Chess Dojo

What it is

A paid web-app + Discord training program run by GM Jesse Kraai, IM Kostya Kavutskiy, and IM David Pruess. Members follow a rating-banded training plan (tactics, classical games, analysis, endgames) and submit work for peer and coach feedback.

Review

Chess Dojo is closer to a graded training program than a social club. Membership buys access to a rating-banded curriculum (every 100-point band from 1000 to 2400, plus wider bands below 1000) on the web app, plus the Discord where members submit games, tactics work, and classical annotations for feedback. The Dojo 4.0 update (May 2025) added a weekly planner, DojoAI, and live group classes.

The value sits in two places. First, the plan itself is opinionated and actually changes across rating bands - a 1400 is told to study different endgames than an 1800. Second, the review culture: graduating a cohort requires submitting annotated games and sparring classical time controls (40+ classical games per year), not just racking up blitz on Chess.com. That feedback loop is what most self-taught improvers are missing.

Who it's not for: players who won't actually do the work. The Discord doesn't lecture people into submitting games. Lurkers pay $15/month for replays of YouTube streams they could watch for free.

For a serious adult improver between roughly 1000 and 2400 who can spend 3-6 hours a week studying, this is the strongest structured English-language community in chess. Players looking for a course library with a weekly cadence instead of a Discord culture should compare with ChessMood.