r/chess rules, stats, and what to post
Know the rules before you post. So easy grandma can do it.
- To post
- No minimum in the rules
- To comment
- No minimum in the rules
- Self-promotion
- Allowed with conditions
- Allowed based on Reddit's 10% guideline, and requires a history of participation in the community.
- Links
- Allowed with conditions
- Social media submissions must include a direct link, preferably to the primary source.
- Promo risk
- High
- From the rules, not from removal counts
- Community age
- 18 years
- Since Apr 2008
About r/chess
A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/chess: public rules, community context, posting fit, and startup-promotion risk before you publish.Checked from the r/chess rules on Reddit.
r/chess rules
10 rules, in the community's own words.
- 1
Keep the discussion civil and friendly.
Submissions and comments should be made in good faith with the intention to help foster civil discussion between people of all levels and experience. Don’t make fun of new players for lacking knowledge. Do not use personal attacks, insults, or slurs on other users. Disagreements are bound to happen, but do so in a civilized and mature manner. Remember, there is always a respectful way to disagree.
- 2
Don't engage in discriminatory or bigoted behavior.
Chess is played in all countries by people of all backgrounds. Be respectful, and do not engage in racist, sexist, or otherwise discriminatory behavior.
- 3
Low-Quality submissions are not allowed.
When posting a submission, effort should be made to promote interesting discussion on chess, its history, or culture. Some types of content that may be considered low quality include:
- Jokes (/r/anarchychess)
- Unanalyzed games
- Non-historical chess set pics (/r/chessporn)
- Video clips with no context (include names of participants in title)
- Rating graphs or achievements
- Chat logs
- Subreddit FAQ questions (r/chessbeginners)
- Clickbait titles
- Submissions made with low effort
- 4
Off-Topic submissions are not allowed.
Submissions that promote discussion about non-chess topics are not allowed. This includes but is not limited to:
- Video or images not directly related to chess (even if they involve chess players)
- Discussion of non-chess events that happen on a chess site
- Spam
- 5
Do not politicize r/Chess.
r/Chess is not a political sub. The mod team of /r/Chess is not equipped to mod political debates and disputes, there are other subs for politics. Submissions and comments touching on political subjects must directly connect to FIDE, national chess federations, chess organizations or prominent players experiencing a chess-specific issue. Submissions and comments must deal directly with chess politics, not broader political issues. Chess-related political threads may be locked if allowed.
- 6
Do not use /r/chess primarily to promote your own content.
Users are expected to interact with the community at large, not just their own content. Limited self-promotion is allowed based upon Reddit’s 10% guideline (please read Reddit’s policies on self-promotion here), but do not use the sub as your blog. Accounts with no history of participation in the r/chess community will not be allowed to self-promote. If you wish to self-promote, and are unsure about the rules, please send in a message via modmail.
- 7
Unfounded or non-newsworthy cheating accusations are not allowed.
Cheating accusations must be:
- Clearly stated
- Credible
- Substantiated
- Made by a prominent member or organization of the chess community
- Part of ongoing public discussion The r/Chess moderation team will use their discretion to evaluate the credibility of organizations and/or individuals, taking into account the sentiment from the community.
- 8
Cheating, and facilitating others to cheat, is unacceptable.
Submissions or comments asking how to cheat or telling others how to cheat, or that elaborate on how you cheated, are not allowed. Likewise, receiving feedback on an active game is also cheating, so please wait until your game is finished before posting about it.
- 9
Social media submissions must be accurate and verifiable.
Social media submissions must include:
- [ The author’s first and last name in brackets at the start of the post ]
- A direct link (preferably to the primary source of the content) Editorialized titles are not allowed.
- 10
Match / tournament result submissions require a certain level of quality.
All result submissions require:
- Informative, descriptive, and factual titles.
- A link to the results of the match or tournament, preferably a link to the primary source’s official results. Additionally, live rating submissions are not allowed while the player(s) in question are actively in a tournament because they quickly become outdated. Please wait until the tournament is over before making posts about players' ratings.
What to post in r/chess
What fits the room, and what gets removed.
Works well
- A deeply analyzed game from a finished match, with your own annotations and a genuine question about a critical moment
- A discussion post about chess history or culture that invites people to share their own perspective
- A thoughtful breakdown of a professional tournament position that invites debate about the theory behind it
- A question about chess improvement framed around analysis you have already done, not a beginner FAQ that belongs in r/chessbeginners
- A share of your own chess tool or content, only after you have built real participation history, framed as a contribution and cleared with the mods via modmail if you are unsure
Avoid
- Dropping a link to your chess product with an account that has never participated in r/chess
- Posting an unanalyzed game and asking people to tell you what went wrong
- Asking for feedback on a game that is still in progress
- Writing a clickbait title to get more clicks on your blog post
- Posting rating graphs, achievement screenshots, or chat logs because they read as low effort
- Using the sub as your blog by posting your own content over and over without joining discussions
Best hours to post in r/chess
No pattern yet. r/chess does not have enough top posts from the last 90 days to name its best hours.
What actually works in r/chess
These are the highest scoring posts Rankhog observed in r/chess over the past month, with what each one did differently. Rankhog watches this community continuously, so it sees posts when they are published and again as they climb.
- Upvotes
- 1.9k
- Comments
- 322
- Posted
- Nov 3, 2026
Why it worked
- Rankhog breakout tier from a local post-score estimate
- Told in the first person
- Short paragraphs rather than one block of text
- Almost no downvotes (97% upvoted)
- Upvotes
- 780
- Comments
- 30
- Posted
- Nov 8, 2026
Why it worked
- Rankhog breakout tier from a local post-score estimate
- Asks the community a question instead of announcing something
- Short paragraphs rather than one block of text
- Almost no downvotes (99% upvoted)
- Upvotes
- 746
- Comments
- 43
- Posted
- Nov 8, 2026
Why it worked
- Rankhog breakout tier from a local post-score estimate
- Short paragraphs rather than one block of text
- Almost no downvotes (96% upvoted)
- Upvotes
- 551
- Comments
- 58
- Posted
- Nov 3, 2026
Why it worked
- Rankhog breakout tier from a local post-score estimate
- Asks the community a question instead of announcing something
- Almost no downvotes (98% upvoted)
- Upvotes
- 514
- Comments
- 60
- Posted
- Nov 5, 2026
Why it worked
- Rankhog breakout tier from a local post-score estimate
- Told in the first person
- Kept short enough to read in one pass
- Almost no downvotes (97% upvoted)
- Upvotes
- 478
- Comments
- 29
- Posted
- Nov 4, 2026
Why it worked
- Rankhog breakout tier from a local post-score estimate
- Almost no downvotes (97% upvoted)
- Upvotes
- 357
- Comments
- 399
- Posted
- Nov 5, 2026
Why it worked
- Rankhog breakout tier from a local post-score estimate
- Short paragraphs rather than one block of text
- Upvotes
- 343
- Comments
- 48
- Posted
- Nov 4, 2026
Why it worked
- Rankhog top tier from a local post-score estimate
- Told in the first person
- Upvotes
- 299
- Comments
- 32
- Posted
- Nov 2, 2026
Why it worked
- Rankhog top tier from a local post-score estimate
- Upvotes
- 248
- Comments
- 99
- Posted
- Nov 3, 2026
Why it worked
- Rankhog breakout tier from a local post-score estimate
- Asks the community a question instead of announcing something
What r/chess Is For
This community is all about the game of chess. People here discuss professional tournaments, game analysis and theory, plus the history and culture of the game. The members range from total beginners to strong players, and the rules make clear that new players should not be mocked for lacking knowledge. If you are brand new to chess, the description points you to r/chessbeginners instead, and it asks you to read the rules before posting here.
Rules That Matter Before Posting
The rule that decides most marketing outcomes is “Do not use /r/chess primarily to promote your own content.”. It allows limited self-promotion under Reddit's 10% guideline, but it says accounts with no history of participation in the r/chess community will not be allowed to self-promote. “Low-Quality submissions are not allowed.” matters because unanalyzed games, clickbait titles, and low effort submissions get removed. “Off-Topic submissions are not allowed.” matters because spam is listed there and anything not directly related to chess is out. “Social media submissions must be accurate and verifiable.” matters if you share a post from social media, since it requires the author's first and last name in brackets at the start and a direct link. “Keep the discussion civil and friendly.” sets the tone, so any post that picks fights or mocks newer players will not survive.
What To Post
A good post here is high effort and clearly about chess. If you want to share your own game, analyze it first, because unanalyzed games are called out as low quality, and wait until the game is completely finished before asking for feedback. If you are a founder with a chess product, the honest path is to participate in the community first, join discussions, comment on games and tournaments, and only then share something of yours in a limited way that fits Reddit's 10% guideline. If you are unsure whether your post counts as self-promotion, the rules tell you to send a message via modmail first. Frame anything you share as a contribution to a chess discussion, not as an announcement, and write a factual, descriptive title rather than a clickbait one.
What To Avoid
Do not post your own content if your account has no history of participating in r/chess, because the rules say such accounts will not be allowed to self-promote. Do not treat the sub as your blog. Do not post unanalyzed games, rating graphs or achievements, chat logs, jokes, video clips with no context, or clickbait titles, because “Low-Quality submissions are not allowed.” lists these as low quality. Do not post anything off topic, since “Off-Topic submissions are not allowed.” covers spam and non-chess content. Do not ask how to cheat or ask for feedback on an active game, because “Cheating, and facilitating others to cheat, is unacceptable.” forbids both. Do not make cheating accusations that are not clearly stated, credible, substantiated, and part of ongoing public discussion, because “Unfounded or non-newsworthy cheating accusations are not allowed.” Do not politicize the sub with broad political topics, because “Do not politicize r/Chess.” only allows chess-specific political issues. Do not editorialize titles on social media submissions, because “Social media submissions must be accurate and verifiable.” requires the author's first and last name in brackets and a direct link. And never be uncivil, since “Keep the discussion civil and friendly.” bans personal attacks, insults, and slurs.
A note from Anthony
What stands out to me is rule 6, where accounts with no history in the community simply cannot self-promote at all. That is the clearest version of earn the right first that I have seen written into a rulebook. If your product touches chess, this community is worth the slow approach, because the people here care deeply and they will smell a drive-by link instantly.
By Anthony Riera, founder and operator of Rankhog. Every guide is built from the community's own public rules and data, then checked by Rankhog's grounding audit before it goes live.
Common questions about r/chess
Can I promote my chess app or site here?
Only in a limited way. Self-promotion is allowed based on Reddit's 10% guideline, and accounts with no history of participation in the r/chess community will not be allowed to self-promote.
Can I post my own game for feedback?
Yes, but analyze it first, wait until the game is finished, and frame it so it promotes interesting discussion about chess.
Is AI-generated chess content allowed?
The rules do not mention AI content either way, so treat it like any other submission and make sure it is high effort and directly about chess.
What should I do if I am unsure whether my post counts as self-promotion?
The rules say to send a message via modmail if you wish to self-promote and are unsure about the rules.
Where do beginner questions go?
Yes. The community description points new players to r/chessbeginners, and FAQ-type questions belong there.
Subreddits like r/chess
Other rooms for the same crowd.