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Chess.com

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Chess.com
Type of site
Social media website
URLwww.chess.com
RegistrationYes

Chess.com is an Internet chess community and social networking website, and also the name of the company that runs the website.[1]

History

The domain chess.com was originally set up in about 1995 by Aficionado, a Berkeley, California based company, in order to sell a piece of chess tutoring software called "Chess Mentor".[2] In 2005, internet entrepreneur Erik Allebest and partner Jarom ("Jay") Severson purchased the domain name and assembled a team of software developers to redevelop the site as a chess portal. The site was relaunched in 2007.[1] Allebest plays chess at an amateur level.[3] The site was heavily promoted via social media and grew quickly, attracting mainly casual players. In 2009, chess.com announced a takeover of a similar chess social networking site, chesspark.com.[4][5]

In October 2013, chess.com acquired the Dutch-based chess news site chessvibes.com.[6] According to the website there are 8 million members.

According to the Alexa ratings, as of December 2013, it was the most visited chess-related website on the Internet.[7]

Chess.com has held regular "deathmatches", whereby two titled players are paid to play a series of blitz games (5-minute, 3-minute and 1-minute, all with one second increment).[8] To date there have been 19 deathmatches, some of them held between some of the top grandmasters, such as Wesley So, Arkadij Naiditsch, Loek van Wely and Fabiano Caruana.[9] In deathmatch 18 Judit Polgár won 17½ to 10½ versus former English champion Nigel Short for a prize fund of $750.[10]

Features

Chess.com operates a freemium business model: basic site features are free,[11] but players have to pay to get additional features.[12] Visitors to the site can play both live and correspondence style chess games, referred to on the site as "turn-based". Players may also play against chess engines, and premium subscribers may participate in voting games, in which players form teams and vote on the best move.

On the site, players are able to learn to play at any level, take part in discussion forums and watch chess events.[13]

The company publishes a large number of articles on a variety of chess-related topics, including chess strategy, opening theory and history. Regular contributors include Gregory Serper, Bruce Pandolfini, Dan Heisman, Jeremy Silman, Petar Genov and Natalia Pogonina.

Chess.com has a policy against the use of chess engines in all forms of the game, except unrated games where both players agree. In 2009, the site adopted a "name and shame" policy towards cheating, and maintains a blacklist.[14][15]

Chesskid.com

Chess.com also runs the site chesskid.com for users aged 13 and under. Chesskid.com runs an online championship which is recognized by the United States Chess Federation.[16][17]

References

  1. ^ a b "Chess.com: A Social Networking Site For...Well You Can Probably Guess". TechCrunch. 2007-07-08. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  2. ^ "Chess Mentor by Aficionado". Web.archive.org. 1997-07-10. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  3. ^ "USCF MSA - Member Details (General)". Uschess.org. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  4. ^ "Chesspark And Chess.com Put Their Pawns Together". TechCrunch. 2009-12-22. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  5. ^ "Chess.com Makes Its Move, Acquires Name Chesspark.com". Private Equity and Venture Capital. Dow Jones. 23 December 2009. Retrieved 10 December 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "BREAKING: Chess.com to acquire". ChessVibes. 2006-02-06. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  7. ^ "Top Sites in:All Categories > Games > Board Games > Abstract > Battle Games > Chess". Alexa.com. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  8. ^ "Deathmatch historical archive". Chess.com. May 17, 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  9. ^ Klein, Mike (30 May 2013). "Death Match 15: Caruana vs. Aveskulov". USchess.org. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  10. ^ Klein, Mike (7 October 2013). "Polgar beats Short convincingly in Chess.com's Death Match 18". Chessvibes. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  11. ^ McClain, Dylan Loeb (13 March 2010). "Wherever You Are, a Game Is Just a Point and Click Away". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 December 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ Premium Membership & Subscriptions - Chess.com
  13. ^ "Chess.com, red social para los jugadores de ajedrez". GenBeta.com. 8 July 2007. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  14. ^ http://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/chesscom---list-of-caught-cheaters
  15. ^ http://www.chess.com/cheating
  16. ^ "The United States Chess Federation - Nation's Top Chess Kids to Battle in Online Invitational". Uschess.org. 2012-05-31. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  17. ^ "Bay Area kids look to checkmate opponents from a computer screen". ContraCostaTimes.com. 2013-06-15. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
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