• Chess.com

Chess.com

Write a Review

Overview

Chess.com has a rating of 1.3 stars from 208 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about Chess.com most frequently mention customer service, fair play, and new account problems. Chess.com ranks 1060th among Games sites.

  • Service
    63
  • Value
    63
  • Shipping
    31
  • Returns
    38
  • Quality
    60

This company does not typically respond to reviews

Positive reviews (last 12 months): 0%
Positive
0
Neutral
0
Negative
11
18
See all photos
How would you rate Chess.com?
Top Positive Review

“Pretty dang good, like it.”

heyaa guy. h.
10/11/23

I absolutely love this site! I can see the problems with it but nothing bad like that has happened for me, in my personal experience everything went right. Don't buy the premium though its wasteful. Just buy an actual chess set or use the free one, the premium can have a lot of things go wrong with it.

Top Critical Review

“DON"T PLAY ON CHESSk.COM - IS A SCREWED UP SITE - WiLL CHEAT YOU!”

Tam L.
10/21/24

I have played on this site since 2021 and has recently been playing for hours almost everynight and has gone down from 600 to 200 or less now due to the SITE's MESSED UP IT not taking care of their end and blames the players computer and it has been already checked on by a technician. I sent numerous of Reporting players and yet Chess does not even respond back nor check any cheated play on their end but to mess players up so they can be frustrated and not be done fairly to enjoy the game. Chess.com needs to be BANNED from the website if this is how they HATE people to play on it as long as they get THEIR MONEY from people that's all they care about! Look how FAST I keep losing because their system is so SCREWED up. THEY DON"T LIKE YOU if you keep complaining about their site even though you get cheated said I violated them! I heard this system is happening from overseas and Eric A. (Pres) of Chess doesn't do anything about it. This site won't take my shot screen to show how screwed up Chess.com is. Again, I've gone down on 1 min play from 600 to almost less than 200 that quick in time due to Chess.com's site that is lagging on my end to purposely have me lose everytime when I played since 2021.

Reviews (208)

Rating

Timeframe

Other

Reviews that mention popular keywords

account (20) premium membership (5) user experience (3) phone number (3) game (46)
Thumbnail of user taml17
Nevada
5 reviews
4 helpful votes
  • Send Message
October 21st, 2024

I have played on this site since 2021 and has recently been playing for hours almost everynight and has gone down from 600 to 200 or less now due to the SITE's MESSED UP IT not taking care of their end and blames the players computer and it has been already checked on by a technician. I sent numerous of Reporting players and yet Chess does not even respond back nor check any cheated play on their end but to mess players up so they can be frustrated and not be done fairly to enjoy the game. Chess.com needs to be BANNED from the website if this is how they HATE people to play on it as long as they get THEIR MONEY from people that's all they care about! Look how FAST I keep losing because their system is so SCREWED up. THEY DON"T LIKE YOU if you keep complaining about their site even though you get cheated said I violated them! I heard this system is happening from overseas and Eric A. (Pres) of Chess doesn't do anything about it. This site won't take my shot screen to show how screwed up Chess.com is. Again, I've gone down on 1 min play from 600 to almost less than 200 that quick in time due to Chess.com's site that is lagging on my end to purposely have me lose everytime when I played since 2021.

Tip for consumers:
Don't TRUST Chess.com's website to play as it will SCREW your ratings and sometimes will default from NON RATED to RATED intentionally!

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user laot3
Netherlands
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
July 17th, 2024

It is a irritative site, after all. All those in-between popups are annoying. The interface looks good but not as good as lichess. Lichess is always free, and doesn't bother if you abort the game, no hazzles, no ads, just Super

Thumbnail of user jayj1094
Brazil
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
May 25th, 2024

My experience with Chess.com has been appalling. My account was terminated after two years without any evidence or explanation, despite my adherence to fair play. This opaque and arbitrary action shows a blatant disregard for transparency and user trust.

Shockingly, Chess.com offered to transfer my subscription to a new account, which I refused. Instead, I requested a refund as I could not remain part of a company that handles business in such a manner. They issued a refund, despite their policy of not refunding accounts closed for fair play violations. Additionally, they miscalculated the refund amount. This glaring inconsistency reveals the grossly incompetent and unjust nature of their operations.

Terminating accounts based on unsubstantiated accusations is disgraceful. I urge others to avoid Chess.com and its affiliates. Use your money on more reputable chess platforms that value fairness and transparency.

Thumbnail of user cainebishop444
California
1 review
2 helpful votes
  • Send Message
April 8th, 2024

I had just recently gotten the app, about two weeks ago. I played throughout my childhood and early teen years. After over ten years I wanted to brush off my chess skills and just have fun. Took some wins and loses first few days. Spent some time playing outside the app with some friends who are really good. Helped me with getting better. Unfortunately, coming back into the app after the first couple of winning games I was banned without any explanation other than suspicions. I don't pay for the app, and reviewing others who had the same issues I can thoroughly say I am dissapointed. The owners should be ashamed of the fact that they are willing to throw people out without explanation or reason. Other than what I assume is they were improving outside our app and not paying to show their improvements. Way to take the joy and human connection out of a classic age old game.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user davidk345
Nich B. – Chess.com Rep

Hello! For assistance with your account status, please contact our dedicated Support team:
https://support.chess.com/en/articles/8737050-contact-us
We'll help get the issue resolved for you as soon as possible! Accounts are only disabled in the case of breach of our policies listed here: https://www.chess.com/legal/user-agreement
We never close accounts without reason, and we only do so when we detect a policy infraction. However we're here to help get that resolved for you, so that you can get back to playing chess in no time!

Thumbnail of user jasons3795
Wisconsin
1 review
1 helpful vote
  • Send Message
March 6th, 2024

Sure chess.com is free, but only if you are stupid will you try to use the site. The ads that it uses to extort its members freezes games. You can't even do tactics cause it freezes the screen. In todays world its hard to be ad free in anything, but for chess.com the ads are poorly run or maybe they do it on purpose so that you can't get a decent playing experience without paying to remove the ads. Its crazy that a company pays chess.com to run there ads then they turn around and charge its members money to remove them. Ethically Chess.com should be shut down and sued.

Tip for consumers:
They are crooks.

Products used:
Everything they offer has a marked up of over 4000%.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user missjessyfaye
Florida
1 review
2 helpful votes
  • Send Message
February 16th, 2024

Ultimately the problem with this site isn't the game, but the people playing it. I turned my chat off almost immediately due to s*x harassment issues, and there is ZERO sportsmanship with this app. People will play at a lower level than they are actually ranked, just to boost their scores. People resign if they make a bad move or lose their Queen. They take FOREVER to make a move sometimes. (Like it's an app on your phone, not rocket science, it's not that deep.) They abandon games if they make a bad move, or intentionally try to stalemate you out if they know they're going to lose. The abandonment thing is a big problem, because even though the app has an "auto-resign" feature, it takes at least 5 minutes to kick in, and then when it does kick in it's another 3 minutes on top of that. The game is great, and the app is okay... But they need to regulate this stuff more because people get on this site and act like a**h*les. 🙄

Thumbnail of user davidk345
Nich B. – Chess.com Rep

Hello, we're so sorry to hear about this, and we want you to know that player abuse is not tolerated on Chess.com:
https://www.chess.com/legal/community
We are constantly expanding our efforts including automated chat moderation systems, as well as dedicated moderators. We're also expanding our system to detect and prevent stalling. We ask that players please reports instances of abuse or stalling as shown here:
https://support.chess.com/article/209-how-do-i-report-someone
You can also write to us at support@chess.com for assistance. We are here to help!

Thumbnail of user timmyt41
Michigan
2 reviews
3 helpful votes
  • Send Message
January 26th, 2024

I average 1800 to 2100 but on this scam site there are 1500 players/bots that play you all the time and have min ratings of 1900 but show low values to keep your score low when you lose to them. If you play on this crap site keep in mind they try to keep your score low until you register and pay for classes. Then all of a sudden you become a much better player not because you learned anything but because they block the bots and low rated scams.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user davidk345
Nich B. – Chess.com Rep

Hello, we have tens of millions of monthly active players, so that means when you play on Chess.com, you're playing real people! Game pairings are not manipulated in any way, and we actually want to help all chess players improve and keep increasing their rating. That's why it's possible to access training features in a limited capacity even on a free account! If you suspect another player of cheating, please report it by clicking their username. We are devoting more resources and staff to anti-cheating than any entity in the world, and we understand how important it is to keep the game fair!

Thumbnail of user georgea1021
Australia
2 reviews
8 helpful votes
  • Send Message
February 4th, 2022

App is full of problems and far inferior to Lichess.

Some issues below:

Huge lag which impacts on your ability to win shorter games (3 minutes and under)

You can't select a rating range on 30 second games. As a result, you can win 14 games and lose 1 game yet still lose points. Dumb and stupid and kills the game

Customer service parrots on the Android app repeating the same things all over again

You can be matched with people you have previously blocked. I'm surprised this has not been addressed as it could lead to prolonged abuse or harrassment

Constant up sells

Chess.com has ruined many a day for me but I continued because it's where my stats are. I say go with Lichess and avoid the bother.

Thumbnail of user charlesr1863
Missouri
1 review
3 helpful votes
  • Send Message
November 19th, 2022

I loved using this app, learning how to play chess, and playing against people online. It was quite literally all fun and games until I took a long break from it. I got somewhat better at the game offline, came back quite literally today, played two rounds before eating dinner, came back to check my email and my mf account was closed for "suspicious activity." Is getting good without your stupid app a violation of their terms, well then I'll do it $#*!ing again $#*!s!

Tip for consumers:
Don't get good offline, they hate it (sarcasm).

Products used:
My free account

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user gc387
Missouri
1 review
14 helpful votes
  • Send Message
February 8th, 2022
Verified purchase

They took $99 and closed my account 10 days later. No response from support. They claim violation of fair play, I don't play for money or tournaments or ratings. I went there to learn, so I could teach my son. Ridiculous tactics. Fine if you want to close an account; it's your site. But give me a refund for an entire year I've paid, if you won't let me use what I paid for.

Service
Value
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user anastasist
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
1 review
25 helpful votes
  • Send Message
January 23rd, 2021

I'm a novice player and signed up to diamond membership a couple of weeks ago.
Tried to log on only to find that although my membership is still active, my account was deleted! No reason given. All I've really been doing are puzzles and lessons so have no idea why this has happened.
Then I deleted and re-installed, creating a new account with new diamond membership but I still can't access unlimited puzzles. What's going on!?!?!

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user zuffenbahnen
Oklahoma
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
December 25th, 2023

Good luck if you like speed chess! Pieces drag...hard to move and sometimes end up on the wrong square. System overloads due to too many new players also occur. Time cheaters everywhere. But you can watch Magnus Carlsen! Owned by people who are very political too. ( chess chat is for a "free Palestine!")

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user davidk345
Nich B. – Chess.com Rep

Hello, in Settings you can choose your preferred method to move the chess pieces. If you prefer to click twice instead of dragging pieces, that option is available!
https://www.chess.com/settings/board
We're doing our utmost to prevent any server interruptions as our player base continues to grow--now more than 150 million total registrations! For help with frequent disconnection or latency, we can also share some tips for optimizing one's own device and connection for chess:
https://support.chess.com/article/4720-online-chess-performance-optimizations
Lastly we ask that players please refrain from having political discussions in public chat or forums, as outlined in our community policies:
https://www.chess.com/legal/community
Please write to us at support@chess.com for assistance on Chess.com if needed. We're here to help!

Thumbnail of user peranoanthony
Texas
1 review
3 helpful votes
  • Send Message
February 7th, 2024

Took my money and froze my account without reason. After many emails there is no one to speak with and just an app that just keeps mouthing the same nonsense.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user davidk345
Nich B. – Chess.com Rep

Hello, we're sorry to hear this. Please write to us at support@chess.com for assistance, and we will absolutely assist you in receiving a refund for any unused membership credit if you're no longer able to access your Chess.com account. We will also provide further information on your account status and the possibility of accessing your account or creating a new one. We're handling many requests at this time, so we appreciate your patience, and a member of our team will reply to you via email as soon as possible, typically within 1-3 days.

Thumbnail of user heyaaguy.h
Colorado
17 reviews
7 helpful votes
  • Send Message
October 11th, 2023

I absolutely love this site! I can see the problems with it but nothing bad like that has happened for me, in my personal experience everything went right. Don't buy the premium though its wasteful. Just buy an actual chess set or use the free one, the premium can have a lot of things go wrong with it.

Thumbnail of user arvied2
Philippines
2 reviews
2 helpful votes
  • Send Message
May 19th, 2020

First of all, it is a great app for different kinds of players from beginners to the pro ones.

I've downloaded their app a few weeks ago.

Points:
*Lag- it is minimal throughout the app but this obvious to the lessons part
*Limit to free users- it could have been increased to at least 2 lessons per day or 3 lessons. I find the one lesson per day kinda unnecessary.
* There is a variety of options to do in the app from lessons to types of game you want to play.

Thumbnail of user davidk345
Nich B. – Chess.com Rep

Hi Arvie,
Thank you for your detailed review and the critical feedback. We will take these points into careful consideration as we work on improvements in the app.
Thanks!

Thumbnail of user jormar
Finland
1 review
5 helpful votes
  • Send Message
August 27th, 2022

Most players in 1600-1900 range are blatantly cheating, they catch like 10% of cheaters or less after many weeks, this is only a scheme to bait paid subscribers and to do the bare minimum to keep the money coming in rather than to actually make a good playing environment for legitimate players. They actively delete forum discussions who criticize them. They should not be allowed to own the domain. My real rating is 2050 but can barely reach 1700 here because of all the cheaters. Avoid at all cost and never pay money. I would give it 0 stars if I could. Good review scores are given by site administrators or paid.

Service
Value
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user mg977
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
1 review
4 helpful votes
  • Send Message
October 15th, 2022

Chess.com operates an apparent scam to get players to sign-up (pay) for its diamond service etc. It plays you against bots disguised as people. I know because I tried holding two different accounts - my ratings were significantly different! How is that explained?

Tip for consumers:
Try other chess apps before buying.

Products used:
App

Quality
Thumbnail of user jayb1023
Tennessee
1 review
4 helpful votes
  • Send Message
December 8th, 2021

Besides exerting their communist control of what you message each other, during bullet play several opponents cheated adding second s on as they moved. I thought it was me, so I would PRE MOVE my pieces while my opponent moved... nope nothing added for me. The app sucks in too many ways to name. Do NOT give them a penny

Thumbnail of user firstl120
New York
1 review
4 helpful votes
  • Send Message
February 14th, 2023

The site's user interface is really well done, one of the best (even better then Lichess) however that is basically where it ends.
1. No support at all from their help desk
2. Too many abandoned games
3. Way too much cheating
4. Getting locked into a color (i.e. 10 games in a row as black -- really?)

Thumbnail of user chesscomt
Texas
1 review
6 helpful votes
  • Send Message
March 10th, 2021

Okay, I tried to play but there are just too many people who use chess engines, I report them & months later I encounter him again and yea he still using the chess engine. Bad moderators terrible support.

Tip for consumers:
chess.com trash

Products used:
chess.com trash

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user elliotz4
Virginia
2 reviews
15 helpful votes
  • Send Message
November 14th, 2018

I joined Chess.com to play with some friends. I got into it and soon was watching a lot of videos. Next thing I know I'm banned. They never exactly told me in any specific terms the reason. But they have a magical algorithm or statistics that say I must have used outside help, though I didn't. Clearly they do this just to try to take your money and run. From everything I've read they have lots of actual cheaters with fake accounts they do nothing about. Yet they ban real customers who do nothing wrong. Stay away!

Tip for consumers:
Don't

Service
Value
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user danielt103
Ohio
1 review
12 helpful votes
  • Send Message
November 8th, 2016

The culture I downright rotten. There is an air of elitism and arrogance from even the most novice players. I had joined the server not necessarily as a dedicated one to play on. But more on a review/analysis basis of community's input. The thinking was simple; that I may improve very specific parts of my game by sharing it with the community. At no point did I expect that my review requests would be torn to shreds, and separate forum threads started just to insult my games and me personally... not worth the negativity.

Thumbnail of user ryanm187
Virginia
1 review
13 helpful votes
  • Send Message
March 2nd, 2018

Despite claiming to be a free website with so many useful sources of tips, the actual game is terrible if you don't remove ads. Bullet and sometimes even blitz is a joke if you constantly lag from ad updates. It also becomes so hard to concentrate for other game modes when you have video ads along the side of the screen. I seriously would like to see this site cater more towards the avid chess player than money hungry ad companies.

Thumbnail of user vinsonnobles
California
1 review
1 helpful vote
  • Send Message
August 21st, 2023

Unless your a Grand Master, chess.com is unpredictable with the level of play a player possess. No matter their rating, the player can be considerably advanced. Lichess is better when seeking a comparable opponent. Chess.com expects you to play as black even when you've already played as black. Win or lose it should alternate especially if you protest by aborting a game or two. Rather chess.com will INSIST you play black and view you as abusing for insisting to play white, which you won't get. Lichess will alternate your color if you protest playing a color you just finished playing. Today is my white practice, but 80% of my games are my being black. Hacks, cheats and abusers are more frequent at chess.com. Overall chess.com the is most popular, and the most difficult opponents.

Thumbnail of user johnc1400
Oregon
1 review
7 helpful votes
  • Send Message
April 29th, 2018

A couple years of one on one games was good, no problems there. Then I discovered the multiplayer games with four players per game. Bully central. Every game had verbal abuse of some kind. The site should have an age restriction.

I reported two incidents of bullying and harsh language, but heard nothing about their response. After the second reporting, all my chat functions were shut down. I could no longer see what players were typing. That was their solution I guess: silence the ones who report abuse.

About as good as any other place. Just don't let your kids near it.

Sitejabber for Business

Gain trust and grow your business with customer reviews.

From the business

Play chess on Chess.com - the #1 chess community with +20 million members around the world. Play online with friends, challenge the computer, join a club, solve puzzles, analyze your games, and learn from hundreds of video lessons. You can also watch t...

Company Representative

Thumbnail of user davidk345
Nich B.
Typically does not respond to reviews

How do I know I can trust these reviews about Chess.com?

  • Sitejabber’s mission is to increase online transparency for buyers and businesses
  • Sitejabber has helped over 200M buyers make better purchasing decisions online
  • Suspicious reviews are flagged by our algorithms, moderators, and community members
Have a question about Chess.com?