La Communauté de Julien Song
IM Julien Song's French-speaking community on Chess.com, Lichess and YouTube.
Focus
Social / casual · Adult improvement
Rating band
800–2400
What it is
A free, multi-platform community built around IM Julien Song (FIDE ~2312). Members congregate in the official Chess.com club and the Lichess team, play team matches, and tune in to weekly YouTube content. French-first, with a paid coaching club available separately for members who want structured 1-on-1 guidance.
Review
Julien Song is one of the most-followed French chess content creators - a working IM whose YouTube channel sits around 890k subscribers and whose community spans Chess.com, Lichess, and weekly video content. Members can join the free Chess.com club (5,800+ members) or the Lichess team (2,700+ members); both are free and active.
What works is the gravity of the community. Team matches fill within hours, club tournaments draw real turnouts, and the YouTube content is regular enough to keep low- and mid-rated French players exposed to IM-level thinking. For a French- speaking 1200-1800 player, this is a default home base.
What's missing from the free side is structure. There's no graded curriculum, no submitted-game review loop, no weekly homework - those live in the paid coaching offering, which is a separate product. Players who want organised improvement without paying for 1-on-1 work supplement this community with a course library (ChessMood, Chessable) or a structured program (Bacrot Academy, Chess Dojo).
What works
- One of the largest French-speaking chess communities online, anchored by an active IM.
- Free to join via Chess.com or Lichess; no subscription required to participate.
- Julien Song's YouTube doubles as free, high-quality coaching content from a working IM.
What doesn't
- Not a structured training program - the free community has no graded curriculum or homework loop.
- English-only players get much less out of this than French speakers.
- Structured coaching (1-on-1, lessons) is offered separately as a paid service, not inside the free club.
Other communities
- Chess Dojo
Structured adult improvement with a live community.
- Bacrot Academy (Alpha Échecs)
GM Étienne Bacrot's structured training program for serious improvers.
- Blitzstream - Kevin Bordi's Community
France's longest-running chess streaming community, built around NM Kevin Bordi.
- ChessMood
GM-built course library with a live weekly cadence and a member forum.