Learn chess: 57 free interactive lessons

A free path from how the pieces move to Lucena and Philidor, plus openings and classic games. Find the move, quizzes, mini-games and positions you play out against Stockfish.

Updated 29 October 2026 · 3 min read

Learn has 57 interactive lessons written for ChessMess, free and with no account needed.

The path

Four stages, in a suggested order. Nothing is locked, so you can start wherever you like.

• Learn to play (15 lessons): the board, how each piece moves, capturing, check and checkmate, castling, en passant, stalemate and other draws, piece values and how a game starts.
• Beginner (11): not hanging pieces, the basic mates (king and queen, king and rook, the two-rook ladder), back-rank mate, opening principles, forks, pins, skewers, mate-in-one patterns and trading when ahead.
• Intermediate (11): discovered attacks and double check, removing the defender, deflection and decoy, overloaded pieces, the rule of the square, opposition, key squares, passed pawns, outposts, open files and attacking the castled king.
• Advanced (8): zugzwang and triangulation, the Lucena and Philidor rook endings, bishop against knight, pawn structures, prophylaxis, calculation and converting a winning position.

The library

Every lesson is also filed by subject: rules, openings, tactics, strategy, endgames and classic games. The library adds eight openings (Italian Game, Ruy Lopez, Sicilian, French, Caro-Kann, Queen's Gambit, London System and King's Indian), each with the main ideas for both sides and a practice game against Echo, the adaptive bot, from the opening position. There are also four classic games to replay with questions along the way: the Immortal Game, the Evergreen Game, the Opera Game and Réti vs Tartakower.

How a lesson works

Lessons have 4 to 10 short steps:

• Explanations on the board, with arrows and short demonstrations.
• Find the move: play the move yourself. A wrong move is explained, and Show me draws the answer.
• Quizzes about the position, with an explanation for every choice.
• Mini-games for learning how the pieces move: collect the stars, or capture every piece, in as few moves as you can.
• Play it out against Stockfish: deliver the mate, promote the pawn, or hold the draw.

Each lesson ends with a recap and, where it fits, a link to puzzles on the same theme. You earn up to three stars; mistakes, hints and "Show me" cost stars. Leave a lesson halfway and it picks up at the same step next time.

Checked with Stockfish

Every position and move in every lesson is checked automatically, and Stockfish confirms that each answer is the best move or very close to it, and that each play-out really is a win or a draw as the lesson says.

Progress

As a guest, progress stays in this browser. With a free account it syncs to every device.

Questions and answers

Are ChessMess lessons free?

Yes, all 57 lessons are free, with no account needed and no daily limit.

Where should a complete beginner start?

With Learn to play: the board and squares, then each piece. The mini-games teach how the pieces move in a few minutes each.

Do the lessons cover endgames?

Yes: the basic mates, the rule of the square, opposition, key squares, passed pawns, zugzwang and triangulation, and the Lucena and Philidor rook endings, which you play out against Stockfish.