Tactical concepts like forks, pins, skewers
• Critical endgame principles like Opposition and Triangulation
• How to play with a plan from start to finish

Requirements:

• No prior chess experience needed
• Just a desire to learn the game from scratch

Why Take This Course:

The step-by-step format makes it easy to follow, even for complete newbies. If you’re someone who’s seen a chessboard but never understood it, or you want to revisit fundamentals with clarity, this course is the perfect guide.

Final Note:

Whether you’re inspired by The Queen’s Gambit or just tired of losing in three moves, this course breaks down everything into digestible lessons, making it one of the most complete beginner chess courses available on Udemy.

Instructor: GM Avetik Grigoryan (Grandmaster)

If you’re stuck at the same rating despite solving puzzle after puzzle, this course shows you why. GM Avetik Grigoryan helps you fix the two most common tactical training mistakes: solving puzzles without understanding motifs, and “studying” without actually training. The course is fully interactive and built to train your tactical vision, not just test it.

• Platform: Udemy
• Course Rating: 4.6 out of 5.0
• Duration: 19.5 Hours
• Students Enrolled: 1,288+
• Certificate: Yes
• Best For: Chess beginners and intermediate players aiming to boost their tactical strength.

Quick Highlights:

• Learn 20 essential tactical motifs through active puzzle solving.
• Features the “3 Question Method” to spot hidden tactics.
• Grandmaster-led with real feedback from students who gained 100–200+ rating points.

What You’ll Learn:

• Master pins, forks, skewers, and more through guided training.
• Practice while learning, not just watch and forget.
• Learn how Grandmasters think and find tactics in real games.
• Train your pattern recognition without knowing the theme in advance.

Requirements:

• Basic knowledge of chess rules.
• Motivation to interact, this is not a passive course.

Why Take This Course:

It focuses on building real tactical strength through Grandmaster-style training, not passive watching.

This course is the best for committed learners who want to cross the 2000 rating mark by mastering tactics properly. Certification included via Udemy.

Final Note:

If you’ve ever felt like puzzles aren’t helping anymore, this course gives you a smarter, more structured way to finally see results.

Instructor: Shervin House

This is a complete beginner’s roadmap to chess, from board setup to strategy, openings, tactics, and endgames. Shervin House simplifies every part of the game using real examples, visual breakdowns, and “solve with me” puzzles. The course has also been reviewed by two International Masters, making sure it doesn’t miss any critical fundamentals.

• Course Rating: 4.6 out of 5.0
• Duration: 5.5 Hours
• Students Enrolled: 12,666+
• Certificate: Yes
• Best For: Chess beginners and casual players looking for a full 3-phase chess strategy.

Quick Highlights:

• No prior chess experience needed.
• Covers opening, middlegame, and endgame in one go.
• Includes practical puzzles and common beginner mistakes.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to develop your pieces and control the board.
• Core tactics like pins, forks, and skewers.
• Smart time management and trading principles.
• How to handle real game positions with confidence.

Requirements:

• No rating or background required.
• Just motivation to learn and play.

Why Take This Course:

This course offers a complete, beginner-friendly system built with expert feedback and hands-on puzzles.

This course is the best for total beginners or casual players ready to build a solid chess foundation. Certification included via Udemy.

Final Note:

If you’ve never understood the “why” behind chess strategy, not just how the pieces move, this course connects all the dots from start to finish.

Instructor: Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko (Grandmaster, Champion of Ukraine, PhD in Math, FIDE Trainer)

This course is a practical, no-nonsense guide to handling the first 10 moves with clarity and purpose. Rather than memorizing endless lines, you’ll learn why certain principles work and how to punish opponents who ignore them. Backed by real GM games, examples, and homework, this course gives you a full opening framework for both white and black.

• Course Rating: 4.7 out of 5.0
• Duration: 4.5 Hours
• Students Enrolled: 9,191+
• Certificate: Yes
• Best For: Beginner and club-level players looking to master opening strategy.

Quick Highlights:

• Covers universal opening principles with deep reasoning.
• Includes a downloadable GM-approved repertoire.
• Analyzes famous games where openings went wrong.

What You’ll Learn:

• Where to place all your pieces during the opening.
• Why early castling and development matter.
• How to recognize and exploit your opponent’s opening mistakes.
• A full white and black repertoire for club-level games.

Requirements:

• Basic knowledge of chess rules and piece movement.
• Interest in understanding strategy over memorization.

Why Take This Course:

This course doesn’t just teach openings, it teaches opening understanding like a Grandmaster.

This course is the best for beginners and club players who want to play strong openings without memorizing tons of lines. Certification included via Udemy.

Final Note:

If you’ve ever started a game unsure of what to do by move 3, this course teaches you the “why” behind every good opening decision and what to avoid.

Although this course was last updated in 2021, the foundational opening strategies and GM insights still hold strong relevance for today’s players.

Instructor: Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko (Grandmaster, Champion of Ukraine, PhD in Math, FIDE Trainer)

This course complements GM Mykhaylo’s popular openings course, but here, the focus is pure tactical clarity. If you’ve ever looked at a tactical puzzle and thought, “How was I supposed to see that?” — this course answers it. Through his 4-question framework, you’ll learn exactly what to look for, how to approach calculations logically, and how to recognize the signs that a tactic might be hiding in plain sight.

• Course Rating: 4.8 out of 5.0
• Duration: 2.5 Hours
• Students Enrolled: 3,600+
• Certificate: Yes
• Best For: Beginners to intermediate players ready to sharpen tactical calculation.

Quick Highlights:

• Grandmaster-level thought process made beginner-friendly.
• The “4 Tactical Questions” that improve real-game calculation.
• Includes puzzles, patterns, and even an opening trick GMs miss.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to calculate chess tactics efficiently and accurately.
• What triggers combinations, and how to recognize them.
• Tactical motifs explained with logic, not memorization.
• Why certain patterns appear and how to anticipate them.

Requirements:

• Basic knowledge of how the chess pieces move.
• Willingness to actively think, not passively watch.

Why Take This Course:

This course trains your brain to think like a GM during sharp positions without the fluff. Best for players who want to improve not by guessing tactics, but by understanding why they work. Certification included via Udemy.

Final Note:

Though the course was last updated in 2020, the core method and mindset are timeless. It still ranks and delivers because it teaches fundamentals that most courses skip.

Instructor: GM Aman Hambleton (chessbrah)

Building Chess Habits (FULL)

Featuring full episodes of Grandmaster Aman Hambleton’s ‘Building Habits’ series.

In this highly praised YouTube series, Grandmaster Aman Hambleton starts from scratch, literally from 400 ELO, and climbs upward using only beginner-friendly rules and thinking patterns. The goal? Help you build solid chess habits by avoiding complex theory and focusing on simple, repeatable decision-making.

Each episode breaks down what to do (and what not to do) at specific rating levels. You’ll watch how Aman wins games using clean positional play, while explaining his thought process in a relatable, no-jargon way.

• Platform: YouTube (Chessbrah EXTRA)
• Playlist: 32 videos
• Best For: Absolute beginners to intermediate players (400–1500 ELO)

Quick Highlights:

• 32 full episodes from 400 ELO to 1500+.
• Zero advanced theory, perfect for true beginners.
• Real-time game analysis from a Grandmaster’s POV.
• Designed to fix the bad habits holding you back.

What You’ll Learn:

• What habits separate a 400-rated player from a 1000-rated one
• Simple chess rules that actually work in real games.
• Why certain mistakes keep showing up, and how to break the cycle.
• Strategic and tactical awareness without any overwhelm.

Requirements:

• Basic knowledge of how the pieces move
• Willingness to play games and apply the advice

Why Take This Course:

Aman doesn’t just teach, he climbs the ladder with you, applying the same rules he gives you. This playlist is the best free chess content online for players who want to stop losing to random blunders and finally start improving. 100% free and beginner-safe.

Final Note:

Viewers have consistently reported fast ELO gains after following this series. If you’re tired of theory overload, this series will give you structure, clarity, and confidence.

Instructor: Greg Vanderford

If you’ve been learning chess through random games or YouTube but never had formal training, this course fills the gap. Greg Vanderford breaks down strategy, tactics, and openings into short, digestible lessons, designed to upgrade casual players into consistent, strategic thinkers. Ideal for those who already know how pieces move and want to improve without spending months figuring it out alone.

• Course Rating: 4.2 out of 5.0
• Duration: 3.5 Hours
• Students Enrolled: 5,000+
• Certificate: Yes
• Best For: Self-taught players who want structured, fast-paced training.

Quick Highlights:

• Fast-paced 16-lesson format for quick improvement.
• Covers tactics, strategy, and opening plans with clarity.
• Includes 8 downloadable resources and practical examples.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to spot tactics during real games.
• How to make a game plan instead of reacting randomly.
• How strong players think during each phase.
• Key opening principles to start strong consistently.

Requirements:

• A chessboard (digital or physical).
• Some experience with piece movement and basic tactics.

Why Take This Course:

It’s built specifically for players stuck in the “I know how to play, but I don’t know what to do” phase. This course is the best for hobby players looking to get structured, real coaching in a short time. Certification included via Udemy.

Final Note:

While it’s best for players with a bit of chess knowledge, even intermediate players have praised it for its clarity and fast impact.

Instructor: Robert Gumerlock

This course complements GM Mykhaylo’s popular openings course, but here, the focus is pure tactical clarity. If you’ve ever looked at a tactical puzzle and thought, “How was I supposed to see that?” — this course answers it. Through his 4-question framework, you’ll learn exactly what to look for, how to approach calculations logically, and how to recognize the signs that a tactic might be hiding in plain sight.

• Course Rating: 4.7 out of 5.0
• Duration: 2.5 Hours
• Students Enrolled: 3,979+
• Certificate: Yes
• Best For: Beginners and casual players who want a full-game strategy refresher.

Quick Highlights:

• Covers all 3 phases: Opening, Middlegame, Endgame.
• Focuses on strategy + tactical basics with real applications.
• Built for absolute beginners and casual hobbyists.

What You’ll Learn:

• Chess fundamentals: piece value, movement, and board control.
• How to start strong with smart opening ideas.
• Core tactical motifs to use in the middlegame.
• Simple checkmate patterns for practical finishes.

Requirements:

• A chess set or app.
• Interest in improving your game systematically.

Why Take This Course:

It’s one of the most approachable full-game strategy courses, ideal for players who want structure without complexity. This course is the best for casual players looking for an easy-to-follow strategy guide from opening to endgame. Certification included via Udemy.

Final Note:

While this course is older, the concepts and teaching are still relevant for anyone starting their chess journey today.

Instructor: GM Mesgen Amanov

If you play 1.e4 or want to learn how to counter it, this course is a practical guide from a Grandmaster who’s taught chess for over 15 years. Without overwhelming you with theory, GM Amanov teaches strong, easy-to-follow opening lines for both White and Black. It’s ideal for learners rated between 0–1700 who want solid opening plans without memorizing dozens of variations.

• Course Rating: 4.3 out of 5.0
• Duration: 1.5 Hours
• Students Enrolled: 900+
• Certificate: Yes
• Best For: Beginners and intermediate players learning 1.e4 openings from both sides.

Quick Highlights:

• Covers 20 1.e4-based openings with PGN support.
• Teaches strategic goals, not just move orders.
• Helps you play strong openings without deep memorization.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to play 1.e4 openings with confidence as White.
• How to respond to 1.e4 as Black using sound systems.
• Common traps, ideas, and how to gain middlegame advantages.
• What makes certain openings easier or harder to handle

Requirements:

• Knowledge of basic chess rules and piece movement.
• A Lichess or chessboard app to review PGN lines.

Why Take This Course:

It’s a beginner-safe GM course that helps you build real opening plans, not just memorize moves. This course is the best for beginner and club-level players looking to master 1.e4 openings from both sides. Certification included via Udemy.

Final Note:

The course is older, but the lines are timeless, and the structure makes it easy to implement without prior knowledge of theory.

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re just getting started or aiming to level up your rating, these chess courses give you the structure, tactics, and mindset you need to improve. Pick the course that fits your current level and start building habits that win games.

Benefits of Learning Chess Online

Learning chess through online courses gives you structured, flexible, and expert-driven support, whether you’re a beginner or trying to climb the rating ladder. Here’s why it works so well:

• Learn from top-level instructors: Courses often feature grandmasters and professional coaches who teach real-game strategies and habits.
• Focus on the areas you need: From openings and tactics to endgame mastery, online courses let you improve specific skills at your own pace.
• Boost brain power: Regular chess training sharpens memory, decision-making, and focus. It’s even been linked to better academic performance.
• Learn on your schedule: Most lessons are self-paced, making them perfect for students, professionals, or anyone with limited free time.
• More affordable than private coaching: Online courses cost a fraction of in-person classes and are available on any device, anytime.

How to Choose the Right Chess Course

With so many online chess courses available, it’s important to pick one that aligns with your current level and learning goals. Here’s how to make the right choice:

Assess your skill level

Are you just starting out, or do you already know the basics?

• For chess lessons for beginners, choose courses that cover piece movement, board setup, and basic tactics.
• If you’re more experienced, look for intermediate chess strategy courses or ones that focus on specific areas like openings or endgames.

Pick a reliable platform

Leading platforms like Chess.com, Chessable, Udemy, and Lichess offer structured courses designed by experts and grandmasters. They often include puzzles, interactive boards, and downloadable resources.

Look for a course with focus areas

Some chess training programs dive deep into tactics, while others are built around endgame mastery, openings, or mating patterns. Choose based on your weak spots.

Read learner reviews

Look for student feedback, ratings, and testimonials to gauge how effective and beginner-friendly a course really is.

Free vs Paid

Many free online chess lessons offer excellent foundational knowledge. But if you’re serious about mastering the game, investing in a paid, structured course is often worth it.

FAQs About Learning Chess Online

1. Can I learn chess as an adult beginner?

Absolutely. Many online courses are built for adults who’ve never played before. You don’t need any prior experience.

2. How long does it take to get good at chess?

With consistent practice and the right guidance, you can reach 1000+ ELO in a few months, especially using structured beginner courses.

3. Do I need a paid course to learn chess?

No. There are great free resources like YouTube playlists, but paid courses often offer better structure, feedback, and progress tracking.

4. What’s the best way to practice what I learn?

Use Chess.com or Lichess.org to play games, solve puzzles, and test openings from your course.

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re just getting started or aiming to level up your rating, these chess courses give you the structure, tactics, and mindset you need to improve. Pick the course that fits your current level and start building habits that win games.