Paid membership

After being at chess.com for a while, I am considering becoming a paid membership. But, I'd like to hear from some people before I do so. My basic question is this: Have your chess improve because of the extra features you hace access to, after you have paid  for your membership upgrade?

Thanks for your help.

-AlexV

It depend how much effort you put in.

I agree that improvement is a direct result of the effort one puts in. However, here I am more interested in the advantage of having access to more tools, if there is any advantage at all.

Of course there is an advantage to having more tools. But as kco wrote, it depends on how much effort you put in; specifically, how much effort you put in to using the tools available.

I initially got a platinum membership for unlimited tactics, then upgraded at renewal time to get diamond for the videos. The thing is, none of these tools will do any good if they are not used. I haven't watched as many videos as I should have and I have let my tactics training slide. The tools are here and can be used to improve; you just have to use them.

So, if I am getting this right, the tools are good and worth paying for... as long as I keep using them to the max. I appreciate your comments, since you have the experience of using the extra features. I was concern about paying for low quality content / tools that, regardless of my personal time investment, would benefit me little in my desire to improve.

I think it's all about access to ChessMentor.  Sure I watch almost every new video as it comes out, but ChessMentor progress is like an ongoing "report card" with charts and graphs and hours and percentile ratings.   All the hard stuff about an infrastructure devoted to chess-taken care of-low overhead for you-just go learn something.  Do it as a survey course.  Do it as an ongoing contest with yourself.  Do it because that brilliant idea about the chess flashcards?   Where did that go?   How about over 10,000 flashcards written by experts?   Want to learn an opening cold?  Take a lesson over and over until you  "pattern recognize the position" and immediately know what to do and why.  Seriously effective training if you simply show up every day and try to learn something.

Baddogno:

Unfortunately, $100 for ChessMentor is a little too much, for me. Would you say that the other two levels of paid membership are not as useful?

I really only take advantage of the videos. I need to start doing ChessMentor, but I can't get myself to keep going with it.

Also, being automatically put on vacation time when you run out of time in an Online Chess game is great.

Oh, and full access to the Tactics Trainer is nice (although I feel I'm awful with tactics, and the Tactics Trainer just gets me more frustrated sometimes).

I am wondering, now, if it would be better to come with a training plan using the free tools. Since we all agree that the foundation is hard work, may be it is better to get into the rhythm of study before investing more money in a paid membership.

  As kco said, whatever you put into your improvement and effort is what you will get out of it.

   For someone who wants to improve, you have tools like Tactics Trainer, which at Platinum and Diamond is unlimited.

   Chess Mentor you don't get until you are at that highest level, but believe me it is worth it.

   Then you throw in the Video Lessons, the Computer game analysis, the ability to watch the weekly Chess.com/TV shows and tournament broadcasts, and to unlimited tournaments plus to use the Openings/Game Explorer?  A total package for one nice low yearly price. If you want to improve your game bad enough, this is the place to do it. 

   And yes, you should try to develop a chess regimen using these tools here. Once you get that in line and figure out what you want to do first, you'll see improvements soon enough. 

   -Mark

If I am not mistaken videos are only for diamond members, for platinum you get the tv shows and for gold you get 25 tactics per day. I'd say that you either buy diamond (and have plenty of time to watch videos and work through chess mentor) or you go somewhere else.

bondocel:

I have been in other places, to play chess on line, but chess.com is the best I've found.  One of the things I like the most is the members participation on the forums. And, of course, that is free :{]

If you know of other places, please let me know. I think it si time for me to get serious about my chess.

Start with the Gold Star level and work your way up.

I paid for a membership when I joined this site. My game has improved a lot!

Looking at your rating I think that chess.com is the best place for you to play.

I use often a tactics trainer on another site; quite good. I can't say which one is better: the TT you find at chess.com or that one. In my opinion they complement each other. Other free resources I don't know. I have tons of videos but no time to watch them. As for free videos, google "chess videos" and take the top hit. I don't know how good they are though.

Bondocel,

thank you for taking the time to give me some advice. I will play in a tournament, next Tuesday, and I think I will use the result there as a starting point. By them, I hope I have finished preparing my training program, which will be base on chess.com resources.

Again, thanks for your feedback.

I really enjoy the added perks from chess.com paid membership. Tactics Trainer and Chess Mentor are excellent tools to use. I like chess mentor a lot because you can focus on a specific area of your game and it gives you feedback for the common possible moves. Tactics Trainer is great too.  It has a lot of variety in it. 

When i first considered becoming a paid member I thought the video lessons would be best, but I don't use them that often. Mostly for opening preparation or specific concepts. 

Overall, I don't think becoming a paid member is necessary in becoming a better player, but it certainly helps. If you don't own a fairly solid library of books, doing this is a solid alternative. 

The videos were the main selling point for me. Chess videos indivually run about $20 if you were to buy just one.

Thanks, your comments help me to put thinks in perspective. I do have some books on chess, but it is not what I'd call a library, yet. And you are right, the cost of a instructional video is at least $20.

I still have a hard time investing $100 at once, for chess instruction. But, as it has been sugested, I could start with the $30 level, and go from there.

If I do that, does any one know if, to move to the next level, I only need to pay the difference?

I don't know the answer to your specific question but I would like to add that I do the diamond membership and pay on a monthly basis. It may be more expensive that way overall, but its a lot easier for me to get $15 a month rather than $100 all at once.