Charming Champions & Exciting Events
Another month has gone by, with new champions, new bots, and amazing stories taking place across the chess world. Find out what happened in April, and what the next few weeks have in store.
Here's what this monthly update covers:
Product & Engineering
The team has worked hard on various A/B tests to make sure that you're getting the best experience you can, as well as performance-based improvements across Chess.com.
- There's a new group of bots in town. From former elementary school champions still basking in their faded glory to up-and-coming chess prodigies and New York City hustlers, the Chess Club Regulars will be around for the month of May.
- Some behind-the-scenes insight: we updated the technology running Game Review, meaning you will get stronger analysis than ever before returned to you even faster.
- We've made a number of performance improvements and optimizations, which means parts of our website and app should feel slightly faster or smoother than usual.
- Good news as always for puzzle lovers: we added 26,098 puzzles to our collection in March, going from a functioning total of 607,929 to 633,127.
If you are an engineer and want to help grow the game of chess, come work with us! Visit Chess.com/jobs to find out more.
Events
A new world champion has risen. GM Ding Liren overcame GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in one of the closest and most exciting match-ups we've seen in a long time. But that's not all: the Chessable Masters had some incredible highlights, chess is continuing its course as an Olympic e-sport, and the Collegiate Chess League concluded. Also, get a sneak peek at some special upcoming events...
- GM Hikaru Nakamura, described as 'half-man, half-zombie', continued to cement himself as one of the world's pre-eminent chess players, defeating GM Fabiano Caruana in the Champions Chess Tour Chessable Masters 2023 Grand Final to win Division I.
- The ChessKid Cup is the next stage of the Champions Chess League. GMs Alireza Firouzja, Anish Giri, Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov are among the names who have qualified for the knockout stage beginning Monday, May 22.
- The Olympic Esports Series (OES) is a global virtual and simulated sports competition created by the International Olympic Committee. This year, Chess.com was selected to bring chess to the competition! The open qualifiers (for non-titled players) saw some amazing engagement; 42,000 total participants represented 219 different countries in the open qualifiers. The finals will take place in Singapore between June 22-25.
- Saint Louis University (SLU) won the fifth season of the Collegiate Chess League. SLU fielded a strong roster of talented chess players, including GM Benjamin Bok, GM Nikolas Theodorou, GM Robby Kevlishvili, IM Stavroula Tsolakidou, FM Thalia Cervantes Landeiro, and FM Gabriela Antova.
- Some of the biggest names in chess streaming will be taking on the superstars of the future in a special rematch on May 14. ChessKid Stars vs. Streamers 2 has been announced, with some massive new names: IM Levy Rozman and GM Arturs Neiksans join Team Streamers aiming to equalize the series, while FM Alice Lee and Megan Paragua join the ChessKid Stars in an attempt to make it 2-0.
Community
Here are some of the Community Team’s highlights, including lots of ways you can be part of the Chess.com community no matter where you are in the world.
- The PCL Prediction Contest is back after a brief hiatus. Whether you're confident in your chess prediction abilities or simply like guessing things, you're in with a chance to win prizes as long as you take part!
- Chess.com will return to TwitchCon this year, starting with TwitchCon Paris on July 8 and July 9. Special guests will include the ChessBrahs and more. Meet some of your favorite content creators, play games, solve puzzles, win prizes, and enjoy chess with others. We'll also be at TwitchCon Las Vegas later this year... stay tuned.
- There's been lots of fun on the official Chess.com Discord server lately. IM Kassa Korley played against our Discord community blindfolded last Thursday, and our regular chess referendums are stirring up some passionate debate. Got opinions on the French Defense vs. the Caro-Kann? Is chess a sport? 1. d4 or 1.e4? Share your thoughts here and win a month of free Diamond membership.
Content
The past month has seen everything from spectacular scenes at the FIDE World Championship to some of the most important stories in chess history. Watch some of them below.
- There were plenty of amazing moments in the World Championship, with Ding not only winning the title but also the hearts of chess fans around the world.
- A chess player may play millions of moves in their lifetime, but here are ten of the very best. From classic smothered mates to more advanced combinations, watch this video and get some inspiration for your next game.
- GM Magnus Carlsen is still an active player (and a world champion in several time controls), but his reign as the official world champion of classical chess is now over. Here's a look back at the Magnus Era featuring some truly ridiculous statistics, including a 125-game unbeaten streak.
- Last month we were honored to share the story of Isabelle Choko, the former French Women's Chess Champion. She survived the Holocaust, extreme famine, and coped with the traumatic loss of her family at a young age. However, her immense willpower led to her pursuing a passion for chess and fulfilling her destiny as a champion.
Fair Play
Fair Play for the Champions Chess Tour is continuing to run smoothly, and the Olympic Esports Series benefited from the Fair Play team's efforts to ensure a clean and fair competition. Aside from that, the team is constantly working on keeping Chess.com itself free of cheating and abuse.
Fair Play stats for April:
- 121,600 Fair Play closures (including 13 titled players)
- 216,000 mute actions
- 191,000 accounts muted
- 156,000 abuse closures
Support
The Chess.com Support Team is still experiencing a huge amount of requests and questions, but these superstars are actively working to resolve your issues as quickly and effectively as possible.
Here are the stats for April:
- Average Time to First Response: 3 days
- Total Requests Received: 105,859
- Average Quality by Member Rating: 94%
- Total Ratings: 7,474
As always, thank you for making Chess.com such an amazing place, and thank you for the comments you leave on these updates. Stay tuned—your thoughts might be featured in one of these updates soon...
