What are chess communities?

Communities for chess players at every level, from beginners learning the basics to experienced players competing online. Discord has major hubs for live discussion, lessons, and tournaments, with Reddit communities for openings, game analysis, and chess news.

Where do most chess communities live?

Discord is the most common platform in this report (23% of 26 listings).

Are most of these communities free?

73% are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.

How big is a typical chess community?

Among listings with public size data, the average is 231K members and the median is 16K. The median is usually the better signal for a typical group because a few large ones inflate the average.

What do these communities usually include?

Forum is the most common (62%). Others that show up often include live chat, courses, and online/offline events.

How does Hive Index collect this data?

Listings are submitted by community builders and researchers, reviewed for relevance, and updated with platform, feature, member, review, and traffic data where available.

Where can I see the full list?

The full directory is on Hive Index's Chess topic page, where you can filter by platform, size, features, and more.

Chess Communities Report: Stats, Platforms, Trends &...

Executive Summary

We analyzed 26 chess communities listed on Hive Index to understand where people gather, what these groups offer, and which communities attract the most interest.

The big picture: chess communities are broad and fragmented, with many small groups and a few very large outliers.

Source: Hive Index community database · Updated 2026-06-21

Browse all Chess communities Know a community we're missing? Add it

Communities: 26
Platforms: 7
Avg members: 231K
Median members: 16K

Where Chess Communities Are Hosted

Discord
6(23%)
Skool
6(23%)
Facebook
4(15%)
X / Twitter
3(12%)
Reddit
3(12%)
Independent Platforms
2(8%)
LinkedIn
2(8%)

Format mix

Forum / feed-based
9(35%)
Chat communities
6(23%)
Private membership
6(23%)
Other platforms
5(19%)

Forum / feed-based is most common (35%), but chat communities is also well represented (23%).

Discord leads, but Skool and Facebook also represent meaningful shares.

Audience Size & Access

Community size

Tiny
<20 members
0(0%)
Small
20-100 members
0(0%)
Medium
100-1,000 members
5(19%)
Large
1,000-10,000 members
6(23%)
Huge
10,000-100,000 members
7(27%)
Massive
100,000-1M members
6(23%)
Gigantic
1M+ members
2(8%)

Free vs paid

The average is much higher than the median (231K vs 16K), which usually means a few large groups are pulling the average up.

How Chess Differs From Other Categories

Chess is less free-to-join, smaller, and more paid or gated, compared with typical Hive Index topics.

Metric	Chess	Hive Index average
Free to join	73%	85%
Median members	16K	25K
Average members	231K	669K
Paid or apply-to-join	27%	15%
Live chat	42%	38%
Discord share	23%	16%

Feature Mix

Common features appear in at least 15% of listings.

Common Features

Forum
62%
Live Chat
42%
Courses
35%
Online/Offline Events
27%
Paid Community
27%

Niche Features

Pairing
8%
Newsletter
4%
Requires Application
4%

Forum appears on 62% of listings.

What Visitors Click

Outbound clicks / mo: 57

Platform supply vs. clicks

Platform	Communities	Share of communities	Outbound clicks	Share of clicks
Discord	6	23%	48	86%
Skool	6	23%	2	4%
X / Twitter	3	12%	3	5%
Reddit	3	12%	2	4%
Independent Platforms	2	8%	1	2%

Share is calculated within this topic.

Discord hosts 23% of listings and 86% of clicks, so supply and interest line up.

Most-clicked formats

Chat communities
48(86%)
Forum / feed-based
3(5%)
Other platforms
3(5%)
Private membership
2(4%)

Most-clicked features

Online/Offline Events
49(88%)
Live Chat
48(86%)
Courses
20(36%)
Paid Community
18(32%)
Forum
11(20%)
Pairing
10(18%)

Most-clicked size ranges

Huge
35(63%)
Massive
11(20%)
Medium
8(14%)
Large
1(2%)
Gigantic
1(2%)

Top-clicked listings

The Tavern
22(39%)
Chess.com
9(16%)
Vidit's Chess Club
7(13%)

Most clicks go to chat communities and forum / feed-based communities.

Trends

Founded year

Not enough founding-year data to chart yet.

Methodology & FAQ

Methodology

This report uses communities in the Hive Index database tagged as Chess. We exclude removed or suppressed listings. Member counts, traffic, features, reviews, and ratings may vary by source and are updated periodically.

•This is a smaller slice of Hive Index's database, so read trends as directional.
•Last updated 2026-06-21

FAQ

: Communities for chess players at every level, from beginners learning the basics to experienced players competing online. Discord has major hubs for live discussion, lessons, and tournaments, with Reddit communities for openings, game analysis, and chess news.
: Discord is the most common platform in this report (23% of 26 listings).
: 73% are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.
: Among listings with public size data, the average is 231K members and the median is 16K. The median is usually the better signal for a typical group because a few large ones inflate the average.
: Forum is the most common (62%). Others that show up often include live chat, courses, and online/offline events.
: Listings are submitted by community builders and researchers, reviewed for relevance, and updated with platform, feature, member, review, and traffic data where available.
: The full directory is on Hive Index's Chess topic page, where you can filter by platform, size, features, and more.