Teach chess online in English

Chess looks like a game of deep calculation, yet most games below master level are decided by something far simpler: a piece left undefended, a fork nobody saw coming, a plan that never existed. Players improve when they learn to recognise patterns. A good chess tutor shows a student which ones matter, drills them until they become automatic, then finds the moments in the student's own games where those patterns were missed.

It is also a game people often teach themselves badly. Someone memorises twelve moves of an opening from a video, reaches a position they do not understand and loses in the middlegame. Someone else plays hundreds of blitz games a month and sits at the same rating for a year. Playing more rarely fixes either problem. What does help is a person who looks at those games and says, specifically, what keeps going wrong.

Why we are looking for chess tutors who teach in English

Clasora shows students the tutors who teach in the language they use the site in. A student reading Clasora in English sees tutors who teach in English, so if English is the language you teach in, you are the tutor those students find.

The moves are the same in every language, but the teaching happens in words. A student has to follow why a knight belongs on d5, what makes a bishop “bad”, or why a rook ending with an extra pawn is so often still a draw. English has its own chess vocabulary: forks, pins and skewers, zugzwang, the opposition, and notation with K, Q, R, B and N. It is the vocabulary of the books a keen player reads next, so a tutor who uses the same words makes those books easier to follow alone.

Clasora does not employ tutors, and this page is not a job advert. You work independently: you set your own prices and your own hours, and you teach as much or as little as you like. Some teach a few evenings a week alongside their studies or work. Others teach enough hours for it to take the place of a job.

What teaching chess online on Clasora looks like

This is fully remote work. Every lesson takes place online, and you teach from wherever you live.

Students book from your calendar. They only see the times you have marked as free, shown in their own time zone. You decide how much notice you need before a lesson and how far ahead people can book.

Lessons run in the browser, and neither you nor your student installs anything. You share your screen and set up positions on an analysis board, such as a Lichess study or ChessBase. The student calls out candidate moves while you play them out, and at the end you can switch on an engine to settle a line you disagreed about. The in-call chat is handy for pasting a sequence of moves or a FEN string, and background blur keeps your room out of view.

Between lessons, each student has a conversation with you: they can send the PGN of a tournament game they lost, and you can send it back annotated, along with a set of tactics puzzles built around the mistake. Messages, files and shared links sit next to the sessions they belong to, so the link to a study from three weeks ago is still where you left it. Your opening files and puzzle collections can live in your personal file area, and documents can come across from Google Drive. If you plan your week in Google Calendar, it can sync with your Clasora calendar.

What students usually want help with

The rules and first principles: how the pieces move, castling, en passant, promotion, stalemate, and what to aim for in the first few moves.

Tactics: forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks and deflection, plus the habit of checking every capture and every check before moving.

Checkmating patterns, from the basic mates with a queen or a rook to back-rank mates and attacks on a castled king.

An opening repertoire that suits their style, with the plans behind the moves as well as the moves themselves.

Middlegame planning: pawn structure, weak squares, open files, good and bad pieces, and what to do when there is nothing to calculate.

Endgames: king and pawn endings, the opposition, rook endings, and positions every player should know, such as the Lucena and the Philidor.

Calculation and visualisation: seeing three or four moves ahead without losing track of where the pieces stand.

Analysis of their own games, to find the mistakes that keep coming back.

Using the clock: playing faster without blundering, and slowing down at the moments that deserve it.

Preparing for a tournament: looking at an opponent's openings, sharpening tactics and staying calm through a long game.

Getting past a plateau: players stuck at the same online rating for months, and adults coming back to chess after years away.

Who we are looking for

You play chess well and understand why a move is good or bad, clearly enough to explain it to someone who has never met the idea.

You explain clearly in English, and you can pitch an explanation at a beginner or at a strong club player.

You stay patient when a student hangs the same piece for the third time, and you notice what they did well too.

You might be a club player, a coach, a titled player, or someone who has played in tournaments since childhood and now wants to teach.

You have a computer with a camera, a microphone and a steady internet connection.

You are 18 or older.

Teaching experience helps, but it is not required, and neither is a title or any particular rating.

What you get

No commission. Clasora takes nothing from the price you set.

Free to join and to publish. There is no subscription and no listing fee.

Your own prices. You set a price for each session length, and you can offer a free first session.

Your own hours. You choose your weekly hours and your days off, the notice you need and how far ahead students can book.

A public listing page. Your listing is a page of its own that search engines can find, shown in the language each visitor reads. It carries your photo, an intro video, what you teach, the languages you speak and your price for each session length.

Reviews that describe your teaching. Students rate you on knowledge, clarity and engagement.

A place for your qualifications. You can add them to your profile, and a moderator checks them.

Lessons in the browser, with screen sharing, background blur and in-call chat, and nothing to install on either side.

How to start

Create an account with the button on this page.

Publish a listing for chess.

Open your calendar and mark the hours you are free.

It takes a few minutes. You accept the terms when you become a tutor, and a moderator checks your listing before it goes live.

Questions tutors ask

Do I need a title or a high rating?

No. Titles and ratings describe how well someone plays, and plenty of good teachers have neither. What you need is a solid understanding of the game and the ability to explain it. A beginner learns more from someone who can slow down and explain than from a stronger player who cannot.

Can I teach complete beginners?

Yes. Your listing says what you teach, so you can offer lessons to people who are still learning the rules, to experienced players, or to both.

How do I show positions in an online lesson?

Share your screen with an analysis board, or point a camera at a physical board. Students can send you their games as PGN files in your conversation before the lesson, so you can look through them in advance.

How do I get paid?

Card payments are not switched on yet. For now a booking is confirmed without a card, and you and the student settle payment directly between you. Clasora takes no commission on what you charge.