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Chess.com homepage | |
Type of business | Internet chess server,Social media website |
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Type of site | Internet chess server |
Available in | 57 languages |
List of languages Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Chinese (Hong Kong), Chinese (Taiwan), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, Flemish, French, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Turkish, Turkmen, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Vietnamese | |
Founded | May 2007; 17 years ago (2007-05) |
Headquarters | |
Founder(s) |
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Key people |
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Industry | Internet |
Employees | 650+[1] |
URL | www![]() |
Registration | Optional |
Users | 150 million+ |
Current status | Active |
Written in | Java,[2]JavaScript,PHP |
Chess.com is aninternet chess server andsocial networking website.[3] One of the largest chess platforms in the world,[4] the site has afreemium model in which some features are available for free, some via subscription. Users can play liveonline chess together indaily,rapid,blitz, orbullettime controls, with a number ofchess variants available. Other offerings include play versus achess engine, computer analysis,chess puzzles, and teaching resources.
Chess.com said it reached 100 million users on December 16, 2022,[5] and had about 11 million daily active users as of April 2023.[6] Chess.com has hosted online tournaments, including Titled Tuesdays, thePRO Chess League, the Speed Chess Championships,PogChamps, Online Chess Olympiads, andcomputer vs. computer events.
The domain Chess.com was set up in 1995 by Aficionado, a company based inBerkeley, California, to sellChess Mentor, a chess-tutoring app.[7] In 2005, Internet entrepreneur Erik Allebest and partner Jarom "Jay" Severson, who met as undergraduate students atBrigham Young University, bought the domain name and assembled a team of software developers to redevelop the site as a chess portal.[8] The site was relaunched in 2007 with heavy campaigning and promotion onsocial media.[3]
Two years later, Chess.com acquired a similar chess social networking site, chesspark.com.[9] In October 2013, it acquired theAmsterdam-based chessvibes.com,[10] a chess news site founded and operated by Dutch chess journalist Peter Doggers. Chessvibes continued to cover chess tournaments in a digital setting.[11][12]
In 2014, the site announced that over a billion live games had been played on the site, including 100 million correspondence games.[13] In January 2016, Chess.com announced a two-year overhaul of its "v3" interface.[14] The site introduced features including computer analysis of games, and thechess variants ofcrazyhouse,three-check chess,king of the hill,chess960, atomic andbughouse.[14] In June 2017, the2,147,483,647th (231-1) game was played. This caused the app to stop working on 32-bitApple iOS devices because the number wastoo large to be represented in device storage.[15][16]
In May 2018, Chess.com acquired the commercial chess engineKomodo, which held anElo rating of 3300+, third behindStockfish andHoudini.[17] The Komodo team also announced the addition of the probabilistic method ofMonte Carlo tree search machine learning, the same methods used by the recent chess projectsAlphaZero andLeela Chess Zero.[18]
In November 2020, Chess.com acquired the rights to broadcast theWorld Chess Championship 2021, which is broadcast on live-streaming platformTwitch.[19]
In response to the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chess.com published two articles that were critical of the invasion and replaced Russian and Belarusian flags with grey flags that linked to these articles. In retaliation, Chess.com was blocked in Russia. The site blockedSergey Karjakin, Russian (formerly Ukrainian) grandmaster, over his support for the invasion, and Karjakin in turn supported Russia's block of the website.[20][21][22][23]
In September 2022, Chess.com was caught in a controversy regardingcheating in professional chess games. Acontroversy erupted with accusations by grandmasterMagnus Carlsen againstHans Niemann.[24][25] Leaked emails revealed that some people cheated on the Chess.com platform in games involving prize money and that Chess.com removed some players' accounts, including grandmasterMaxim Dlugy, who had been found to be cheating.[26] In August 2023, aUS District Court judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by Niemann.[27]
In November 2022, The Chess.com Global Championship was inaugurated with a $1,000,000 prize pool.[28] 8 players that advanced from the CGC Knockout competed for a $500,000 total prize fund and Global Champion title in the finals taking place inToronto, Canada.Wesley So became the first Chess.com Global Champion, defeatingNihal Sarin in the finals with a match score of 4.5–1.5.[29]
Original author(s) | Finn Eggers, Andrew Grant, Jay Honnold, Kim Kåhre, Dietrich Kappe, Michael Whiteley[30] |
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Developer(s) | Chess.com |
Type | Chess engine |
Website | www![]() |
Torch is aclosed-source chess engine created by Chess.com.[30][31] Torch has finished second in severalChess.com Computer Chess Championship events, only behindStockfish in each case.[32] It initially participated in the tournament under the name "Mystery".[31][33] It is freely useable through Chess.com's analysis page.[34] It has also been tested by somechess engine rating lists.[35][36]
The team behind Torch is composed of Andrew Grant (author ofEthereal), Finn Eggers and Kim Kåhre (authors ofKoivisto), Jay Honnold (author ofBerserk), and Michael Whiteley and Dietrich Kappe (current authors ofDragon).[30] The former authors of Dragon, Mark Lefler andLarry Kaufman, are advisors on this project.[31] The development of Torch is supported by many open-source tools, including pytorch-nnue, Cutechess, and OpenBench.[30][31] Torch developers have stated that the entire source code of Torch is original, with no code being used from any other engine.[30][31]
Chess.com runs the subsidiary site ChessKid.com for chess players that are under the minimum age requirement for Chess.com.[37]
ChessKid.com has run a yearly online championship called CONIC (the ChessKid Online National Invitational Championship), since 2012 which is recognized by theUnited States Chess Federation.[38][39] According to David Petty, the event organizer in 2013, ChessKid has made agreements and partnerships with chess associations in schools. In 2014, for a trial period.[37] They have a long-term partnership with the NTCA (North Texas Chess Academy) which gives children access to online instructors.[40]
In August 2022, thePlay Magnus Group accepted an offer to be acquired by Chess.com at a value of 800 millionkr (US$80 million). The Play Magnus Group owns brands and businesses including the chess serverchess24, the mobile appPlay Magnus, the Champions Chess Tour, and the chess improvement website Chessable. On December 16, 2022, the acquisition was officially closed.[41][42] According toDot Esports, the Play Magnus Group was unable to make a "sustainable profit" on anything but Chessable, and the merge left "no other realistic chess competitor" except the free, open-sourceLichess.[43]
Chess.com has held the Speed Chess Championship annually since 2016, involving a single-elimination tournament featuring some of the world's best players. Nakamura has won five championships, while Carlsen has won four.[44]
The most important elements of the tournament formula:[45]
No | Year | Winner | Runner-up | Final score | Prize fund |
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1 | 2016[46] | Magnus Carlsen | Hikaru Nakamura | 14.5–10.5 | $40,000 |
2 | 2017[47] | Magnus Carlsen | Hikaru Nakamura | 18–9 | $50,000 |
3 | 2018[48] | Hikaru Nakamura | Wesley So | 15.5–12.5 | $55,000 |
4 | 2019[49] | Hikaru Nakamura | Wesley So | 19.5–14.5 | $50,000 |
5 | 2020[50] | Hikaru Nakamura | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 18.5–12.5 | $100,000 |
6 | 2021[51] | Hikaru Nakamura | Wesley So | 23–8 | $100,000 |
7 | 2022[52] | Hikaru Nakamura | Magnus Carlsen | 14.5–13.5 | $100,000 |
8 | 2023[53] | Magnus Carlsen | Hikaru Nakamura | 13.5–12.5 | $150,000 |
9 | 2024[54] | Magnus Carlsen | Alireza Firouzja | 23.5-7.5 | $175,000 |
The tournament starts on January 1 and, depending on the number of participants, consists of 4 or 5 rounds.[a] All players are divided into groups (up to 12 people[b]), and only the winners advance to the next round.[c] Players play in each round a maximum of 22 games simultaneously (with each opponent as White and Black), with a maximum of one day allocated for each move. So it can be considered a form ofcorrespondence chess. The winner of the Championship is the player who accumulates the most points in the final round.
No | Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Number of players |
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1 | 2018[55] | Jbd735 | ![]() | ![]() | 7344 |
2 | 2019[56] | ![]() | Jbd735 | ![]() | 11609 |
3 | 2020[57] | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | 16831 |
4 | 2021[58] | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() ![]() | 16505 |
5 | 2022[59] | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | 33633 |
6 | 2023[60] | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | 35000 |
7 | 2024[61] | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | 60466 |
8 | 2025[62] | ? | ? | ? | 24760 |
Italic font - only usernames available on the chess.com platform. |
No | Year | Winner | Runner-up | Final score |
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1 | 2017[63] | St. Louis Arch Bishops | Norway Gnomes | 9–7 |
2 | 2018[64] | Armenia Eagles | Chengdu Pandas | 12–11 |
3 | 2019[65] | St. Louis Arch Bishops | Baden-Baden Snowballs | 10–6 |
4 | 2020[66] | St. Louis Arch Bishops | Canada Chessbrahs/Chengde Panda | 9.5-6.5 |
5 | 2021[67] | Russia Wizards | St. Louis Arch Bishops | 9–7 |
6 | 2023[68] | Gotham Knights | Shanghai Tigers | 9.5-6.5 |
Titled Tuesday is an 11-roundSwiss-system 3+1blitz chess tournament held twice every Tuesday where all entrants must have achess title and their full legal name displayed on their Chess.com account.[69] The event started as a monthly 9 round tournament. The first edition was held on October 28, 2014 with a total prize fund of $1000, including $500 for first place, and was won byBaadur Jobava.[70] It became a weekly event on April 7, 2020, permanently became 11 rounds on October 20, 2020, and on February 1, 2022, the prize fund went from $1600 to $2500, with $1000 for first place, and two events began to be held every week instead of one.[71] As of August 28, 2024, GMHikaru Nakamura has the most tournament wins since October 2020 with 77, followed by GMMagnus Carlsen with 20, and GMDmitry Andreikin with 17. Other super grandmaster winners includeMaxime Vachier-Lagrave,Alexander Grischuk,Alireza Firouzja,Wesley So,Ian Nepomniachtchi, andFabiano Caruana.[69]
In June 2018, Chess.com held a special version of the tournament for which the winner would go on to participate in the Isle of Man International which had a prize fund of £144,000.[72] Iranian GMPouria Darini won the event.[73]
Death Matches were introduced in January 2012. They featuretitled players taking part in a series of blitz games over a non-stop 3-hour period (5-minute, 3-minute and 1-minute, all with a one-second increment).[74] There have been 38 deathmatches, participants including the grandmastersHikaru Nakamura,Dmitry Andreikin,Maxime Vachier-Lagrave,Lê Quang Liêm,Wesley So,Fabiano Caruana,Judit Polgár andNigel Short.[75]
In November 2017, Chess.com held an open tournament, called theChess.com Computer Chess Championship (CCCC, later CCC), with the ten strongest chess engines, with $2,500 in prize money. The top-two engines competed in a "Superfinal" tournament between the two finalists –Stockfish andHoudini. In the 20-game Superfinal, Stockfish won over Houdini with a score 10.5–9.5. Five games were decisive, with 15 ending in a draw. Of the decisive games, three games were won by Stockfish, and two by Houdini.[76][77]
In August 2018, the site announced that the Chess.com Computer Chess Championship had returned, this time as a non-stop tournament for chess engines.[78][79]
Event | Year | Time controls | Winner | Runner-up | Ref |
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Computer Chess Championship | 2017 | 15+2 | Stockfish (1) | Houdini | [77][76] |
CCC 1: Rapid Rumble | 2018 | 15+5 | Stockfish (2) | Houdini | [80] |
CCC 2: Blitz Battle | 2018 | 5+2 | Stockfish (3) | Komodo | [81] |
CCC 3: Rapid Redux | 2019 | 30+5 | Stockfish (4) | Leela Chess Zero | [82] |
CCC 4: Bullet Brawl | 2019 | 1+2 | Stockfish (5) | Leela Chess Zero | [83] |
CCC 5: Escalation | 2019 | 10+5 | Stockfish (6) | Leela Chess Zero | [84] |
CCC 6: Winter Classic | 2019 | 10+10 | Stockfish (7) | Leela Chess Zero | [85] |
CCC 7: Blitz Bonanza | 2019 | 5+2 | Leela Chess Zero (1) | Stockfish | [86] |
CCC 8: Deep Dive | 2019 | 15+5 | Stockfish (8) | Leela Chess Zero | [87] |
CCC 9: The Gauntlet | 2019 | 5+2, 10+5 | Stockfish (9) | Leelenstein | [88] |
CCC 10: Double Digits | 2019 | 10+3 | Leelenstein (1) | Stockfish | [89] |
CCC 11 | 2019 | 30+5 | Leela Chess Zero (2) | Stockfish | [90] |
CCC 12: Bullet Madness! | 2020 | 1+1 | Leela Chess Zero (3) | Leelenstein | [91] |
CCC 13: Heptagonal | 2020 | 5+5 | Leela Chess Zero (4) | Stockfish | [92] |
CCC 14 | 2020 | 15+5, 5+2, 1+1 | Leela Chess Zero (5) | Leelenstein | [93] |
CCC Blitz 2020 | 2020 | 5+5 | Stockfish (10) | Leela Chess Zero | [94] |
CCC Rapid 2021 | 2021 | 15+3 | Stockfish (11) | Leela Chess Zero | [95] |
CCC Blitz 2021 | 2021 | 5+5 | Stockfish (12) | Leela Chess Zero | [96] |
CCC Chess 960 Blitz | 2021 | 5+5 | Stockfish (13) | Dragon | [97] |
CCC 16: Rapid | 2021 | 15+3 | Stockfish (14) | Leela Chess Zero | [98] |
CCC 16: Bullet | 2021 | 2+1 | Stockfish (15) | Dragon | [99] |
CCC 16: Blitz | 2022 | 5+5 | Stockfish (16) | Dragon | [100] |
CCC 17: Rapid | 2022 | 15+3 | Stockfish (17) | Dragon | [101] |
CCC 17: Bullet | 2022 | 2+1 | Stockfish (18) | Dragon | [102] |
CCC 17: Blitz | 2022 | 5+5 | Stockfish (19) | Leela Chess Zero | [103] |
CCC 18: Rapid | 2022 | 15+3 | Stockfish (20) | Leela Chess Zero | [104] |
CCC 19: Blitz | 2022 | 5+5 | Stockfish (21) | Dragon | [105] |
CCC 19: Rapid | 2022 | 15+3 | Stockfish (22) | Leela Chess Zero | [106] |
CCC 19: Bullet | 2023 | 1+1 | Stockfish (23) | Dragon | [107] |
CCC 20: Blitz | 2023 | 3+2 | Stockfish (24) | Dragon | [108] |
CCC 20: Rapid | 2023 | 10+3 | Stockfish (25) | Leela Chess Zero | [109] |
CCC 20: Bullet | 2023 | 1+1 | Stockfish (26) | Torch | [110] |
CCC 21: Blitz | 2023 | 3+2 | Stockfish (27) | Torch | [111] |
CCC 21: Rapid | 2023 | 10+3 | Stockfish (28) | Leela Chess Zero | [112] |
CCC 21: Bullet | 2023 | 1+1 | Stockfish (29) | Torch | [113] |
CCC 22: Blitz | 2024 | 3+2 | Stockfish (30) | Torch | [114] |
CCC 22: Rapid | 2024 | 10+3 | Stockfish (31) | Leela Chess Zero | [115] |
CCC 22: Bullet | 2024 | 1+1 | Stockfish (32) | Torch | [116] |
CCC 23: Blitz | 2024 | 3+2 | Stockfish (33) | Torch | [117] |
CCC 23: Rapid | 2024 | 10+3 | Stockfish (34) | Leela Chess Zero | [118] |
Event | Year | Time Controls | Winner | Runner-up | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CPU Blitz Madness | 2020 | 3+2 | Stockfish | an older version ofStockfish | [119] |
Trillion-Node Throwdown III | 2020 | 150+5 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero on the CPU | [120] |
No-Castle II | 2020 | 5+2 | Stockfish | an older version ofStockfish | [121] |
Bullet Chess is Fun | 2020 | 2+1 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [122] |
Checkmate in 4 | 2020 | 3+2 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [123] |
Odds Ladder | 2020 | 3+2 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [124] |
Merry Queen Sac | 2020 | 2+1 | Stockfish | Stoofvlees | [125] |
Budapest Bullet | 2020 | 2+1 | Leela Chess Zero | Stockfish | [126] |
King Gambit Madness | 2021 | 5+5 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [127] |
Drawkiller Update Party | 2021 | 2+1 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [128] |
To Castle Or Not To Castle II | 2021 | 3+2 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [129] |
Eco Mega-Match 2 (part 1) | 2021 | 1+1 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [130] |
Eco Mega-Match 2 (part 2) | 2021 | 1+1 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [131] |
Caro-Kann Special | 2021 | 5+2 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [132] |
King's Indian Defense Special | 2021 | 10+2 | Leela Chess Zero | Stockfish | [133] |
Dutch Defense Special | 2021 | 10+2 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [134] |
Evans Gambit Madness | 2021 | 10+2 | Leela Chess Zero | Stockfish | [135] |
Sicilian Najdorf Special | 2021 | 10+2 | Stockfish | Dragon | [136] |
Belgian Stew | 2021 | 2+1 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [137] |
Saragossa | 2021 | 2+1 | Leela Chess Zero | Stockfish | [138] |
Double Bongcloud, Rapid | 2021 | 10+2 | Leela Chess Zero | Stockfish | [139] |
The Hillbilly Attack | 2021 | 10+2 | Leela Chess Zero | Dragon | [140] |
Romantic Openings: Danish Gambit Accepted | 2021 | 3+2 | Stockfish | Dragon | [141] |
Romantic Openings: Evans Gambit Accepted | 2021 | 3+2 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [142] |
Romantic Openings: Urusov Gambit Accepted | 2021 | 5+2 | Stockfish | Dragon | [143] |
Romantic Openings: Blackmar-Diemer Gambit | 2021 | 5+2 | Stockfish | Dragon | [144] |
Romantic Openings: Stafford Gambit | 2021 | 1+2 | Leela Chess Zero | Stockfish | [145] |
Romantic Openings: Calabrese Countergambit | 2021 | 5+2 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [146] |
Romantic Openings: Traxler Counterattack | 2021 | 5+2 | Leela Chess Zero | Stockfish | [147] |
No Black Castling | 2022 | 5+5 | Stockfish | Dragon | [148] |
Draw Killer | 2022 | 15+5 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [149] |
Romantic Openings: Wing Gambit | 2022 | 5+2 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [150] |
Chess 324 Bonus | 2022 | 5+2 | Stockfish | Dragon | [151] |
Classical Cup #1 | 2023 | 30+5 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [152] |
Rating Brawl: Fall 2023 | 2023 | 1+1 | Stockfish | Torch | [153] |
Chess.com has hosted PogChamps, an amateur online tournament featuringTwitch streamers, since 2020. The first PogChamps featured streamers includingxQcOW,MoistCr1TiKaL,Ludwig Ahgren, andforsen. New participants from PogChamps 2 includeditsHafu andHafþór Júlíus Björnsson.[154] PogChamps 3, beginning in February 2021, debuted with a wider range of Internet personalities and celebrities, with new competitors includingMrBeast,Neekolul,Myth,Pokimane, actorRainn Wilson, and rapperLogic.[155]
Chess.com provides an extensive feature for connecting withprofessional chess coaches.[156] Users can search for coaches atChess.com Coaches Club[157] based on rating, language, and availability, and view detailed profiles that include teaching styles, experience, and rates. Coaches include top players like:José Eduardo Martínez Alcántara,[158]Raunak Sadhwani,[159] andBenjamin Bok.[160]