What Is The Chess Website?

The Chess Website (thechesswebsite.com) is a chess instruction and practice site that combines beginner lessons, opening material, online play, tournament coverage, and game analysis tools in one place. It suits two main audiences: people who are new to chess and want a structured starting point, and experienced players looking for reference material and analysis help. The site describes itself as a "one stop shop for all things chess" and says it is continually updated, with many additions coming from community suggestions.

What the site covers

The homepage organizes its main content into a few clear areas.

Learn to play

This section starts from the absolute basics: how each piece moves, key concepts to keep in mind for each piece, opening principles, and the things every player should know when starting a game. It is aimed at beginners, but the opening principles carry over into more advanced play.

Chess openings

A dedicated openings area sits alongside the learn-to-play material. Recent posts listed on the homepage include named openings and gambits such as the Nadanian Attack, Chebanenko Slav, McDonnell Gambit, and Lucchini Gambit — a sign that the opening content goes beyond the first few moves.

Play chess online

The site offers online play as part of its "Learn, Practice and Play" framing, so you can move from reading about a concept to trying it in a game without leaving the site.

Tournament analysis

This section covers major tournaments from around the world, with the homepage pointing to coverage of the 2021 World Championships, the 2021 Candidates Tournament, the 2019 Riga Grand Prix, and the 2019 US Chess Championship. The site says this section is kept current with the latest tournament coverage.

Analysis tools and resources

The Chess Website provides a chess engine for analyzing your own games and getting recommendations for any position. It also maintains a list of other chess sites it supports.

Who it is for

The site explicitly states it is for both people brand new to the game and those who have played their whole life and want to take their game to the next level.

Access and products

The homepage includes a "Get Unlimited Access To All Of Our Strategies, Practice Games And More" call to action with a "Join Now" link, which indicates some content sits behind a membership. The homepage does not state a price for that access, so treat the cost as something to confirm on the site itself.

Two physical products are listed under Featured Products:

• T-Shirts — $15.00, with an "Add to cart" option
• The Chess Website Chess DVDs — $50.00, listed with a "Read more" link

What users say

The homepage quotes three subscribers. Charles Fairchild says it was the first website he ever subscribed to and that he "felt obligated to subscribe" after getting a lot out of the instructional videos and famous-game analysis. Kyle Shevlin says the site "rekindled my interest in chess." Justin Wilcox notes the videos are "easy to follow and understand" and that they offer a few different options for play.

These are testimonials selected by the site, so read them as a signal of what the content style is like rather than an independent review.

How to decide if it fits you

• Start here if you want one site that covers learning the rules, opening study, playing games, and analyzing your own positions, and you prefer video-based instruction.
• Look elsewhere if you need a specific certification path, formal coaching, or a rating-tracked competitive ladder — the homepage does not describe those.
• Before subscribing, check the current membership price and what it unlocks, since the homepage promotes unlimited access without listing a figure.

A practical first step: use the free learn-to-play and openings material to judge whether the teaching style works for you, then decide whether the paid access is worth it for the strategies and practice games.