Chess.com
lets go Chess.com !!!
Chess.com is an internet chess server. The largest chess platform in the world,[4] the site operates on a freemium model in which some features are available for free, and others are available via subscription. Users can play live online chess against other users in daily, rapid, blitz, or bullet time controls, with a number of chess variants available. Additionally, the platform offers play against chess engines, computer analysis, chess puzzles, and teaching resources.
Chess.com announced that 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, the PRO Chess League, the Speed Chess Championships, PogChamps, Online Chess Olympiads, and computer vs computer events.
History
Founding
The domain Chess.com was set up in 1995 by Aficionado, a company based in Berkeley, California, to sell Chess Mentor, a chess-tutoring app.[7] In 2005, Internet entrepreneur Erik Allebest and partner Jarom "Jay" Severson, who met as undergraduate students at Brigham 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 on social media.[9]
Two years later, Chess.com acquired a similar chess social networking site, chesspark.com.[10] In October 2013, it acquired the Amsterdam-based chessvibes.com,[11] a chess news site founded and operated by Dutch chess journalist Peter Doggers. Chessvibes continued to cover chess tournaments in a digital setting.[12][13]
Growth in the 2010s
In 2014, the site announced that over a billion live games had been played on the site, including 100 million correspondence games.[14] In January 2016, Chess.com announced a two-year overhaul of its "v3" interface.[15] The site introduced features including computer analysis of games, and the chess variants of crazyhouse, three-check chess, king of the hill, chess960, atomic and bughouse.[15] In June 2017, the 2,147,483,647th (231-1) game was played. This caused the app to stop working on 32-bit Apple iOS devices because the number was too large to be represented in device storage.[16][17]
In May 2018, Chess.com acquired the commercial chess engine Komodo, which held an Elo rating of 3300+, third behind Stockfish and Houdini.[18] The Komodo team also announced the addition of the probabilistic method of Monte Carlo tree search machine learning, the same methods used by the recent chess projects AlphaZero and Leela Chess Zero.[19]
In November 2020, Chess.com acquired the rights to broadcast the World Chess Championship 2021, which is broadcast on live-streaming platform Twitch.[20]
Response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine
In response to the 2022 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 blocked Sergey Karjakin, Russian (formerly Ukrainian) grandmaster, over his support for the invasion, and Karjakin in turn supported Russia's block of the website.[21][22][23][24]
Chess cheating controversy
In September 2022, Chess.com was caught in a controversy regarding cheating in professional chess games. A controversy erupted with accusations by grandmaster Magnus Carlsen against Hans Niemann.[25][26] 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 grandmaster Maxim Dlugy, who had been found to be cheating.[27] In August 2023, a US District Court judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by Niemann.[28]
Chess.com Global Championship
In November 2022, The Chess.com Global Championship was inaugurated with a $1,000,000 prize pool.[29] 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 in Toronto, Canada. Wesley So became the first Chess.com Global Champion, defeating Nihal Sarin in the finals with a match score of 4.5–1.5.[30]
| Torch | |
|---|---|
| Original authors | Finn Eggers, Andrew Grant, Jay Honnold, Kim Kåhre, Dietrich Kappe, Michael Whiteley[31] |
| Developer | Chess.com |
| Type | Chess engine |
| Website | www |
Torch
Torch is a closed-source chess engine created by Chess.com.[31][32] Torch has finished second in several Chess.com Computer Chess Championship events, only behind Stockfish in each case.[33] It initially participated in the tournament under the name "Mystery".[32][34] It is freely useable through Chess.com's analysis page.[35] It has also been tested by some chess engine rating lists.[36][37]
The team behind Torch is composed of Andrew Grant (author of Ethereal), Finn Eggers and Kim Kåhre (authors of Koivisto), Jay Honnold (author of Berserk), and Michael Whiteley and Dietrich Kappe (current authors of Dragon).[31] The former authors of Dragon, Mark Lefler and Larry Kaufman, are advisors on this project.[32] The development of Torch is supported by many open-source tools, including pytorch-nnue, Cutechess, and OpenBench.[31][32] Torch developers have stated that the entire source code of Torch is original, with no code being used from any other engine.[31][32]
On June 19, 2024, Andrew Grant announced the focus of future Torch development as Chess.com power tool instead of Elo strength.[38]
Subsidiary companies
ChessKid.com
Chess.com runs the subsidiary site ChessKid.com for chess players that are under the minimum age requirement for Chess.com.[39]
ChessKid.com has run a yearly online championship called CONIC (the ChessKid Online National Invitational Championship), since 2012 which is recognized by the United States Chess Federation.[40][41] 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.[39] They have a long-term partnership with the NTCA (North Texas Chess Academy) which gives children access to online instructors.[42]
Play Magnus Group
In August 2022, the Play Magnus Group accepted an offer to be acquired by Chess.com at a value of 800 million kr (US$80 million). The Play Magnus Group owns brands and businesses including the chess server chess24, the mobile app Play Magnus, the Champions Chess Tour, and the chess improvement website Chessable. On December 16, 2022, the acquisition was officially closed.[43][44] According to Dot 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-source Lichess.[45]
Tournaments and events
Speed Chess Championship
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.[46]
Tournament formula
The most important elements of the tournament formula:[47]
- 16-player single-elimination bracket
- Matches consist of three segments: 90 minutes of 5+1, 60 minutes of 3+1, and 30 minutes of 1+1.
- The player with the most cumulative points at the end of the match wins.
- Games that start before the time for a segment runs out count toward the final score.
- Players can resign from the match within the last 10 minutes of the 1+1 segment, with the player's win percentage being capped at 35%.
