Chess.com Reviews 1,585

Very corrupted and poor site with lots of cheating and the managers picking on players. Atone point I had to play black over 12 times and the software asking me to resign if I dont play. It is a disguting cheating piece of art the managers are in this one I am sure. They a crooked to the core so they destroy natural talents and they should be ashamed of themselves as they target each and every individual with so much adverts that it becomes unbearable to play without seeing obstructions, these guys should be stripped of GCL they are a horrible site and must be scrutinised. I went to play GCL and belived I was good enough to play with everyone, these guys have already arranged players who they give extra minuites on the competetion, very disgusting crookish idiots ----------------------------on the internet offering chess. Avoid them toi grow in chess at all cost.

I only really use the platform for casual 10 minute games which I then analyse. Works perfectly for my use case only downside being a few poor sports who the website can’t be responsible for and I report.

Worst servers ever. They routinely drop players, and then forfeit their games. Chess.com likes to claim their servers are great and the problem is players' internet connections, which is demonstrably false. The site is a joke.

Have been using Chess.com for more than a decade and have come to the point of ending my account there. Last night I made a move in a game with a winning position and left conditional moves for a forced mate. This morning when I logged in it showed that I had resigned the game (I had not resigned, I was in a winning position with a forced mate.) Don't know what is going on with Chess.com, but the time has come to end my account. Bad programming practices, poor customer service, and too many cheaters on the site.

they have no customer service. Site does not work well. The game reviews are not correct. How can you learn if the reviews are wrong?
They condone cheating. It is useless to report it, they do not act on it. I have reported people with a 400 elo rating jumping 500 points in a week, with a average of 97% accuracy and nothing. They simply do not care.
this has been going on for about two years now. It is only getting worse.
It is disgraceful

i only wish io could rate it lower

great way to get charged for $120 with ZERO heads up and zero customer support. They will get more aggressive with BS because they know it's a dead game space due to AI/solvers.

Don't give this rat your money.

EDIT:
|After searching "Refund" in the Support Chat, click on the option to confirm submission of your request to our Billing team. One of our agents will respond as soon as possible!
---
that's literally not how your site functions, but ok.
Search refund and you have to navigate a binary tree to find a path doesn't end in, "Sorry, but f** u ;)"

Protip for others: say you bought on the site and hopefully used paypal/credit -- but that's only to get you to the point of the AI chat where they may send an email within 3 days.

Horrible site… there is obviously something completely rigged about this site. 20 years ago my rating was around 1500-1600 and now it’s hard to maintain a 1200-1300. Occasionally i get to play a 1500 + and it’s funny how they get smashed yet they can maintain a 1500 or higher. Some days even playing a 1100 is harder than a 1500, it is totally rigged. Other times i can play and win 20-30 games without a loss and then it seems the algorithm kick in and i will lose no matter how i play with streaks as long as 10-15 games. Just ridiculous, this isn’t a real site just a crap business junction.

Automatically renewed with no reminder email. I bought the membership for my teenage son as a one-off gift. Not trustworthy, should not be allowed payment facilities. Will be making a charge back through my credit card company unless refunded immediately.

Chess.com and mostly online chess is dead. People who really love playing fair chess are tired of cheaters and bad behaviour.

I only played on this site because of the puzzles, even got a subscription for it. Then they made puzzles terrible. Gain 2 elo for a correct one and lose 5+ times that for 1 wrong one? Absolutely not rewarding at all. The second my subscription ends, I'm not extending it. Wanna play puzzles? Switch to lichess. WAY better.

Rampant antisemitism allowed by chess.com
They do nothing to stop it and dont even respond to reports of racism and harassment against israeli users or answer questions as to what they are doing to stop it.
A little research shows this has been ongoing and allowed by chess.com to continue for many years - SHAME ON YOU CHESS.COM - will never be using your platform again.

RESPONSE TO DEVELOPER:

Notice the developer REFUSED to comment on user recommendations. Take particular notice to this behavior. Chess.com DOES NOT CARE.

Original Review:

I have sent multiple reports of cheating, specifically "sandbagging", and chess.com has not made ANY effort to fix it. NONE of our games are proctored. NONE of our requests for user verification are being considered.

I have been a paying member for two years. What is the point?

Chess.com has perfected one thing: removing paying players while calling it “fair play.”

I was a long-term, high-rated user who repeatedly purchased premium subscriptions on this account.
Years of games, rating history, and paid membership were erased instantly — without warning, without escalation, and without any meaningful human review.

The reason? Repeatedly resigning games shortly after pairing.
No cheating.
No engines.
No collusion.
No rating manipulation.

This highlights a deeper problem with the platform’s philosophy.
Chess.com hides behind an endless list of terms and behavioral rules that no normal user realistically reads line by line.
In practice, only one rule truly matters to players and to the integrity of chess itself: do not cheat.

Everything beyond that is subjective behavior control, enforced selectively and without proportionality.

There were no warnings.
No temporary suspension.
No attempt to correct behavior.
Just permanent removal — even for a loyal, paying

I love Chess.com. It's made me a much better player!

I am a bit surprised by the many bad reviews, as I have been a paying member for a few years, and I have never been banned, and only recently reported someone for cheating. By far, most people play fair in my experience.

The site has a lot to offer, from normal chess games to all kinds of variants, puzzles, forums, leagues, and team matches. It all works.

The only point of critique: I can premove on the Android chess.com client, but the iOS version lacks this feature. It's one of the universe's biggest mysteries.

Edit: regarding the reply of chess.com, I meant premove in daily games. That option is missing, while it is present on the Android version.

This is a completely unethical operation run by what appears to be incompetent amateurs. The platform is absolutely infested with bots and cheaters, while actual legitimate users are drowned out by what seems to be a majority user base of unsupervised children.

The forums are a cesspool of anti-social behavior and a hunting ground for predators. Moderation is either non-existent or willfully negligent. The safety of minors on this platform should be a criminal concern.

The website itself looks like it was cobbled together by a teenager two decades ago and hasn't been updated since. The interface is clunky, outdated, and reeks of technical incompetence. It's an insult to users that anyone expects them to take this seriously, let alone pay for it.

Their billing practices are absolutely predatory. They make cancellation deliberately confusing, automatically renew subscriptions without clear warning, and lock basic features that should be free behind paywalls. They've turned the ancient game of chess into a cash-extraction scheme.

The matchmaking algorithm is transparently manipulative and the "anti-cheat" system is a joke that bans legitimate players while obvious cheaters run rampant for months.

And now they've partnered with Polymarket to enable gambling, proving they care more about monetizing addiction than promoting chess. They're exploiting the game's reputation while contributing nothing of value to the chess community.

This parasitic operation should be investigated and dismantled by authorities. Lichess exists as a free, open-source alternative that actually respects players. Chess.com is a disgrace to the game.

Absolute joke. My account got closed because a friend of mine played a couple of games on it — apparently that’s “unfair.” Then on my new account I’m two moves from mate and the game ends in a draw by repetition… what the actual hell?

Not everyone lives on this app 24/7. Let noobs like me play without treating us like criminals. Their “Fair Play” policy is just an excuse to ban anyone who plays too well too suddenly. And if someone learns outside their app? He gets banned too?

And the customer support? Zero. No explanation, no real help — just a closed account and a generic email.

Honestly, they’ve found the best way to keep their databases light. You may have years or even decades of match history, doesn’t matter:
If you play too good, they delete your account. Simple, efficient, and absolutely ridiculous.

Avoid this is a fraud only to take your money, never subscribe. The good reviews are doctored. Response from chess.com so robotic very pointless.

Automatically renewed after 12 months with no warning on full price (I purchased last year on a heavy black friday discount). Then AI chatbot and apparently 3 days to reply? Ridiculous