How much does chess coaching cost?
Chess lesson prices we re-read on October 21, 2026 start at $30 an hour, and the highest starting rate we found is $250 an hour. Small-group lessons come to about $27 an hour per student, and memberships and apps run $9.99 to $99 a month. Every price below shows its source and the day we read it.
What chess coaching costs, provider by provider
Every row below is a price a provider publishes on its own page, with the page it came from and the date we read it. A row appears only if we could read the figure on that page when we re-checked it. Providers are named; individual coaches are not.
Each price cell turns the price into the cost of an hour where the page gives enough to do so, and says why where it does not. A starting rate is the lowest rate a page advertises, not an average of what students pay.
| Source, read on | Provider and plan | Published price and cost of an hour |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-21 | Chess Max Academy: Private lessons, Grandmaster coaches | Starting rates of $140 to $250 an hour (3 coaches); median $180 |
| 2026-10-21 | Chess Max Academy: Private lessons, International Master coaches | Starting rates of $100 to $150 an hour (3 coaches); median $130 |
| 2026-10-21 | Chess Max Academy: Private lessons, National Master coaches | Starting rates of $90 to $150 an hour (4 coaches); median $95 |
| 2026-10-21 | Royal Chess Coaching Academy: Lessons, advertised starting rate | From $30 an hour |
| 2026-10-21 | Silver Knights Chess Academy: Small group, weekly 55-minute online lessons, ages 5 to 14, to 1400 USCF | $109 a month. Cost of an hour: about $27 per student. |
| 2026-10-21 | Silver Knights Chess Academy: Small group, weekly online lessons with a grandmaster coach, ages 8 to 18, 1400 to 2300 USCF | $189 a month. Cost of an hour: not stated on the page. |
| 2026-10-21 | ChessMood: Membership: full course library and training tools | $79 a month ($948 a year). Cost of an hour: no lesson hour to divide by. |
| 2026-10-21 | ChessMood: Membership: Essential plus weekly live events and one 1-on-1 call with a grandmaster | $99 a month ($1,188 a year). Cost of an hour: no lesson hour to divide by. |
| 2026-10-21 | Aimchess: App: unlimited exercises and full statistical analysis tools | $9.99 a month. Cost of an hour: no lesson hour to divide by. |
Private lessons by coach title
Each figure is one coach's published starting hourly rate on the academy's coach directory. Coaches are counted by title; none is named. The directory belongs to one academy, so these figures describe that academy’s coaches and are not a market average. The ranges of neighboring titles overlap, so a title alone does not set the price.
| Coach title | Coaches counted | Lowest | Median | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grandmaster | 3 | $140 an hour | $180 an hour | $250 an hour |
| International Master | 3 | $100 an hour | $130 an hour | $150 an hour |
| National Master | 4 | $90 an hour | $95 an hour | $150 an hour |
GeorgeLiChess prices, for comparison
These are the lesson prices on our pricing page, read from the same price list, so the two cannot differ. A lesson here is 60 minutes, which makes the price per lesson the cost of an hour: $125 to $150 depending on the pack.
Providers differ in titles, formats and student levels, and a price shows only one side of that. Compare what each includes before comparing the numbers.
| Offer | Lessons | Price | Per 60-minute lesson |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single lesson | 1 | $150 | $150 |
| Foundation 5 | 5 | $700 | $140 |
| Climb 10 | 10 | $1,350 | $135 |
| Intensive 25 | 25 | $3,250 | $130 |
| Season 40 | 40 | $5,000 | $125 |
How to read these numbers
Monthly prices are turned into an hourly figure only when the page states the lesson length and a weekly schedule. We count 52 weekly lessons across 12 months, which is about 4.33 lessons a month, and scale the lesson to 60 minutes. A membership with a course library, live events or an app has no lesson hour to divide by, so no hourly figure is shown.
Prices are in US dollars as the pages print them. Providers change prices and add and drop plans, so treat each row as the price on the day it was read.
How this page is made
We start from a list of providers that publish prices. Before each update we request every source page again with an identified research request, log in nowhere and submit no form. A figure is kept only if its exact text is still on the page, and the coach rates counted by title must match the directory as it reads that day. A page that does not load is left out until it does, and we never try another route to read it.
The retrieval date on every row is the day that check passed. The page was last updated on October 21, 2026 and is re-checked every quarter, next in January 2027.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a chess coach cost per hour?
In the rates above, lessons start at $30 an hour at one academy, and the International Master and Grandmaster starting rates at another run $100 to $250 an hour. Those are starting rates, read on October 21, 2026. Providers set prices by coach, format and student, so ask for the rate that applies to you.
Is group chess coaching cheaper than private lessons?
In the rows above, yes per student: the small-group plan that states its lesson length comes to about $27 an hour per student, against starting rates of $30 an hour and up. A group shares the coach’s time, so each student gets less individual attention.
Are chess memberships and apps cheaper than a coach?
Their monthly prices are lower: $9.99 to $99 a month in the rows above. They also provide different things, such as a course library, scheduled live events or automated game analysis, rather than lessons built around your games.
How much do lessons with GeorgeLiChess cost?
A 60-minute lesson is $125 to $150 depending on the pack, and a single lesson, which is also the first lesson, is $150. The table above lists every offer, and the pricing page has the full terms.
How often are these prices checked?
Every source was re-read on October 21, 2026, and we re-check them every quarter. Each row shows the date its source was read.
Sources
- Chess Max Academy: chessmaxacademy.com/learn-chess/private-tutoring, read 2026-10-21
- Royal Chess Coaching Academy: chesslessonsnewyork.com, read 2026-10-21
- Silver Knights Chess Academy: chessacademy.com/pages/online-chess-academy, read 2026-10-21
- ChessMood: chessmood.com/pricing, read 2026-10-21
- Aimchess: apps.apple.com/us/app/aimchess-learn-chess-online/id1524941307, read 2026-10-21
Related guides and tools
To correct a price listed here, write to hello@georgelichess.com.
Last updated 2026-10-21.
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