Online chess ischess that is played over theInternet, allowing players to play against each other. This was first done asynchronously through PLATO and email in the 1970s. In 1992, theInternet Chess Server facilitated live online play via telnet, and inspired several other telnet-based systems around the world. Web-based platforms became popular in the 2010s and grew considerably amid the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside a trend of livestreaming chess.
Online chess has existed in various forms includingPLATO andplay-by-email since the dawn of theInternet in the 1970s.[citation needed]
Internet chess servers were the first way to play live chess against a human opponent via the internet. In 1992, Michael Moore and Richard Nash developed theAmerican Internet Chess Server (ICS), which allowed users to connect viatelnet. Graphical interfaces were developed to improve upon the text-only experience. In 1994, developer Daniel Sleator, who improved the server's code to address several bugs, copyrighted it and commercialized the server as theInternet Chess Club. Frustrated former users and developers began improving the older code to launch theFree Internet Chess Server.[1][2][3] While they have waned in popularity, both servers are still active as of 2024.[citation needed]
The first chess website which allowed playing through a graphical interface, was Caissa.com (known at the time as Caissa's Web) which launched in 1995.[4] Since then, a number of chess websites have been developed. These includeChess.com,Lichess, andchess24, which were the largest chess websites as of 2021, though chess24 has since been acquired by Chess.com and was shut down on January 31, 2024, in favor of Chess.com.[5][6]
Online chess saw a spike in growth during thequarantines of theCOVID-19 pandemic.[7][8] This was due to both isolation and the popularity ofNetflix miniseriesThe Queen's Gambit, which was released in October 2020.[7][8] Chess app downloads on theApp Store andGoogle Play Store rose by 63% after the show debuted.[9]Chess.com saw more than twice as many account registrations in November as it had in previous months, and the number of games played monthly on Lichess doubled as well.[10] There was also a demographic shift in players, with female registration on Chess.com shifting from 22% of new players to 27% of new players.[11][10]GrandmasterMaurice Ashley said "A boom is taking place in chess like we have never seen maybe since theBobby Fischer days," attributing the growth to an increased desire to do something constructive during the pandemic.[12]USCF Women's Program DirectorJennifer Shahade stated that chess works well on the Internet, since pieces do not need to be reset andmatchmaking is virtually instant.[13] In 2023, Youtube revealed that the game of online chess had amassed over 4 billion views during the calendar year.[14]
Online chesslivestreaming also saw a surge amidst the pandemic. Players likeHikaru Nakamura,Daniel Naroditsky, andLevy Rozman along with many others streamed chess viaTwitch, with more than 41 million hours of chess being watched total on the platform from March to August 2020.[15][10] Chess.com teamed up with high-level chess streamers to organizePogChamps, an amateur tournament contested between popularInternet personalities that was streamed on Twitch and at one point became the top-viewed stream on the platform.[15]
Chess websites pair players based on achess rating system; after a game ends, ratings are updated immediately and players may search for a new game using their updated ratings.[16] TheInternet Chess Club uses theElo rating system, whileChess.com uses theGlicko rating system andLichess theGlicko-2 rating system, which are modern and more complex versions of Elo.[17]
Over-the-board (OTB) chess is traditionally played with a slowtime control, meaning players are allowed more time to consider moves. Online chess is often played faster, with 93.8% of live chess games on Chess.com being played with a time control of 10 minutes per side or faster.[18]International MasterAnna Rudolf said that "online chess' shift to speed chess has brought excitement to the game."[10]
A premove is an instruction given by a player to a chess program to make a certain move on a following turn if possible. Premoving is a feature exclusive to online chess. It is offered by many chess websites, including theInternet Chess Club, theFree Internet Chess Server,Chess.com, andLichess. Chess.com allows players to make multiple premoves at once. The Internet Chess Club allows one to block players who use premoves.[citation needed]
There is some amount of strategy involved when premoving. Generally, premoves should only be used when the chosen move would be a good move in any subsequent position where it would be valid, such as if it is a response to a potential capture by one's opponent. Premoves may also be useful in extremetime trouble to avoid running out of time.[citation needed]
Online cheating is an issue that has had a large effect on all levels of play. This is usually achieved by using achess engine to get the best moves in a given position, though it can take other forms includingsandbagging andrating manipulation.[19] Chess.com stated in August 2020 that they were closing roughly 500 accounts each day due to cheating, some of whom were Grandmasters and titled players.[19]
High-levelchess tournaments were largely forced online during the COVID-19 pandemic, including theFIDE Online Nations Cup and theMagnus Carlsen Chess Tour.[20] These were played on websites like Chess.com and chess24, but enforced additional rules onwebcam usage and screen sharing in order to prevent cheating. Some tournaments also disallowed leaving the computer for breaks or to walk around, which would usually be allowed in an in-person tournament.[20]
| Outline | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment | |||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| Rules | |||||||||
| Terms | |||||||||
| Tactics | |||||||||
| Strategy | |||||||||
| Openings |
| ||||||||
| Endgames | |||||||||
| Tournaments | |||||||||
| Art and media | |||||||||
| Related | |||||||||
