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EnglishDoes TheChessWorld Offer Structured Chess Courses?
Updated
Yes. TheChessWorld publishes structured course-style content through a section it calls TCW Academy, alongside free course material and a large library of standalone articles. The Academy courses are the closest thing on the site to a formal curriculum: they are taught by titled players and organized around a single practical skill, such as improving your worst piece or converting small positional advantages. If you are looking for a free entry point, the site also offers free courses, for example "How to Make a Plan in Chess."
What the structured course content looks like
The site's course material is grouped under TCW Academy and is presented as video-based instruction led by named titled players. Based on the site's own listings, examples include:
- The Art of Piece Improvement with GM Marian Petrov — built around the idea of scanning your position for your worst piece (the idle knight, the bishop blocked by its own pawns, the rook on a useless file) and fixing it.
- How to Punish Passive Play with GM Marian Petrov — focused on what to do when your opponent makes a quiet, non-threatening move.
- Game Plans Made Simple – What to Do in Any Position with GM Marian Petrov — aimed at the common club-player problem of finishing the opening and then not knowing what to do next.
A recurring theme across these courses is the transition from "I developed my pieces and castled, now what?" to an actual plan. That is a deliberate editorial choice: the courses target players who understand opening principles but stall in the middlegame.
Free course content
Not everything structured sits behind the Academy label. The site lists free course content as well, such as "How to Make a Plan in Chess – Free Course." Its stated premise is that many players reach a perfectly playable position and then have no idea what to do — a framing that matches the paid Academy courses, which suggests the free material works as a sample of the same teaching approach.
How the courses relate to the rest of the site
TheChessWorld is not only a course platform. Its content spans several categories, including:
| Category | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Openings | Opening ideas and repertoire guidance |
| Middlegame | Plans, piece improvement, punishing passive play |
| Endgame | Endgame strategies |
| Training tips | Building a training program, calculation improvement |
| Tournament preparation | Practical pre-event guidance |
Articles in these categories are written by titled players and coaches — the site's bylines include GM Marian Petrov, WGM Raluca Sgircea, IM Renier Castellanos, IM Zaur Tekeyev, and founder Yury Markushin. Examples of article-style content include "10 Ways to Improve Your Calculation Skills" and "5 Tips to Build Your Own Chess Training Program," both of which address training methodology rather than a single opening or tactic.
Who this structure suits
The course format is a reasonable fit if you:
- Already know basic opening principles and want help forming middlegame plans.
- Prefer learning a single concept in depth (piece improvement, punishing passive play) over browsing scattered tips.
- Want instruction attributed to a named titled player rather than anonymous material.
- Want to try free course content before deciding whether the Academy format works for you.
It is a weaker fit if you want a single linear curriculum that takes you from beginner rules to advanced play, since the courses are topic-based rather than sequenced into levels.
Practical next step
Start with the free "How to Make a Plan in Chess" course to test whether the teaching style matches how you learn. If it does, the GM Marian Petrov Academy courses on piece improvement and punishing passive play are the natural follow-ups, since they build on the same "find the plan" premise. If you prefer reading over video, the site's article categories — particularly training tips and middlegame advice — cover overlapping ground in text form.