Is Chessable Worth It? | Dojo Talks

I've been using Chessable for close to a year now.

Kostya really hit the nail on the head in that the value you'll be getting from Chessable really depends on how you use it.

My openings are much better than they ever were. I know so many opening variations now and it's become unlikely for me to get into trouble early in the game. However. It also taught me some bad habits that I'm now trying to get rid of. I needed to really bring back my inner dialogue when playing chess because with Chessable I found myself being trained to move without thinking.

You'll think initially when learning content but after that it becomes pure memory recollection.

These days, I try and think about every position. Both during initial learning and through the spaced repetition learning. The inner dialogue is so important and I feel that Chessable can really hurt it if you are using it wrong.

Please make a vídeo about the top 10 courses in chessable

Is David not getting annoyed by that beam of light??

Chessable has the huge practical advantage of saving your place in every chapter of every course. The "container" that Kostya mentions is another practical advantage - making regular study so much easier, even when you have just a few minutes. Last but not least, some of the lecture courses, e.g. Mastering Chess Strategy, are world-class. More expensive than a book, but much less pricey than 1:1 lessons, and available for repeated review.

One thing chessable doesn't handle very well is letting you copy a line from a paid for chessable course to a private repertoire. You have to do it manually using 2 browser windows, and it's more painful than maybe it should be. This is particularly useful when you only want to learn lines based on games you've actually played.

The other risk with spaced repetition in my view is when you have a good tool for memory, there's a tendency to want to treat every problem as a memory problem due to having this great memory tool, which can be problematic in chess imo (it's also problematic in other areas, like 2nd language acquisition which also often uses spaced repetition).

Having played chess for little over 2 years, I have learned a lot from chessable courses that I feel I wouldn’t have in the same amount of time reading books. I’m an avid reader but like others have struggled with chess book and the interface works for me most of the time. I like having easy access to the courses from my phone or iPad that otherwise I might not have with a book that is sitting at home. Also have only worked on a few short and sweet courses for openings so the majority have been courses where the main focus is material other than openings.

Chessable has a setting called "whole variation" where you can play through all the steps that got you to a particular stage. In Jesse's case he made his own course and didn't input all the steps that lead to a given position.

Its useful, it introduces a lot of fresh ideas to chess software market(I suppose chessbase guys will improve repetition feature some day) but its also overrated :)

Chessable uses magical trick behind woodpecker method plus some captain obvious research to sell content, something like "even when you are lazy you can improve by repetition w/o thinking and you will get useless badges" :) Which is great for authors and for chess communicty :) And there is lot of high quailty content so it makes some sense, when you dont plan to put position on the board(because you have it). But video is fking expensive and you cannot export pgn(which is counterproductive as you can find any chessable content on russian websites)

Openings, Endgames, Collections of positions/exercises - yes, I recommend. The COLLECTION is something is useful to repeat and I see value that i can pay 50$ for someone to put it on computer. But I need custom collection, that consists everything what I learned, not course collection. So you need chessbase/scid anyway. Ofc endgame manuals , exercise collections or opeinings are exceptions because you need learn them all at some point

Strategy topics, book with games, analysis, presenting concepts - better buy a paper book and build your custom database in any software that has analysis board because you learn what you should learn, you want to put your notes, not just "follow the method - read and repeat". Actually you can create your own course and put any positions but i do it faster in non-chess flashcard software like Anki.

You probably need to adjust repeitiion in the beginning(because it will be too fast unless you plan repeat only 1-2 courses for some time and then siwtch). But people dont do that. People should learn that progress its not abut repeating collection of exercises but about thinking, questioning. Which is done by analysis, commenting by you. Which is done better by lichess/chessom or any chess software like Chessbase.

Chessbase motivated me for some time (i was too lazy for books for some time) but when i back to books i realized that chessable is like toy for kids who want fun :) i want to improve my chess, manage my training consciously, use many methods not just repeat everything. OFC chessable gives you possibility to repeat any bougt content and your custom content which is great.

Also good is that they are high level courses. But there also some teachers that say captain obvious bullshit (mostly for beginners but not only), like Simon Williams(Art of Attack video version suck), Daniel King, or Andras Toth(yeah i know he is good teacher but his courses mostly present same positions that are on video instead of giving you exercises - which is good but you dont need chessable for reading collection of analyzed books). Openings - Grunfeld Course and other opening courses are awesome, highest quality, however Anish Giri course about Dragon covers rather sidelines than mainlines, to shorten the path was not i looking for :P If i want to shorten my path to theory I would not learn the dragon :)

Importing pgns is buggy and it will suck when you import repertoire with a lot of transpositions. You also cannot export pgns from the books which suck because you want your repertoire when you are offline. Often videos cover only part(ex. Dvoretsky Endgame Manual) so it does not make sense to me to buy it unless you want support author(but i prefer supproting authors who do something useful for me). Which could be good for De la Villa but not for the Endgame Manual.

I don't know whether I'm just tight - but I don't get the prices being charged for the videos. You can buy the book say for $30, and opt for the video too, but at 4-5 times the price of the book

Has my comment been hidden because of automatic filters? Mine was like the first comment, I put some time into it, and it seems it was ignored. :(

Anyway, good video. My thoughts and suggestions are in my original comment.

I think some of the blueprints of future chess study are present in Chessable. Still, the current implementation of their service is a bit janky and not without significant user experience friction. I think ANY medium requires the student to bring their own sense of personal responsibility and discipline to make the experience productive. I use Chessable every day, but I am still finding my way to best practice and pacing.

I agree with the statement that online platforms (especially Chessable) encourage the "next-next-next" syndrome. I have been trying to force myself to slow down and have returned to setting up key positions on a physical board to invite deeper contemplation.

Also, as someone in the book industry, I wouldn't say the book is dead-- although it is less relevant (or obsolete) in some domains. However, I can see how a generation weaned on interactive chess practice may never fully embrace chess books as the primary medium. It seems the future of chess study will be mechanically assisted, and I think modern trainers such as yourselves can plot the design of the new pedagogy.

Nice discussion. Thanks for sharing.

For me the problem with Chessable is the price of courses there. It's just too much :/

Very good review,I agree with Kostya and Jesse.I'been using chessable since almost the beginning of the site,expendig a lot of money on it,and I mean a lot,which points toward one of the issues,sometimes the materials are too expensive in relation to the practical profit you will get from them.I use the books just as a physical book withe the possibility of playing them in a virtualboard...With respect to the supposed wonderful and unique system that chessable uses to memorize,well, it is rather preposterous,particulartly for most amateur players, I see many of them fighting to rise on the poll of who does more memorizarion...The fact is that if you have just memorize and your opponent has a comprehension of the position and comes with a move of his own that isnot in the book,you will be most likely as lost as Adam during Mother's day... In my case I do not do any memorization drill at all,I just study the material as with a book,and of course,I enjoy the videos if the course includes them. Besides all that, I am kind of addict to chessable like it anyway and keep expendig my money on it...Sic Transit gloria mundi...and man's stupidity!

I'm a fairly low-rated player, probably between 800-1200 and visually impaired. Would Chessable be worthwhile at my level?

I understand the basics of tactics: forks, pins & skewers and the only puzzles I'm able to do are those with a single move.

As Jesse mentioned, books are on their way out. Diagrams in chess books are useless to me unless I take a photo of each one and magnify it, then set it up in a Lichess study. Possible but awkward and incovenient.

Which paid courses would you suggest for my level? Are the Short & Sweet courses the only free ones?

I did the polgar book reading requirements on Chessable and ended up doing 500 variations from her 4 books. Chessable allows you to repeat those variations so you learn them and get pattern recognition. Instead of buying and trying to read “100 endgames you must know” you get the chance to practice them .. then you repeat them. When you make a mistake you can look at the explanation. It’s well worth it for me. I buy the books but I more often don’t read them

I really appreciate Chessable courses with video. 100 endings. You read what Jesus says. And then JB tells you and shows you on the board what Jesus just said. So I get the information twice, differently. And I can pause and replay the video. Sometimes its difficult for me to concentrate. So to watch the video, replay the video, replay it again, and do the exercises, its a valuable tool for me.

I also do not like studying openings in general. I prefer other content. But chessable is probably the best way to learn an opening and drill it. And its just a great way to learn any chess content. I prefer to study chessable first. Some books I also have the kindle version for reference as well thats always with me on my phone wherever I go.

In ten years a website like this might not even be around, so I hesitate to pay $30 for a book. The physical book is for life. Plus there’s so much focus on memorizing variations which is somewhat questionable for players below expert level. I’ve bought a few courses, but still not convinced it is the best way to study chess.

What I like about the spaced repetition, is that the more I drill those opening lines I will start questioning them. "What if my opponent play this other move?" Which, step-by-step, gets me to understand the position better.

I have gone through nepo's kings gambit course and the first half of it I was taking my time, and at some point I fell for that trap, I also didn't like that the timer for the repetition portion of the openings didn't seem to give me enough time to crystalize the correct move instead of what I would instinctually play

Having a shelf of great chess books that you have never finished is not why you shouldn't switch to Chessable; having a shelf of books that you don't finish is exactly why you do switch to Chessable.

If the book is dead why are there sessions on the best books and how to use chess books?

it's such a David Pruess thing to talk his brain out while having the sun right at his face.