# Chessly: GothamChess's course site finally gets an app. What you can take away isn't the app itself but the land next to it

> Source: https://stringers.io/en/apps/play_com.chessly.app.mobile.html (Stringers / 什么值得做, generated 2026-11-08)
> Stringers answers one question every day: what small product can one or two people build in a few months and actually make money from. Numbers come from 15 databases we collect daily, each with source and date.
> For agents: these verdicts and the underlying databases (verified revenue, App Store / Google Play charts, ad libraries, GitHub, Product Hunt…) are queryable live over MCP — tools today / hot / products / directions / direction / data. Setup: https://github.com/komako-workshop/stringers (the user logs in at stringers.io → "配置 agent" to get a personal URL). Site index: https://stringers.io/llms.txt

> Every video on a channel with 7M subscribers links to it. The web version already had 1.4M people try it, and long-time fans had waited over a year for the app, so they moved over as soon as it launched.

[Mobile App](https://stringers.io/en/apps/index.md) · Android · written 11-6

Chessly · Chessly

# Chessly: GothamChess's course site finally gets an app. What you can take away isn't the app itself but the land next to it

**What it is:** The course subscription app from GothamChess, the big chess creator. Watch his opening lessons and practice drills for $9.99 a month, with access to every course.

**Why it took off:** Every video on his 7M-subscriber channel links to it. The web version already has 1.4M people trying it, and longtime fans waited over a year for an app. It moved over the day it launched.

**C** **How to approach it** Don't copy the celebrity course site. Either build a better, cheaper training tool like Chessreps did and run "X vs Chessly" comparison pages to catch search traffic, or go to another language and find a chess streamer who doesn't have their own product yet, then do an all-in subscription with them.

Grade C: It was built on Levy himself, a bestselling book, and a four-year member base that followers can't copy. The App has no new acquisition play. The replicable traffic-capture angle is already being run by Chessreps. Publicly known / widely discussed

Data (updated daily) · first launch 2026-09-25 · 11-07 installs 7,750

Android · Total installs worldwide

Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 6 observations). Google's detail page only refreshes install counts every other day, so a flat day doesn't mean nobody installed.

Android · Ratings count (cumulative)

Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 6 observations)

Levy Rozman's chess course site Chessly ran as a website for four years, then in late October it hit the App Store and Google Play. Most of the first downloads came from old fans who had been waiting over a year. The app itself has no new tactics to copy. The only things worth copying are its business model and how others are capturing its traffic.

### A Sunday after a year of waiting

Sunday, 2026 October 26. On the US App Store, Chessly reviews piled up at seven or eight in one day, titled "FINALLY", "Been waiting for this one", "Congrats Levy!". One wrote: "I bought the Chessly subscription when it first launched... the app is so much more convenient than the website." Another said they came from the latest YouTube video's recommendation, downloaded it, and the seven-day free trial showed as expired right after signing up. They never got through a single lesson.

Around the same time, Levy himself posted in r/GothamChess: "at long last we finally have our first public Chessly app", and reminded people to "scroll down" when searching the store. He said the first version was missing some things, like the Levi sparring bot and skill courses, which are "coming soon". The post got 467 upvotes and 77 comments. One year and nine months earlier, someone in the same subreddit had posted "Petition for Chessly to release an app in 2025"; by early October, people were still asking "Chessly app when?".

### What it is

Levy Rozman is an International Master, and his YouTube channel GothamChess has over 700 million subscribers, the largest chess channel on YouTube. Chessly is his course site: over 70 courses on openings and tactics, each a video he presents plus interactive board exercises, with XP, achievements and leaderboards.

It costs $9.99/month or $89.99/year, one membership unlocks all courses, with a 7-day trial (chessly.com/join). On iOS, non-subscribers can still take one lesson a day for free (App Store reviews). The website went live in 2021 September 2024, and in December of that year it switched to the all-in subscription it has now. The Android store listing shows a launch date of 9-25 and iOS 10-16, but public promotion and reviews clustered in late October.

### How big the numbers are

|  | Metric | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Google Play installs | 1,932(10-29)→ 4,521(11-01)→ 7,750(11-06) | Google Play installs |
| Play rating | 95 ratings, 4.89 stars | Google Play,11-06 |
| US iOS store rating | 29 ratings, 4.55 stars, version 1.1.4 | App Store,11-06 |
| Charts | Only ever charted at #199 in the Netherlands' Education Top Free, never on Top Grossing | Google Play charts |
| Website "tried it" users | 1,397,529 | chessly.com homepage, 11-06 |

Installs rose 7 in the last 5,818 days. Looks huge, but the base is small. Play installs jump in bands: 10-29 to 10-31 sat at 1,932,11-01, then jumped to 4,521. Set against a base of 7M subscriptions and 1.4M trials, 7,750 installs is actually modest.

### Where users come from

- **YouTube** : Every GothamChess video from 10-14 to 11-05 has the line "Want to SKYROCKET your chess elo? Try Chessly: chessly.com" as the first line of its description, with single videos pulling 140k to 4M views (YouTube descriptions). But the link points to the website, not the store page.

- **Old members moving over** : This is the main source of app installs. Most reviews say "been waiting so long"; a chess club on Instagram wrote "Levy's website is now available directly on your phone".

- **Reddit** : Levy himself posted a reminder to "scroll down". The reason: searching "Chessly" on Play ranks someone else's "Chessly: Play Chess Online" (com.elhabouli.chess) first, so the official app sits lower.

- **Book** : His book "How to Win at Chess" hit the New York Times bestseller list, and the book carries a QR code leading to Chessly (builtbyfoundry article).

- **Paid acquisition** : None found. Searching "chessly app" on TikTok turns up no ads and no creator content. Not finding it doesn't mean it isn't running.

### Where the money comes from and why it works

The money is subscriptions. Member count and revenue are not public, but Levy has said product revenue has already passed his YouTube ad revenue (paraphrased by builtbyfoundry).

It works because of three things:

1. **Near-free acquisition** . Every video carries the link, and views routinely run into the millions.

2. **Fans are buying "learn from Levy"** . Every course is built on lines Levy chose himself and taught the way he does in his videos (chessreps comparison page).

3. **All-in beats buying course by course** . On Chessable, a single named-teacher course often costs over $150; here $10 a month gets you everything, and a Reddit user ran the numbers this way (r/chessbeginners, 2026-03).

The features aren't ahead of the field. On iOS, one reviewer gave 3 stars, saying there's no analysis mode, you can't pre-move, and the animations are slow. Another long-time user gave 1 stars, saying courses they bought separately aren't handled in the new system. So the app is solving retention and open frequency, not new user acquisition.

### Who it's competing with

| Competitors | Scale | How Chessly differs from the rest |
|---|---|---|
| Chess.com | 150M installs on Play, +7M in the last 1.13 days | Playing platform, with courses as an add-on |
| Chessable (owned by Chess.com) | Play 980k installs, Pro $74.99/year, courses bought separately | Marketplace of many teachers' courses, pay per course |
| Chessreps | Play 46k installs, 2,452 ratings on the US iOS store, $34.99/year | Spaced repetition while you download, no celebrity, cheaper |
| Dr. Wolf(Chess.com) | Play 10.4M installs | AI coach for beginners |
| Lichess | Play 5.2M installs | Free, has practice, but no structured course |
| Duolingo Chess | Built into Duolingo | A big-company free feature, aimed at total beginners |

Chessreps is the one to watch. In early November it published a dedicated page, "Chessreps vs Chessly in 2026", noting the day Chessly's iPhone version launched, then pointing out that Chessly has no published review schedule and can't import your own opening repertoire, and finally showing its own price of $34.99 a year. Whenever a celebrity product makes the news, it puts up a page to catch the search traffic.

### If it were you

**C: you can learn something, but following it step by step isn't worth it.** Chessly was built on Levy himself: 7M in subscriptions, a bestseller, and four years of paying members. Followers can't get any of that. The app has no new acquisition play either.

**Who it suits** : Creators who already have a niche audience, such as a chess, go, poker or guitar channel in some language, can copy the playbook of free videos as a teaser and an all-in subscription for the course. Another fit is a small team that can write SEO pages and build a training tool better than the celebrity product, learning from how Chessreps captures traffic.

**Who it doesn't suit** : Anyone with no audience who wants to build "another Chessly". A celebrity course site's moat is the celebrity. Without that layer you're left with a feature set that still loses to Chessable's video course app.

**How to do it** : The two most realistic routes are these.

- **Traffic capture** : Build a dedicated training tool, such as opening review, spaced repetition, or importing a named teacher's lines for you to practice. Write comparison pages like "X vs Chessly" or "Chessly alternative", pricing at roughly a third of its cost.

- **Switch languages** : In Spanish, Portuguese, German or Hindi, find a chess streamer with hundreds of thousands of subscribers who doesn't yet have their own course site, then build the product with them and share revenue.

**How to acquire users** : Traffic capture runs on search and Reddit. People in r/GothamChess and r/chessbeginners keep asking "is Chessly worth it" and "any alternatives". Answer those questions there, without spamming ads. With creators, have them put your link as the first line of every video description, the way Chessly has already proven.

**When to move** : Chessly's app just launched, and search interest and "is it worth it" debate are concentrated in these first one or two months. Once the Levi bot and tactics lessons are filled in, the complaints about missing features will fade and the traffic-capture pitch will stop working.

**Signs you've read it wrong** : (1) Chessly adds an analysis mode, review scheduling, and lets you import opening repertoires; then the traffic-capture gap closes. (2) After the Chessreps page goes up, Chessly's Play installs show no clear acceleration over one or two months, meaning catching celebrity traffic brings in few users. (3) Conversely, if Chessly's Play installs had already passed 2027k and hit the education bestseller chart before 50, that means the app itself can drive acquisition, and the view needs revisiting.

[Android store page ↗](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chessly.app.mobile)

**Research notes: competitor table, acquisition evidence, full research report**

Competitors

| Name | Where | Launched | Scale | How it differs from this one |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chess.com | iOS | 2009/2010 | Play 150M installs, +7M in the last 1.13 days (library) | Playing platform, courses as an add-on; Chessly is learning only |
| Chessable (owned by Chess.com) | Android | 2016 website / 2021 Play | Play 980k installs (library); Pro $74.99/year, courses bought separately | Multi-author course marketplace, pay per course; Chessly is one teacher, one membership unlocks everything |
| Chessreps | iOS | iOS 2025-05, Play 2026-03 | Play 46k installs, best rank #126 on the US education bestseller chart; 2,452 ratings on the US iOS store (library) | Spaced repetition with FSRS while you download; $34.99/year is cheaper; no celebrity IP |
| Duolingo chess course | Big-company features | 2025 | Built into Duolingo (the App Store library name has changed to Language & Chess) | Free, zero-base, gamified; Chessly targets fans who want to raise their rating |
| Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf(Chess.com) | Android | 2020 | Play 10.4M installs (library) | AI coach teaching beginners; Chessly is a celebrity video course |
| Lichess | Open source | New app version 2024-05 | Play 5.2M installs (library) | Free study and practice, but no structured explanatory course |
| Chess Openings Promaster / Chess Prep Pro | Android | 2021–2022 | Play 280k–570k installs (library) | Opening tool, no teacher IP |

Where users come from

- **Verified** **YouTube owned channel** : from 2026-10-14 to 11-05, the first line of every GothamChess video description links "Try Chessly: chessly.com"; single videos get 140k to 4M views (YouTube Data API), and the link goes to the website, not the store

- **Verified** **Existing user migration** : since 2025, people on Reddit petitioned for an app; after launch, an Instagram post said "Levy's website is now available directly on your phone"; 1.4M people have tried the website

- **Verified** **Reddit community** : Levy posted in r/GothamChess announcing "first public Chessly app… search and scroll down"

- **Verified** **Book** : the page of *How to Win at Chess* prints a QR code leading to Chessly (builtbyfoundry)

- **Verified** **Store search** : searching "Chessly" first surfaces a same-name app; the official app is further down

- Inferred **Paid acquisition / TikTok** : TikHub search finds no related ads or creator content; the ad library doesn't track it

## Chessly (Google Play: com.chessly.app.mobile) research report

Research date 2026-11-06. Data comes from our googleplay / appstore libraries ("the libraries" below) and the web pages listed.

### Bottom line

This is not a new product that took off. It is **a web subscription product that had been running for four years (chessly.com, the international chess course site from GothamChess / Levy Rozman) that finally shipped a native app** . On Play it has 6 weekly 7,750 installs and +5,818 over the last 7 days, mostly existing users moving over from the web plus YouTube fans. The differentiation (Levy's own brand and teaching style) is real, and that is why Chessly can work. But the app itself has no new growth tactic: the YouTube description still links to the web version. Given a 7M subscriber base that claims 1,397,529 people have tried it, 7,750 installs is actually low.

### 1. What it is

- The course platform of international master Levy Rozman (YouTube channel GothamChess, 7M+ subscribers, the largest chess channel on YouTube): 70 opening and tactics courses. Each course is video plus interactive board practice, with XP, achievements, leaderboards, and a sparring bot called Levi.

- Pricing: on the web and as iOS in-app purchase, $9.99/month or $89.99/year, with a 7-day free trial (chessly.com/join; checked against the chessreps comparison page 2026-11-03). Play in-app purchase range $9.99–$89.99 (library).

- Timeline:
    - Web version founded in 2021 (Levy's LinkedIn lists Founder Chessly Sep 2021–present).
    - In 2024 December, Chessly 2.0 launched, switching to one membership that unlocks all courses (discussed on chess.com forums and r/GothamChess 2024-12).
    - In 2025 January, someone on Reddit posted a petition for an app (r/GothamChess "Petition for Chessly to release an app in 2025"). In 2025 November, the official reply said "building a beta app."
    - Play launch 2026-09-25 (library). iOS (id6755246258) US store launch 2026-10-16 (iTunes lookup; the chessreps comparison page also lists the iPhone version as launched 2026-10-16).
    - Levy himself posted in r/GothamChess: "at long last we finally have our first public Chessly app. Search for it on App or Play Store and scroll down…" (Brave search snippet; Reddit blocked the original post, so the full text couldn't be read).

### 2. Data

| Date | Play installs | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-29 | 1,932 | 70 |
| 2026-10-31 | 1,932 | 76 |
| 2026-11-01 | 4,521 | 79 |
| 2026-11-06 | 7,750 | 95 (4.89 points) |

(Source: googleplay library app_day)

- Charts: only appeared at #199 on the Netherlands education Top Free chart; never entered any Top Grossing chart. Charted in only 1 countries (library).

- iOS US rating count is only 29 (4.55 stars, iTunes lookup 2026-11-06). The appstore library doesn't index this app.

- Web scale: the chessly.com homepage reads "1,397,529 people like you have tried Chessly!" (2026-11-06 scrape. Around 11-05, the Jina search snippet still showed 1,395,933; it rose about 1,600 in a day or two).

- Takeaway: the app's absolute numbers are small. The high relative growth comes from a small base and a fresh launch, and Play install counts update in steps (10-29 to 10-31 stalled at 1,932,11-01, then jumped to 4,521).

### 3. Competitors

| Competitors | Platform | Launched | Scale (source) | How Chessly differs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chess.com (including Lessons) | iOS/Android/web | 2010 | Play 150M installs, +7M in the last 1.13 days (library) | Mainly a play platform with courses on the side; Chessly is learning only, no play |
| Chessable (owned by Chess.com) | iOS/Android/web | 2016 website / 2021 Play | Play 980k installs (library); Pro $74.99/year, courses bought separately | Course marketplace with many authors, pay per course; Chessly has one teacher and one membership that unlocks everything |
| Chessreps | iOS/Android/web | iOS 2025-05, Play 2026-03 | Play 46k installs, best US Education Top Grossing rank #126; iOS US 2,452 rating (library); official site claims 1.5M users | Focused on "learn while playing" plus FSRS spaced repetition, $34.99/year. Chessreps has already published a "Chessreps vs Chessly" SEO comparison page to intercept searches |
| Duolingo's chess course | iOS/Android | 2025 | Embedded in Duolingo (the appstore library now lists the name as "Duolingo: Language & Chess") | Free feature from a big company, aimed at complete beginners; Chessly targets fans who want to improve their rating |
| Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf(Chess.com) | iOS/Android | 2018/2020 | Play 10.4M installs, best US FAMILY Top Grossing rank #46 (library) | AI coach helping beginners get started; Chessly relies on video courses from a famous name |
| ChessKid(Chess.com) | iOS/Android | 2013 | Play 2.52M (library) | Kids-focused |
| Chess Openings Promaster / Chess Prep Pro / Chesstempo | Android | 2019–2022 | 280k–600k (library) | Tool-based openings and tactics training, no teacher IP |
| Lichess (free and open source) | iOS/Android/web | 2024-05 (new app version) | Play 5.2M (library) | Free study and practice; Chessly sells explanation and a course system |

### 4. Where users come from

- **YouTube owned traffic (confirmed)** : from 2026-10-14 to 11-05, the first line of every GothamChess video description reads "Want to SKYROCKET your chess elo? Try Chessly: [www.chessly.com](https://www.chessly.com)"; single videos get 140k to 4M views (YouTube Data API). Note the link goes to the website, not the store page, so app installs most likely come from "web users / fans searching the store themselves."

- **Existing user migration (confirmed, and the main source of app installs)** : since 2025, people on Reddit repeatedly asked for an app. After launch, the Long Beach chess club posted on Instagram: "FINALLY IT'S HERE… Levy's website is now available directly on your phone" (instagram.com/p/DenUbkZDwyB). Existing members and the 1.4M people who tried the website are a ready-made download pool.

- **Reddit community (confirmed)** : Levy posted in r/GothamChess announcing it and reminding people to "search, then scroll down." That suggests the same-name app crowds it lower in store search.

- **Book (confirmed, but at the brand level)** : *How to Win at Chess* (it made the New York Times bestseller list and claims over 100k copies sold) prints a QR code on its pages leading readers to Chessly (builtbyfoundry.io 2026-05/07 article).

- **Store search / ASO (weak)** : searching "Chessly" first surfaces "Chessly: Play Chess Online" (com.elhabouli.chess, appeared in results about 3 weeks ago), and the official app sits further down.

- **Paid acquisition, TikTok (no evidence found)** : TikHub search for "chessly app" finds no related ads or creator content. The ad library only tracks products on its list, so not finding it doesn't mean there was no spend.

### 5. Why it works (this business)

1. **Creator distribution and trust** : 7M subscribers, single videos with millions of views, and a Chessly link in every description means near-zero acquisition cost. In 2024 it made Forbes 30 Under 30 (Wikipedia).

2. **The teaching style is Levy's own** : the course choices and explanations are familiar to fans from his videos (chessreps comparison page: "Chosen by IM Levy Rozman for all 67 courses"). Fans are buying "learning from Levy."

3. **One membership unlocks all courses, priced below Chessable's pay-per-course model** : a Reddit user worked it out, saying Chessable courses often run $150+, while Chessly at $10/month is enough (r/chessbeginners 2026-03).

4. **The app just fills a gap** : mobile access used to be web-only, a long-running complaint. The app improves retention and usage frequency, not acquisition.

### 6. Differentiation, and whether it's really why it grew

Differentiation = Levy as a person (brand, teaching style, audience trust) + all-inclusive subscription. That's the root reason the Chessly web business works, but others can't copy it, since it depends on that resource. At the product level (video + practice + XP + bot), it's about the same as Chessable and Chessreps, or even weaker: chessreps points out that Chessly has no public spaced-review scheduling and no way to build or import your own opening repertoire. The app's growth is simply this existing business moving to mobile, with no new playbook.

### 7. How many people know about it / is anyone copying it

- The brand is widely discussed: Forbes, Wikipedia, builtbyfoundry and others have all written about the "YouTube → book → app" path. Revenue isn't public (builtbyfoundry: "Public revenue figures… are not disclosed"); the only known claim is that Levy said product revenue has already passed his YouTube ad revenue.

- At the app level, few people are paying attention yet: 7,750 installs on Play, 29 ratings in the US iOS store.

- Copycats and interception:
    - Chessreps launched a "Chessreps vs Chessly" comparison page (2026-11-02) to intercept SEO traffic.
    - A same-name "Chessly: Play Chess Online" (com.elhabouli.chess) exists on Play, riding on the search term.
    - A batch of small chess apps on TikTok (Zapp Chess, Plain Chess, ZugZwang, ChessFlex, etc.) are doing content promotion, but none is directly copying Chessly.

### 8. What to borrow

- "YouTube is the trailer, the book is the bridge, the subscription is the business": funnel free-content viewers into one all-inclusive subscription.

- Prove the business on the web first, then build a native app to capture existing users. On launch day, explain in the community how to find it in search, and claim the brand name and do ASO early in the store so same-name apps can't intercept you.

- For small teams, the reverse opportunity is **siphoning traffic from celebrity products** : Chessreps goes after them with "X vs celebrity product" comparison pages, a lower price ($34.99 vs $89.99), and a better training mechanic. This is a copyable play.

### 9. Uncertain

- Paid subscriber counts, revenue, and the share of in-app purchases were never disclosed.

- Whether 2026-09-25 on Play first opened testing and only went public later (the listing date may have been reset) is unverified.

- Which Levy promotion (a Reddit post, a video shoutout) drove the install spike on 11-01 can't be determined; the original post is unreadable. Unverified.

- Whether there was paid acquisition: no evidence found, and it can't be ruled out.

### Sources

- googleplay / appstore library (2026-11-06 query)

- [chessly.com/](https://chessly.com/), [chessly.com/join](https://chessly.com/join)

- [apps.apple.com/us/app/chessly/id6755246258](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chessly/id6755246258)(iTunes lookup)

- [www.chessreps.com/compare/chessreps-vs-chessly](https://www.chessreps.com/compare/chessreps-vs-chessly)(2026-11-02/04)

- [www.builtbyfoundry.io/blog/gothamchess-levy-rozman-chessly-e…](https://www.builtbyfoundry.io/blog/gothamchess-levy-rozman-chessly-empire)

- [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levy_Rozman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levy_Rozman)

- [www.reddit.com/r/GothamChess/comments/1xdle1b/the_chessly_ap…](https://www.reddit.com/r/GothamChess/comments/1xdle1b/the_chessly_app_is_out/), /1x8lfno/looks_like_chessly_app_is_up/, /1i1qcv7/petition_for_chessly_to_release_an_app_in_2025/, /1p0xf4q/ (all search snippets)

- [www.reddit.com/r/chessbeginners/comments/1rt9w4b/](https://www.reddit.com/r/chessbeginners/comments/1rt9w4b/)

- [www.instagram.com/p/DenUbkZDwyB/](https://www.instagram.com/p/DenUbkZDwyB/)

- YouTube Data API: GothamChess channel video descriptions, 2026-10-13 through 11-05

- [play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.elhabouli.chess](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.elhabouli.chess) (same-named app)

This article was written by AI from public data and the data we collect daily. Numbers are sourced, and inferences are labeled.