Chess.com Reviews 1,587

Unbridled discretion of moderators on Chess.com unjustly shut down several Christian youth clubs and banned club owners and some other administrators. I believe they disabled some non-Christian clubs too.

Chess.com has been excellent in many ways, but "one bad apple spoils the whole bunch." It is like a dead fly in what was good ointment. It contaminates the whole thing. I hope the CEO rethinks the position of the moderators and takes some steps to rein in the unbridled discretion of those responsible for this travesty of justice. More details follow below.

Most of these events happened between mid-May and mid-June of 2025. Until recent events, I would have rated Chess.com as a 4 star. They would have failed a 5-star rating only because of their servers getting overloaded at times. They have rules to enforce and encourage camaraderie among all peoples and groups who have a common interest in chess. They gave freedom for people to create their own clubs with club rules individualized by club so long as they follow Chess.com guidelines. If members are abusive, you can block them and/or report them. All these are good things, and I commend Chess.com for them.

Chess.com has also expanded very rapidly in the last couple of years. The CEO is much too busy with high-level decisions to be able to manage day-to-day activities. However, he welcomes short positive and encouraging messages from members. He has assigned Investigating alleged rules violations to a team of moderators.

What changed my opinion of Chess.com is what seems to be unbridled discretion of the moderators who recently disabled several Christian clubs for young people and banned the club owners for "violating the user agreement." The engaged moderator would not give specifics about what the violations were, citing "privacy laws." He could have easily provided examples of the alleged violations without violating privacy laws, but he refused. He gave no opportunity for the other side to present their case. Instead, moderators disabled two clubs, each of over 650 members. Even if a club owner and some super administrators did technically violate some of the rules, it would have been better to give them an opportunity to correct any specific violations. The actions of the moderators responsible for disabling these clubs and banning leaders hurt a lot of people.

These club owners and other administrators that were banned have no recourse left to them. The two club owners have spent literally over 20,000 hours over eleven years ministering to the young people, some of whom were suicidal or engaging in self-harm. I was a super administrator in one of the clubs, and the two banned club owners have been my closest online friends on Chess,com for over five years. They and several banned administrators are good people with a heart to help young people. None are perfect and some may have technically violated the user agreement in some way or another. I suspect most people have.

The way the moderators have handled these situations has left a bad taste in the mouths of many. The affected young people can only speculate why their favorite clubs were disabled and why the administrators were banned. Several are fearful of getting banned by unwittingly violating one of the rules of the user agreement. Thousands of hours of beneficial research and writing that went into these clubs is no longer accessible to hundreds of youths. The young people contributed most of the posts in these forums.

Online discipline of young people that is corrective cannot always be done through just muting or kicking them from a club or reporting abuse. Loving discipline requires honest communication about what the problems are. These leaders sought to do that even if it may have sometimes technically violated some Chess.com rules. Now they are gone, banished by the moderators! I think the CEO of Chess.com trusts his team of moderators too much. They need supervision and the rules need to be clear and enforced in an even-handed way.

This problem stemmed from a few youths feeling they were mistreated and finding a way to bait a club owner and capture his response on the screen and convey it to a moderator. One youth was spreading a false rumor that the older guys overseeing these clubs were pedophiles. A club owner decided to set the record straight. There was zero evidence to support the libelous rumor which was even spread beyond Chess.com. Other administrators didn't even know or necessarily approve of what this club owner did to try to stop this youth from spreading libel against him and others, including me. The moderators did not review the context of his violations and overreacted with a severe overreach by shutting down two clubs, affecting perhaps 1000 youths. I hope this changes.

I returned to Chess.com after a year hoping things had improved. Sadly, it’s even worse. The platform is completely overrun with sandbaggers – players intentionally keeping their rating artificially low to crush weaker opponents. It’s absolutely rampant, and despite Chess.com constantly claiming they have “measures in place” and “accounts are being closed,” the reality says otherwise. It feels like pure PR spin.
Their vague, generic responses to critical reviews are clearly just copy-paste jobs from some corporate handbook. Nothing concrete is ever said, and no real change is ever visible. It’s insulting to loyal users who care about fairness.
If you’re looking for a fair and serious chess platform, look elsewhere. Chess.com has lost its credibility and clearly doesn’t care about protecting the integrity of the game.

CC has closed two large youth clubs…
CC has closed two large youth clubs without warning or explanation. If they have a problem, please tell us. These were two of the best run clubs on the site. This doesn't just impact one or two people but over a thousand members. They should be ashamed of themselves!!

Date of experience: June 04, 2025

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Reply from Chess.com

Jun 6, 2025
We'd like to investigate this in more detail. Please submit a request in the Support chat, and our team will get back to you as soon as possible:

cc support

Your useless bot customer service methodology does nothing to correct problems or advise members... it just bans people and closes clubs without explanation. This is not customer service in any way, shape, or form. It's a very poor business model unique to chess.com and the fools that run it. How about actually getting on a personal level to meet the needs of your clients? What?? Perish the thought.

I enjoyed the website, it has nice chess features, I even bought the diamond membership til get better at chess. I canceled the membership, and 2 months later it auto restarted at started taking money from my account. I had no chance of removing my credit card from the website, and the only support I help i got was discounts on the membership. After contacting my bank about a refund, I got an email from chess'com saying i could get a refund.

Be careful when buying memberships, and make sure it's canceled so they don't charge you money for something you aren't using.

This is a scam site.
Cheaters are rooming freely, but thats not the worst, not by far.

Chess.com use bots to keep you from advancing.
I found out about this theory late last year and have been trying it out this year. And sadly its true. Chess.com uses bots/players with bots/cheaters to keep you down.

The pattern is always the same.
Yoy win most games, and then hit a certain level, which will work as your designated "cap level" by Chess.com.
After hitting this cap level, you will ONLY play against obvious cheaters and bots, until you reach a "ground level" on which you start to play against normal and fair playing players. Then you win and your elo goes up, until you hit your "cap" level, and the loosing streak from hell against "players" that never does any misstakes and play perfect games, starts. Again...

Ive tested this out and I just finished my tenth!!! run. Same pattern every time, same results every time. Again and again and again.

They want to trick you into buying their "products" and to make you think you cant play chess.

We are a lot, A LOT, of players that has had it with this site.

Stay away if you like chess.

EDIT:
and of course the usual "answer" from chess.com.
Its a joke at this point.

DO NOT GIVE THEM MONEY FOR A MEMBERSHIP!! IT IS A SCAM AND THEY ARE STEALING PEOPLES MONEY. I AM FILING A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST THEM. PLEASE READ BELOW.

This scam site claims to be a chess site where you can buy a membership. This membership will help you get better at chess by doing lessons, puzzles, etc. As with anything in life, the more you practice the better you become at something through repetition and gaining knowledge. I completed thousands of puzzles, did the lessons, played thousands of games, both online and in person, read books, watched videos, etc and got pretty decent at chess. I'm not saying I'm the best in the world or anything, but I learned tactics, strategy, tempo, positioning, sacrificing, etc. Basically became a well rounded player. So you would think that is what this site wants right? For their players to get better and in order to get better you pay them money to gain access to the tools to get better. Oh no, not chess.com. If you pay them money and get better, even with all the proof on your account with your puzzle rating, lessons completed, etc, and if you start winning games and beating other players you will get your account closed out of nowhere. All they tell you is you violated their "fair play policy" and that's it. No proof, no screenshots, NOTHING. You pay them money, get good at chess, which is the reason their site was created in the first place, then when you get to good you just get your account closed. My account actually had a losing record because I lose a lot of my games on time (I'm a slow chess player I admit). But I like to think and be precise but I don't mind losing so it doesn't bother me. So how can my account get closed when I have proof of having passed thousands of puzzles on the hardest difficulty, passed lessons, and played thousands of games then without any proof or evidence they just close your account. And what's crazy is with the membership you get to review your games and the computer tells you what moves were good or bad. Not one game I played was perfect from my end. I always made one or two mistakes, which is very common. Even the pros make mistakes. So how can they justify closing someones account. They will throw all these fancy terms around like algorithms and that they have a dedicated team blah blah blah, but people are paying actual money to this site for a service and they just close your account with no proof or anything. They are literally stealing peoples money. But lucky for me I know a thing or two about the law and as soon as you start taking money from people for a service there are some rules they need follow instead of just being able to charge someone money then closing their account without any refunds.

This is fraud and theft and I will be filing a class action lawsuit against them to request discovery on their algorithms and customer data to see how many people they screwed over. I plan on suing them to repay the money from the accounts they closed that were not violating any rules.

They also don't know I have been recording all of my games and my desk to prove I wasn't doing anything to cheat the system. I also have proof that this site uses bots and company players to play absolute perfect games to keep people from getting better and/or increasing their rating. This is also fraud. For example, a bot will pretend to play just random moves and it seems they don't have good positioning, but as soon as you make one little mistake they all of a sudden play every perfect move to end the game. I have a game recorded where a bot only moved pawns and one rook, which to anyone that doesn't know is not the way you open a game of chess. Then I made one simple mistake, not even a big one either, then all of a sudden every single move from them is perfect. I know this because I analyze and review all my games and you can even plug them into a computer to evalute the move. There were 500 rated players playing 1500-2000 rated games.

Overall do not give them money. You can use their site to learn or play against others, but just know your opponent might be a bot or company player designed to win. I'm not saying you won't win because you will, but you can't really tell if you're getting better because you could be playing a computer. But I've also heard there are plenty of other great chess sites to play.

I plan to make this lawsuit public once I draft the complaint. I will make a youtube video and send this info to some people I know in the Youtube and independent journalism space to get the word out. Chess.com also doesn't know I know quite a few people who have large followings on Youtube. I also have an interview on 3 large channels for an unrelated matter. Either way this scam site will be exposed.

Customer services is a joke… no real human responses and then a week for a response from an automated response... and then even the response was so pathetic and definitely wasn’t looked into... played over 50k games over several accounts since the website launched and never had a problem yet 1 game and suddenly it’s all my fault for a glitch in the system…

Updated: As per the reply.. I had already contacted the customer support for a real response and got a generated response by a person. Hence the bad review… you have someone going through the reviews on websites instead of putting all your effort into real responses and issues in your website. Fail.

Awful treatment of paying subscribers. Use Gameknot instead. Much more wholesome. They chucked me out years ago for supposed "cheating" and I had 75% subscription left - forfeit.
Abhorrent algorithms and policies on judging whether a paying subscriber is cheating. Intolerant, no appeal/discussion. Whole ethos is steal your money without care for your experience. Disgusting business ethic and model. Don't go anywhere near. Use GAMEKNOT!!

Paid for an annual membership. Played for about two months. Then they canceled my account for breaking their rules, specifically abandoning games. The only games I ever abandoned were the ones their shitty site engine matched me with a much higher rated player.

Absolutely dreadful organisation, they close accounts for no good reason no explanation, no opportunity to discuss things, I was just about to make payments into a membership, so pleased that I didn't. There is no way you can talk with someone, no way to get answers to questions, thay have a useless chatbot thing that just says someone will be in touch, and no one ever makes contact. I suggest that people avoid at all costs.

Dear Chess.com Fair Play Team,

I’m writing this with extreme frustration, disappointment, and outrage.

You have closed my account(s) without a valid reason, without warning, and without giving me a single chance to explain myself. This is not just unfair — it’s a disgrace to your platform.

I have never cheated. I’ve never violated your rules. Yet you’ve treated me like a criminal, banned all my accounts, and offered no transparency, no proof, and no dialogue.

This is the exact opposite of “fair play.” It’s arbitrary punishment. It’s abuse of power. And it’s a complete failure of due process.

Do you understand what it feels like to invest hundreds of hours on your platform, only to be erased and silenced for something I did not do?

I am demanding the following immediately:

1. A full explanation of the reason(s) behind the closure.

2. Access to any so-called “evidence” you claim to have.

3. A real investigation by a human, not an automated system.

4. Immediate reinstatement of my account(s) if no solid proof exists.

If I do not receive a fair and professional response, I will not stay silent. I will escalate this issue publicly and legally if necessary. Your users deserve better than this broken system that bans innocent players and hides behind vague rules.

I expect a serious reply — not a generic response.
This is not a request. This is a formal complaint.

Sincerely,

My son was enjoying playing chess on this platform and suddenly got an email saying the account had been closed due to breaching fair play policy. No explanation or anything. He is just a 12 year old kid trying to get better at a game that he loves. He learns at a local chess club, plays competitive chess through school and has been practicing a lot lately. Then suddenly this email, even the review came back saying it’s a final decision.
I know I can create a new account for him but it’s so disheartening for the young kid as he has never cheated. If for a second I believe chess.com that he has breached a policy, at least explain/show what has he done wrong so that he doesn’t do it again.
I feel like it’s time for us to move on from chess.com
Despite trying to contact them multiple times for explanation, I only got to their AI Bot Chessica who is an example of incompetence of this platform.

Cheaters nest.

Enjoy it sometimes but being put off big time with the amount of cheating that goes on,people are smart tho,they partially cheat make a few innacurcays just to throw them off,absolutely does my head in and very little can be done about it,the amount of games I abandon due to to people deliberately scribing the queen to throw the app off is astonishing,then I loss rating points and these people go on a little run,lose a few games here and there and continue on,quiting playing on apps,a game a love and its ruined by cheats

Nice interface and thats it.

The platform is incredibly punushing when it comes to disconnects. If your internet flickers for one second, its takes a minute to reconnect to you and then punishes you for "abandoning"

Edit: Chess.com's reply here is incredibly tone deaf and doesn't address the issue. Servers often take a full minute to reconnect, meaning that even with 10 minutes on my clock, a game will be "abandoned" for a few seconds of disconnection on my end. This does nothing to punish toxic players who often run their clocks down instead of abandoning games. Instead it hurts people trying to play honest games.

The analysis is AI slop. Ive had it tell me I missed a free Queen only to show the "winning tactic" of me playing twice in a row while my oppoent does nothing. Why didnt I think of that!?!

Edit: Chess.com has replied implying I dont know the rules of chess rather than their review engine having issues. I understand castling and en passant. The game analysis engine occasionally does blatantly illegal moves such as going twice. Yes, I can submit a bug report, but this is the service chess.com CHARGES for. It shoudn't be this laughably broken.

My account was closed without notice, just a day after I paid for my one-year membership. I feel scammed by this company while playing a game I love. It's a shame! I will be contacting my bank to request a refund. This is the worst experience I’ve had in nearly 60 years—a complete joke!

Message from Chess.com support:
"To resolve this violation and continue playing on Chess.com, click the button below. If you select the option to create a new account, any existing Premium membership will be automatically transferred, as well as your friends list and League division"

I created this account in 2023, but I only recently started playing with my son due to my recent disability; apparently, to help me recover. I do not wish to create a new account or return to your platform. I have requested a refund, and I kindly ask that you honour this request.

Trash company with draconian moderation. Expensive analysis with poor results. Forced international play. Terrible customer service. Arbitrary.

Absolute nuisance of a company.chess auto declares stalemate even though it's on a timer. No freedom of speech if you say anything deemed offensive. I contacted chess.com with these issues and they don't give a shit.do not install this rubbish

Just absurd abandonment rules. If your battery saver kicks on, if your service drops for a few seconds, if your screen goes dark - you can just lose the game even with plenty of time left on your clock. Absolute waste of time. Have 20 minutes left? Doesn't matter.

I clicked my queen and it went in front of my opponents rook (to be lost for nothing), for no reason ? , I was way in front and only a few moves away from check mating . this is the second time in only a few hours of playing this has happened . I have never had this happen to me in any other site in 30 years of playing on line ! the rating is miles off too .
I was not playing quickly I was well in front on time . there was no miss click on my part