ChessMood vs Chessly

ChessMood is the one of the two you can check before you pay: its price, catalogue with rating ranges and refund terms are published, and the headline cost is $948 a year as of 8 November 2026. Chessly has a 7-day trial that its terms say needs no payment details, which makes it cheap to try, but we could not read an official Chessly price, course list or lesson format, so we cannot say which is better value.

ChessCourseFinder has not joined any affiliate program, so links here earn nothing today. Read our affiliate disclosure.

Test depth: Public information only. Nobody at ChessCourseFinder has used either paid plan or a Chessly trial. This page is based on published documentation, pricing and reports read on 8 November 2026. Chessly's membership and course pages are built with JavaScript and could not be read. How we review explains the limits.

The axis: what you can verify before paying

The main difference is not teaching style, which we cannot judge, but how much of each offer you can read in advance. ChessMood's pages list plans, a free tier, per-course ranges and running times, and a refund policy. Chessly's readable pages are its homepage and its terms of use, and the terms say they contain "no specific dollar amounts". For a subscription you will renew, that gap matters more than any feature list.

Sources are ChessMood's pricing page, its refund policy, its course catalogue, Chessly's terms of use and the Chessly homepage.

What we can say about Chessly

Chessly is the membership site associated with Levy Rozman (GothamChess). Its terms describe a "Membership Program" that auto-renews, with access until the end of the paid period after cancellation. Its homepage also mentions an AI assistant called Levi, XP, achievements and leaderboards. The 70+ course figure is Chessly's claim, and a Chess.com forum post from December 2024 said about 30 courses were live then, so the library appears to have grown. A poster in that thread described the 80+ target as still a promise when they wrote. Our Chessly review covers the same ground in more depth.

The price conflict

The only figures we found are second-hand:

• A forum poster paid $45 USD for one year in December 2024 as an existing VIP member; we do not know whether a discount applied.
• The same poster said the older Chessly 1.0 courses were about $60 each, which describes the previous per-course model.
• A search summary gave $10 a month or $90 a year and attributed it to a case study. The Built by Foundry case study we then opened, updated 25 July 2026, instead refers to a "$20 a month membership" and $240 a year. It is a marketing article about creators, not a Chessly price page, and the summary and the page disagree.

What that conflict means in dollars

Even at the highest second-hand figure, Chessly would cost a fraction of ChessMood Essential. These multiples are calculated from unconfirmed Chessly figures, so they show the range and not a price.

If any of those is near the truth, price is not the reason to choose ChessMood. What the higher fee would buy, on paper, is a catalogue with listed levels and hours, named grandmaster coaches and a longer refund window. Chessly's terms also say listed prices exclude tax, so the amount charged can be higher than the number shown.

We are not publishing a Chessly price as fact. Look at the checkout page, note the currency and billing period, and enter it in the subscription break-even calculator next to ChessMood's $948.

One teacher or several

Chessly's homepage sells a single teacher, under the line "Learn from GothamChess". The Built by Foundry article gives his International Master title as earned in 2018, and says the platform also features other international masters and grandmasters teaching alongside him; we could not confirm that, because the course list was unreadable. ChessMood's homepage names several grandmaster coaches. No source we read tests whether a single familiar teacher or a group of stronger players works better for a club player, so treat this as a preference.

What we can say about ChessMood

ChessMood's course pages name grandmaster coaches, for example GM Avetik Grigoryan on BlunderProof and Tactic Ninja, and its catalogue lists foundation courses mostly between 800 and 2000. Its weaknesses are listed on the ChessMood review: the yearly commitment, no update dates on the four course pages we read, and a refund that covers the first subscription only. Our course pages on BlunderProof and Tactic Ninja show what the two best-documented courses list.

A course count is not a library size

Counting courses tells you little unless the running time is known, and only one seller shows it. ChessMood's pricing page claims 80+ courses and 500+ hours, about 6.25 hours per course on average (calculated from rounded claims). Chessly claims 70+ courses, but no running times appeared on the pages we could read, so that figure cannot be turned into study time. Seventy short courses and seventy long ones would be very different purchases.

The refund windows differ sharply

ChessMood's window is 30 days from the first payment, and renewals are not refundable. Chessly's is 7 days, once. For a plan you might use weekly, 7 days leaves little time to judge a library, so the Chessly trial is the real test period. Neither policy has been tried by anyone here; a published guarantee tells you what the seller promises, not how a request goes. The money-back guarantee guide lines up both.

The total time to judge each could differ further. If ChessMood's 7-day Essential trial and its 30-day guarantee run one after the other, you would have up to 37 days. If Chessly's 7-day trial and 7-day guarantee do the same, you would have up to 14. Those totals are calculated and neither seller states them, so confirm when each clock starts.

A side-by-side trial you can run

Both offers can be sampled without paying, which makes a direct comparison on your own terms possible. This is our suggestion, not a tested method.

1. Pick one opening you play and one skill, such as tactics or endgames.
2. On ChessMood's free Basic tier, open the first section of its course on each. Note the listed rating range and running time.
3. Start Chessly's trial and open the same two topics. Record whether the lessons are video or move-by-move, how long they are and what level they assume.
4. Study on five separate days, splitting the time between the two.
5. Choose the one where you finished more of what you started, then compare its price at checkout with your budget. If you finished little on either, stay with free material.

Which to choose

• You want a documented, level-labelled library and can commit to a year: ChessMood, after using its free Basic tier.
• You already like GothamChess content and want a low-commitment way in: start the Chessly trial, which its terms say needs no payment details. That is a reason to try it, not evidence about the courses.
• You want only Levy Rozman's 1.e4 repertoire: a one-off purchase may fit better than a membership. Chessable lists The GothamChess 1.e4 Repertoire at $49.99 base and $249.98 with full video (list prices read on 8 November 2026).
• You want a specific opening or tactic set: neither is the obvious choice. See Chessable vs ChessMood.

What the seller's pages do not tell you

• Chessly's price is not on any page we could read. Its terms say amounts can change and mention both monthly and yearly memberships, so the figure you see at checkout is the only authoritative one.
• Chessly's course count has moved. About 30 live in December 2024 by one poster's account, 70+ claimed on the homepage, so ask which courses exist today for your level.
• Possible double payment. A search summary of a Reddit mirror mentioned a complaint about paying again for courses bought under the old system. We could not read it, so ask Chessly if that applies to you.
• ChessMood's monthly and Lifetime prices are in the script behind its pricing page, not its visible text: $99 or $129 a month and $3,800 or $5,800 Lifetime, read on 8 November 2026. Forum opinion on ChessMood in the thread we read is mixed.

Who should skip each

Skip ChessMood if you study irregularly or want one opening. Skip Chessly if you need a published catalogue, level ranges or a price before you start. Both are hard to justify below about 800, where our free vs paid training guide points to free material first.

The free resources that cover similar ground

Lichess is free with no paid tier, and its Practice sections cover checkmates, basic tactics and rook endgames; see Lichess studies and practice. What you give up is a sequenced curriculum from named teachers. Links to ChessMood may become affiliate links, and Chessly is linked without one. More head-to-heads are in our comparisons.