Chessfactor
is a free online chess education platform with videos, exercises and
games that help you to improve faster in chess. Chessfactor offers a wide range of instructive and structured chess material for users with different rating levels.
Chessfactor is suitable for many users, whether you're an absolute Beginner or Advanced player we offer guided learning paths and structured courses for any level. Our path for absolute Beginners will teach you the basics you need to know to play a game from start to finish. The other paths are tailored for Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced players.
Chessfactor works best with current versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Microsoft Edge.
Actually, the platform runs on mobile devices. However, we recommend to use the website on tablets and desktop devices as the look and feel of the website on mobile devices is different. It is planned to release in the upcoming months an app with an improved user experience.
Please, do not hesitate to report us bugs or typos that you might encounter while using the platform. You can contact us at [email protected].
You can create your own Chessfactor account by registering on our platform via email or Facebook. After you registered and verified your email address, you can enter the platform and start your chess journey.
You can delete your account on your own on the "My Account - Delete Account" page. Please bear in mind that deleting your account cannot be undone and as a consequence you will lose all your progress.
You can change your password on the "My Account - Change Password" page. To go there, you have to click on your profile picture placed in the header. If you click there a dropdown menu opens and if you select "My Account" you enter the "My Account" section with four selectable tabs. If you click on the "Change Password" tab, you enter the page where you can change the password.
In case you cannot sign up with Facebook please contact us at [email protected] and we try to assist.
On the "Login" page there is a link "Forgot?" that you can click on. If you clicked on that link, a new page appears where you can type in the email address that you used for the registration on the platform. After you clicked on the reset password button, you should receive an email with instructions to reset your password.
A path is a customized and guided learning track that help you to learn and improve different chess topics. A path is built up of several units that contain videos, exercises and training sets.
With the "My Path" functionality you`re able to build your own path based on your preferences. You can add several courses from our course library and create your own personalized learning plan.
At the moment we offer five different learning paths for different levels. Our paths are designed to match different ELO ranges. Based on your ability level, you can select between the following paths:
- ELO 0-1000: Elementary
- ELO 1000-1200: Beginner
- ELO 1200-1400: Improver
- ELO 1400-1600: Intermediate
- ELO 1600-1800+: Advanced
If you already have an ELO number the listing above might be a good guideline for you where to start. If you need any assistance in order to find the right path for you, please contact us at [email protected].
Courses are built up of lessons and training sets and deal with special chess topics for different levels. Right now, we offer special courses for opening, middlegame and endgame topics prepared from several instructors. Each course contains videos and associated exercises. Browse our course catalog in order to get further information about the courses we offer.
We love feedback from our users and are happy to hear what you think. If you'd like to offer us suggestions on what courses to build next, email us at [email protected].
The best way to stay up to date on our new course releases is to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, where you'll be able to see exactly when we release new courses.
All our videos are uploaded to YouTube and can be downloaded there.
For the chess games on the "Playing" page and for the "Game Sets" we're using the software "Stockfish". Further information about the software can be found here: https://stockfishchess.org/
For the animation of the chessboard we're using the open source tool "Chessboard.js". Further information about the software can be found here: http://chessboardjs.com/
For the chessboard animation in the videos we used the software ChessBase. Further information about that software can be found here: https://en.chessbase.com/
Special thanks for providing the picture material for our instructors to:
- "Saint Louis Chess Club, Austin Fuller"
- "Saint Louis Chess Club, Spectrum Studios"
- "Chess Photographer:
Lennart Ootes"
Our external design was created by Riotters - Creative Studio.
Most of the chess illustrations were created by Ivona Petrovic.
It is planned to upload periodically new content in form of new courses and units.
We're working on making you the content available in other languages and providing the videos with subtitles. Chessfactor is looking for volunteers to help to translate the website into other languages. If you´re interested in helping us out, email us at [email protected].
Besides adding continuously new content, we're also planning to implement new functionalities on our platform that help you to improve in chess better and faster. More information will follow.
Right now, we do not have a native app for mobile devices.
The streak that is visible in your header counts the days in a row you were active on the platform. Being not active on the platform results in a loss of the streak.
Basically, the idea behind working through a path is that you complete one unit after the other. If some units have a locker icon, that means that the previous units are not completed. However, there is the option to unlock units. In the top right corner of the lesson overview page, there is a green "key icon" that can be clicked to unlock the complete content of the selected unit. By doing so, the following unit becomes active.