TheChessWorld Academy Review

TheChessWorld Academy appears, from search listings, to be a streaming video membership, and the two prices we saw conflict: $19.95 a month in an FAQ and $24.95 on a store listing. We could not open thechessworld.com, so everything below is search-listing level. Confirm the price and the cancellation rule at sign-up, and judge any single store course separately, because we could not tell whether store courses are part of the membership.

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Test depth: Public information only. Nobody at ChessCourseFinder has taken this course or used this paid plan. This page is based on published documentation, pricing and reports, specifically search listings and search summaries seen on 8 November 2026. We could not open the Academy or product pages directly because the store blocks automated fetches, and we did not try to get around that. It is a checklist, not a review of the teaching. How we review explains the limits.

This review has no star score. Fit, price and limits are set out instead, and how reviews are made is public.

What TheChessWorld appears to be

TheChessWorld (its store) appears, from search listings, to sell digital chess products attributed to several coaches, and to run a membership called TCW Academy alongside the store. Listings show courses attributed to GM Damian Lemos, GM Marian Petrov, GM Ron Henley, IM Maksim Schekachikhin, Angelo Kesaris and GM Igor Smirnov, along with products labelled "TCW Academy" and bundles. A "Mega Bundle [All 22 Courses]" and an "Endgame Vault" (listed at $2,350, 200+ hours) also appeared. We do not know how many products the store carries.

What the TCW Academy membership appears to include

The Academy looks like a monthly streaming library rather than a set of courses you keep. Everything in this table is as shown in search listings on 8 November 2026; we could not open the pages directly, and most of it carries no date.

The two prices conflict and we cannot say which applies today, or whether the Academy is still open to new members. One listing is titled ["Complete Tactics Manual for Advanced Players with IM Boroljub Zlatanovic [TCW Academy]"](https://thechessworld.com/tcw-academy/complete-tactics-manual-for-advanced-players-with-im-boroljub-zlatanovic-tcw-academy/), which suggests that courses made for the Academy carry that label, but we could not confirm it.

What those numbers mean, if they are right

Every figure here is calculated from the listings above, so it holds only if the listing does.

• Monthly or yearly at the FAQ prices. Twelve months at $19.95 is $239.40, against $199.95 for the year, a saving of $39.45. Ten months at $19.95 is $199.50, so the yearly plan only comes out ahead if you would stay for more than ten months.
• If $24.95 is a monthly price. Twelve months is $299.40. The listing does not say it is monthly.
• Course size. 326 hours across 106 courses is about 3.1 hours a course, and 692 lessons is about 6.5 lessons a course, averaging about 28 minutes a lesson.
• How much you would get through. At 3 hours of video a week, a year is 156 hours, or just under half of the 326 listed. On the $199.95 plan that is about $1.28 per hour watched. Listed video is not the same as study time, so if you pause to solve positions, you will cover less.

Membership or a single store course?

Decide this first, because the two appear to work differently.

Comparing the fee with store prices shows how fast a membership adds up. At $24.95 a month, two months ($49.90) is about the price of the London course ($49), and four months ($99.80) is about the price of Eljanov's Parts 1-2 ($99). We saw nothing saying that those store courses are in the Academy, so do not assume a membership replaces them.

The cancellation rule matters more than it first appears. On a 30-day trial starting 1 June, "at least 7 days before the end" means asking by about 23 June, so you have roughly 23 days to decide rather than 30. Send the request in writing and keep the reply.

What to check in the library before you join

A video library only helps if it gives you a path through the game. Coaches commonly advise improvers to spread study across tactics, endgames, game review and a small opening repertoire; that is received wisdom, not a measured result. We could not read the Academy's course list, so check these yourself during any trial:

1. Is there a route by level? Look for courses labelled by rating, and note which rating system they mean.
2. Are basic endgames covered? You want king-and-pawn and rook endings, not only attacking or opening material.
3. Does tactics work make you solve? The listings mention quizzes, so find out whether they test the idea or only replay the video.
4. Do the openings give you both colours? A gambit course or one-line repertoire leaves the rest of your games uncovered.
5. How old are the courses? Opening material dates faster than endgame material, so look at when the courses you want were published.
6. Which listed courses are included? Check the exact titles you came for before the trial ends.

Search-listing examples, with prices

These are individual store listings. Prices are in dollars as shown in search results on 8 November 2026; the pages (linked below) were not opened, and sale prices change.

One comparison deserves care. A course titled "My Caro-Kann" by GM Eljanov is also sold by Modern Chess, whose own pages show Part 1 and Part 2 at 49.00 EUR each, or 98.00 EUR for both (calculated, as of 8 November 2026). It appears to be the same course, but we have not confirmed that the listings are identical or how they are licensed. Compare the parts included and the currency (we do not convert), and see the Eljanov course page and our Modern Chess review.

What the seller's pages do not tell you

Because we could not read the site, this section lists what the search listings leave open.

• Which Academy price is current. $19.95 and $24.95 are both in the listings, and only the first has a billing period attached.
• Whether the store's courses are in the Academy. This is the most expensive thing to get wrong, and nothing we saw settles it.
• Whether a card is needed for the trial. The terms summary says billing starts after the trial unless you cancel in time, so assume you could be charged.
• How big the library is now. The 106-course figure dates from early 2024.
• Whether a reduced store price is a standing price. The Schekachikhin listing shows $17.99 "down from $59.95", a 70% reduction (calculated). We cannot tell how long either price has applied.
• How much video a store course contains. Of the four listings above, only the endgame bundle states a length ("45-hour").
• What the big bundles cost per hour. The Endgame Vault at $2,350 for 200+ hours is at most about $11.75 per listed hour (calculated, since "200+" is a lower bound). The price of the "Mega Bundle" was not seen.

Refunds, and what we could not get

No store-wide refund policy could be read. The Academy terms, as summarised in search results, say partial months are not refunded, which is a rule about cancelling and does not tell you whether a first payment can be returned. Treat a refund as unconfirmed until you see the policy on the checkout or terms page of what you are buying.

Opinions and independent evidence

We found no independent review of the Academy's teaching or of the four products above. Trustpilot pages for TheChessWorld appear in search results, and a search summary described the reviews as mostly positive, with one customer praising the material, one reporting a smooth download and a 2022 reviewer saying a download problem was eventually resolved. Trustpilot refused our tools, so we could not see how many reviews exist or who wrote them, and we give this little weight. A TheChessWorld article ranking beginner courses also appeared in search results, but an article on the store's own site would not be independent in any case.

Who this suits

It may suit you if you want a broad streaming library at what appears to be a modest monthly price, you can use a month-long trial properly, and you are comfortable with confirming the price and cancel date yourself. A single store title may suit you if you want one specific course, such as a Caro-Kann or London title, and have confirmed the coach, length and refund terms on the product page.

Who should skip this

• You want documented terms before signing up. Ours are search summaries, and they conflict on price.
• You want to own or download the videos. The Academy listings say streaming only.
• You need a refund policy up front. We have none to show you.
• You want a running time before paying for a store course. Three of the four listings above give none.
• You want to price-compare across sellers. At least one title may be sold elsewhere, and currencies differ.

Better-documented options for different needs:

• ChessMood publishes its plans on its pricing page, a catalogue with rating ranges and a refund page; see our ChessMood review and TCW Academy vs ChessMood.
• Chessable shows size and price on course pages; see our Chessable review.
• Modern Chess shows price, length and publication date on its course pages and sells a monthly Academy; see our Modern Chess review.

The free resource that covers similar ground

Lichess Studies are user-created collections of chess content organised into chapters, with no limits described on the page, and Lichess has no paid tier; see Lichess studies and practice. We have not compared any study with a TheChessWorld course, and quality varies by author.

For individual TheChessWorld titles, see the course pages on the Schekachikhin Caro-Kann, the London System course and the endgame bundle. Our Remote Chess Academy review covers courses by GM Igor Smirnov.