This article is a summary, for the full article on the best chess training websites available for free, please visit William’s website.
#1 ChessTempo.com
ChessTempo.com is my #1 go-to spot for chess tactics on the internet. ChessTempo’s software is incredibly easy to use, and I highly recommend it for kids. Be sure to register for an account on ChessTempo so that as you progress through the tactics, you will be awarded a rating and provided exercises of appropriate difficulty. ChessTempo also offers extensive endgame training as well as very large database of chess games at well over 2 million games. You can also play against a strong computer program if you want to test out a few opening lines. And if you have any questions whatsoever about the site or general chess affairs, the ChessTempo forum is very receptive and informative. The simplicity of ChessTempo’s site and software is exactly what makes it such an attractive option for online chess training.
#2 ideachess.com
ideachess is a very cool site that I stumbled across quite recently that left’s a big impression on me. One of the cool things about ideachess is that their 70,000+ chess puzzles are defended by a computer program, so if you enter an incorrect solution the computer will play it out against you to prove it! ideachess is also great for kids, offering a great section on checkmate puzzles. Another cool feature of ideachess is that you can export the FEN of tactical puzzles, so if you stumble across an excellent idea you can download the sequence and review it later with a friend or class. ideachess.com also uses a rating system to evaluate your continually changing playing/solving strength, which can be very effective for the competitive tournament player in analyzing what is and isn’t working in a training regimen. The only downside that I have seen at ideachess is that they do not offer a games database, and I am not too sure about the their forum isn’t very active. For such a young chess training website, ideachess is doing a great job of providing free tools to all playing levels of the chess community.
#3 Chess Tactics Server
The Chess Tactics Server is something of a hidden gem, as it is not very well known, nor do they advertise very much. However, this is a great site that focuses almost exclusively on tactics with a tight-knit community constantly competing to make it to the top of the rating system. The site is very bare bones making it ideal for people on a slow connection or accessing the internet from a phone. I recommend the use of Chess Tactics Server for intermediate and advanced chess players who want to brush up on tactics without hurting their hard earned high ratings on more well known sites. However, this is also a great alternative for any beginners that are tired of using the aforementioned chess tactics sites.
#4 WTHARVEY.com
Whether you love the site’s total simplicity or think the front page looks like an eye sore full of random names, wtharvey.com is the undisputed #1 most visited site for people looking for chess puzzles. However don’t let the lack of graphic design fool you – this is definitely a great hidden resource. Wtharvey.com is not for the light-hearted/uncommitted chess fan – there is no fluff, games database, forum, endgame tool, or fancy chess tactics software. wtharvey is only concerned with real chess puzzles that occurred in real Grandmaster and famous games, and the simplicity of the site enables the viewer to quickly and easily access what they want. Another great feature is that users can search puzzles by chess opening, making it really easy to study common traps in an opening scheme. Once again if you’re on a slow connection or surfing on a smartphone Wtharvey.com is a great site to practice some great chess puzzles. I frequently use wtharvey.com to post puzzles on my own Facebook Page.
This article is a summary, for the full article on the best chess training websites available for free, please visit William’s website.
What’s your favorite site?
As always I welcome you, dear readers to comment below and let me know what some of your favorite site’s are so we can continue to expand the article and enhance our chess knowledge together. Thanks for reading! Our site is now approaching 2,000+ pageviews a day after begin online for only 8 months so I’m very pleased you all are enjoying my content!
Follow William for fresh daily updates: Follow @OnlineChessLessWilliam Stewart is a National Master. He specializes in Online Chess Coaching and maintains a daily updated Chess Blog
The USCF paid endorsed site is horrible. Too much money and not enough content. I like Harvey site.
Thank you very much!!!
Williams views and evaluations of the sites add value. Thanks to the author and to Susan for publishing his articles.
Now let’s start working!!
chess.com i know it is a paying site
I really like ChessTempo! I’ve been using it for about six months now and find it easy to use and a great training aid for tactics and endgames.
Hi Mam,
Please include http://chessthinkingsystems.blogspot.in/ in the above list.
http://chess-db.com/tactics/tactics.jsp
http://chess-links.org
Good article. http://chessendgames.com is my favourite website for endgame tactics training.
I’m not that good at chess. I’ve always tried to get better but nothing has worked out for me. I’ll see about trying these out to see how they’ll help me out.