Online chess academies and training clubs
Apps teach you to drill. Clubs and academies teach you to improve with a plan - structured curriculum, live coaching, accountability. Below, the online training communities worth paying for (and the free platform clubs worth joining on top of them).
Featured academies
- DiscordPaid$15/mo
Chess Dojo
Structured adult improvement with a live community.
- StandalonePaid$33/mo
Bacrot Academy (Alpha Échecs)
GM Étienne Bacrot's structured training program for serious improvers.
- Chess.comFree
La Communauté de Julien Song
IM Julien Song's French-speaking community on Chess.com, Lichess and YouTube.
- StandalonePaid$99/mo
ChessMood
GM-built course library with a live weekly cadence and a member forum.
Free platform clubs worth joining
- Blitzstream - Kevin Bordi's Community - France's longest-running chess streaming community, built around NM Kevin Bordi.
- Chess.com Clubs - On-platform clubs with team matches, Daily chess, and local meetups.
- Lichess Teams - Free, open teams with tournaments, studies, and battles.
- Chessbrah (Building Habits) - GM Aman Hambleton's free Building Habits method, plus a streamer community.
- GothamChess (Levy Rozman) - The largest chess creator audience, funneled into a sub-only Chess.com club and the paid Chessly platform.
- Eric Rosen - IM educator with a free fan community across Discord and Lichess - no paywall.
- Anna Cramling - WFM streamer with a free, fast-growing community on Discord and Chess.com.
- Hanging Pawns - Stjepan Tomić's adult-improver channel, with a Patreon and the ChessReads book community.
- ChessBase India - India's largest chess media house - free coverage plus a community Discord and Lichess team.
- ChessGoals - Structured 12-week study plans with an accountability Discord.
- Chess.com Discord - The official Chess.com server - the largest chess Discord.
- Chess Academy (Discord) - The largest independent educational chess Discord.
- BotezLive (Botez sisters) - One of the biggest chess entertainment brands - free to follow.
- Saint Louis Chess Club - A world-class physical club whose GM lectures and broadcasts are free online.
Academies and clubs aren't apps - they're people-driven, not software. ChessDir reviews them separately to keep the apps directory focused on software. For improvement plans that pair an app with a training club, start with the guides.