On paper, Chess.com advertises its Gold premium tier, including “Unlimited Puzzles” as a key benefit. This means Gold members should be able to solve as many rated puzzles as they want each day, unlike free users with a daily cap. As of 2025, the Chess.com membership page touts features like Unlimited Game Review, Unlimited Puzzles, Unlimited Lessons, etc., for premium plans. Theoretically, a Gold subscriber should never see a “daily puzzle limit” message.
Real user experiences tell a different story. Numerous Gold members report being cut off after a certain number of puzzles and prompted to upgrade, even though they thought “unlimited puzzles” meant no limits.
“Bait-and-Switch?”
One user shared that after solving about ten puzzles as a new Gold member, they got a pop-up saying they needed to “go Diamond” to get unlimited puzzles. Understandably, they felt duped. “Is this bait-and-switch or am I missing something?”
The advertisement said unlimited puzzles for Gold, yet the site was asking for a higher tier. This user initially received no answer from support and was left feeling misled. Another Gold member likewise complained, “Every time I solve puzzles, eventually there is a pop-up telling me to sign up for UNLIMITED PUZZLES with Platinum… But I HAVE Gold… so why am I told I need Platinum?”. They even provided a screenshot of Chess.com’s page showing Gold includes unlimited puzzles.
Daily Limit Reached
Multiple Gold users discovered a daily puzzle limit that was still in effect. A user on Reddit asked why their Gold subscription wasn’t allowing unlimited puzzles, and someone responded: “Chess.com advertises Gold as having unlimited puzzles, but the limit is 10 puzzles per day.”
In practice, the old limit was 25/day, which shows confusion. On Chess.com’s forums, a frustrated Gold member wrote: “I get prompted to upgrade to at least a Gold member for unlimited puzzles once the daily allowance is exceeded, so why do I pay for it if it doesn’t work?”Many others echoed this… “Blocked from doing more than 25 puzzles when Gold membership states unlimited… Any ideas?”
One person noticed Chess.com had nearly doubled the price of Gold (from around $25 to $50/year) and was upset that despite paying, he was being told to upgrade or renew early to regain the “unlimited” benefit.. Another player plainly stated, “Yeah, that’s misleading. Anyway, I use Lichess for unlimited puzzles for free.”They feel it’s unfair to pay and still be limited, so they’d rather go to a free competitor.
These anecdotes show a clear pattern: the “unlimited puzzles” claim often didn’t match users’ access. Understandably, this led to confusion, posts on Reddit and forums, and a sense that Chess.com wasn’t delivering what it sold.
Why Gold Members Were Still Limited (The Fine Print)
The crux of the issue is a change Chess.com made on September 1, 2022. On that date, they revamped the premium plans. New subscriptions after that got more features (like unlimited puzzles for Gold). Still, existing members on older plans were “grandfathered” with their previous features. This nuance wasn’t communicated clearly to all users, and the site/app interfaces added to the confusion:
Under the old Gold plan, which many long-time users still had, the puzzle limit was 25 daily puzzles. The new Gold plan (for those subscribing or upgrading after September 1 2022) indeed has unlimited puzzles. Chess.com’s support article explicitly states: “The new Gold plan gains unlimited Puzzles… but loses unlimited Game Review.”.
Meanwhile, “Gold membership did not offer unlimited puzzles under the old plans,” as one moderator clarified bluntly. In other words, if you bought Gold in 2021 or early 2022 and kept renewing, your benefits stayed the same (25 puzzles/day cap) unless you actively switched to the new plan (usually by paying the higher price).
Lack of Clarity on chess.com
The problem was that Chess.com continued publicly advertising “Unlimited Puzzles” for Gold without clearly distinguishing that it only applied to new subscriptions. A moderator acknowledged this confusion when a user showed an app screenshot: “If you purchased your membership before Sept 1st… You got the old plan, which had limits on puzzles per day.
The app doesn’t show the old plan features.”. Essentially, the mobile app and membership page would list the shiny new features (unlimited puzzles, lessons, etc.) for Gold, even for users still on the old Gold plan. So naturally, those users felt cheated when they hit the old 25-puzzle ceiling. Chess.com didn’t effectively differentiate old vs new entitlements in the UI, leading many to assume something was broken or that they’d been deceived.
Because of this mix-up, Gold users on the old plan often got upgrade prompts intended for free users. The site would tell them to upgrade to Gold or Platinum for unlimited puzzles, even though they were Gold. One user in 2024 experienced exactly that: “supposed to get unlimited puzzles, but it says I’m over the limit… and asks me to upgrade.”.
Old-plan Gold users
The system treated an old-plan Gold user like a non-premium once they exceeded the old cap. Chess.com’s support team would instruct such users to contact them to switch to the new plan manually (and pay the latest price), wait until their current subscription ends, and re-subscribe at a higher rate. To many, this felt like being strong-armed into paying more.
In fairness, Chess.com did allow existing members to keep the lower price. They weren’t automatically charged extra. However, they also kept the old limits. The onus was on the user to notice the difference and upgrade if they wanted the new perks.
The communication here fell short, evidenced by the many forum/Reddit threads. Chess.com moderators repeatedly had to explain: “Members with memberships before Sept 1st kept the old features… purchases after that date get the new features”. Unfortunately, this explanation often came after users had already reached the limit hard.
How Puzzle Limits Impact Different Players
The “unlimited puzzles” issue affects players differently depending on how they use the site.
If you’re a casual player who does a handful of puzzles daily, you might never hit 25 in a session. Many Gold users possibly didn’t even realize they had a limit if they rarely exceeded it.
This could be why some long-time Gold members only noticed after the 2022 changes or after returning from a break. For example, one user said they bought Gold “specifically for the unlimited puzzles and have enjoyed that benefit for a long time.” But after logging in following a 6-month hiatus, they found their puzzles were now limited.
It’s likely they never actually went past 25 puzzles in the past, so the “unlimited” claim didn’t get tested until Chess.com’s changes highlighted it. Casual users might be satisfied with 25 puzzles/day or value other features more (like lessons or analysis), so the puzzle cap wasn’t on their radar.
Platinum/Diamond Chess.com
25 puzzles a day is a limit for dedicated tactics enthusiasts. These folks will sit and grind puzzle after puzzle, chasing a high tactics rating or just binge-solving for improvement. For them, hitting a wall and being told “upgrade to Platinum/Diamond for more puzzles” is highly frustrating, especially after they’ve paid for Gold, expecting no such wall. As one user put it, “I get the cheapest [membership] that gets me unlimited puzzles” meaning they only subscribe at all to remove the cap.
When that doesn’t work as expected, it essentially nullifies the purpose of their subscription. Some competitive solvers felt that going for a very high puzzle rating on a free account was nearly impossible due to the daily cap “it took me grinding 238 puzzles in four days… it’s exponentially easier with unlimited puzzles”, one forum poster noted. So for serious use, unlimited attempts matter.
Several savvy users turned to workarounds or alternatives. If you leave a puzzle in “pending” state (unsolved), Chess.com’s system doesn’t count it toward your limit until it’s resolved. This was a quirky loophole only hardcore users would notice. But more commonly, people just hopped to Lichess for their tactics fix.
Lichess.org offers unlimited puzzles for free, which community members frequently mention. “Why limit the number of puzzles per day when Lichess is unlimited already?” one user asked, confused by Chess.com’s strategy. Another chimed in that they use Lichess’s free puzzles or tactics books rather than paying Chess.com.
Chess.com’s puzzle cap
Chess.com’s puzzle cap (for non-premium or old Gold) drove the more resourceful players to free solutions. This undermines the value proposition of Gold. If the key feature can be gotten elsewhere gratis, the incentive to upgrade diminishes (aside from convenience or preference for Chess.com’s interface).
That said, some players prefer Chess.com’s puzzle quality and interface, noting Lichess puzzles can feel repetitive or lower-rated ones that are too pattern-based. Those users might decide it’s worth paying, which is precisely why Chess.com teases “unlimited puzzles” as a Gold benefit.
Casual players might not care about truly infinite puzzles, but the power users felt betrayed by the misleading promise. Chess.com split the user base into those content with old Gold (fewer puzzles, lower cost) and those willing to pay more for the new unlimited puzzle access. The confusion arose when the former group didn’t realize they weren’t automatically entitled to the latest “unlimited” feature.
Confusing stuff!
