New chess equipment...sort of. Chessly 2.0 initial impressions.

I already had Chessly 1.0, though only a couple of courses.  Unlike Chessable, you didn't have to pay extra for the video portions, but most of the courses cost around $60 and sometimes less when on sale.  If you weren't aware, Chessly is run by Gotham Chess of YouTube fame, Levy Rozman.  One thing about Levy is he listens to constructive fan feedback.  So, Levy decided to make a major change to Chessly, and now we have Chessly 2.0.  So what is different?

Originally the site was set up so that it was free to join, and you purchased single courses you were interested in studying.  Each course had short introductory videos at the beginning of the course and at the start of each chapter.  Now the structure has been completely changed.  Instead of paying for courses individually, there is now a monthly fee, or annual if you prefer.  The BIG upside is that ALL the courses are now freely included in your subscription cost.  Let me say here that the price was very, very reasonable.  I received an email to try the 2.0 beta as I was an existing member, so I spent several days trying things out and giving feedback a couple times when the program failed to advance to the next problem.  That was about the only thing that went wrong for me.  

The beta test ended and in the middle of last week 2.0 went live.  I had VIP status as I already owned courses.  I do not know if that played into the cost at all, but I got it for $45 USD for the year.  I have paid more than that for a single chess book.  I believe there are close to 30 courses currently up and running, and more on the way.  Levy has said he estimates there will be perhaps over 80 different courses, covering all phases of the game and for various playing strengths, and they are all accessible with the one fee.  You simply can't beat that for the money.  There are stat trackers, players level up with experience points earned, badges to earn, etc.  Also there is the Levy bot, to help you train openings.  He has 3 difficulty levels, can vary or not depending on how you set him up, etc.  He is a very useful tool.  You can also link your account to Chess.com, and export pgn.s so you can post them here.  

I think the site has incredible value for the money, and I do hope Levy comes through on his promise of the number of courses that will eventually be available.  My impression of the site after a few days of use is...two big thumbs up.  Well done Levy!