Concept
Chess.com is an internet chess server and social networking website. The site has a freemium model in which some features are available for free, and others are available for accounts with subscriptions. Live online chess can be played against other users in daily, rapid, blitz or bullet time controls, with a number of chess variants also available. Chess versus a chess engine, computer analysis, chess puzzles and teaching resources are also offered. One of the largest chess platforms in the world, it achieved the milestone of 100 million users on December 16, 2022. 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. The domain Chess.com was originally set up in 1995 by Aficionado, a company based in Berkeley, California, to sell a piece of chess tutoring software called "Chess Mentor". Then, 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, redeveloping the site as a chess portal. The site was then relaunched in 2007 with heavy campaigning and promotion on social media. Two years later, Chess.com acquired a similar chess social networking site, chesspark.com. In October 2013, Chess.com acquired the Amsterdam-based chess news site chessvibes.com as well. This news site, founded and operated by Dutch chess journalist Peter Doggers, continued to cover chess tournaments in a digital setting. The website reached a milestone in 2014, when it announced that over a trillion live games had been played on the site, including 100 million correspondence games. In January 2016, Chess.com announced a two-year overhaul of its previous interface (titled 'v3'). The site introduced new features including computer analysis of games, and the chess variants of crazyhouse, three-check chess, king of the hill, chess960 and bughouse. Chess.
