A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(May 2024) |
Type of business | Internet chess server, Social media website |
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Type of site | Internet chess server |
Available in | 57 languages |
List of languages Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Chinese (Hong Kong), Chinese (Taiwan), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, Flemish, French, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Turkish, Turkmen, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Vietnamese | |
Founded | May 2007 |
Headquarters | |
Founder(s) |
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Key people |
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Industry | Internet |
Employees | 400+ [1] |
URL | www |
Registration | Optional |
Users | 150 million+ |
Current status | Active |
Written in | Java, [2] JavaScript, PHP |
Chess.com is an internet chess server and social networking website. [3] 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 available. Chess versus a chess engine, computer analysis, chess puzzles and teaching resources are offered.
As one of the largest chess platforms in the world, [4] Chess.com achieved the milestone of 100 million users on December 16, 2022 [5] and has 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.
The domain Chess.com was originally set up in 1995 by Aficionado, a company based in Berkeley, California to sell Chess Mentor, a chess tutoring software program. [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, redeveloping the site as a chess portal. [8] The site was relaunched in 2007, [3] having heavy campaigning and promotion on social media.
Two years later, Chess.com acquired a similar chess social networking site, chesspark.com. [9] In October 2013, Chess.com acquired the Amsterdam-based chess news site chessvibes.com as well. [10] This news site, founded and operated by Dutch chess journalist Peter Doggers, continued to cover chess tournaments in a digital setting. [11] [12]
The website reached a milestone in 2014, when it announced that over a billion live games had been played on the site, including 100 million correspondence games. [13] In January 2016, Chess.com announced a two-year overhaul of its previous interface (titled 'v3'). [14] 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. [14] Chess.com reached another milestone in June 2017, as the 2,147,483,647th (= 231-1) game was played, which caused the iOS app to stop working for those with 32-bit Apple devices. This occurred because of an integer overflow problem whereby the number was too large to be represented in the number of storage bits that were used. [15] [16]
In May 2018, Chess.com acquired the 3300+ Elo-rated commercial chess engine Komodo, which ranked third behind Stockfish and Houdini at the time of acquisition. [17] In conjunction, the Komodo team 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. [18]
In November 2020, Chess.com acquired the rights to broadcast the World Chess Championship 2021, which is broadcast on live-streaming platform Twitch. [19]
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. [20] [21] [22] [23]
In September 2022, Chess.com was caught in the furor of a controversy regarding cheating in professional chess games. A controversy erupted with accusations by grandmaster Magnus Carlsen against Hans Niemann. [24] [25] 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. [26] In August 2023, a US District Court judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by Niemann. [27]
In November 2022, The Chess.com Global Championship was inaugurated with a $1,000,000 prize pool. [28] 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. [29]
Chess.com runs the subsidiary site chesskid.com for chess players that are under the minimum age requirement for Chess.com. [30]
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. [31] [32] 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. [30] They have a long-term partnership with the NTCA (North Texas Chess Academy) which gives children access to online instructors. [33]
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. [34] [35] 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. [36]
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. [37]
The most important elements of the tournament formula: [38]
No | Year | Winner | Runner-up | Final score | Prize fund |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2016 [39] | Magnus Carlsen | Hikaru Nakamura | 14.5–10.5 | $40,000 |
2 | 2017 [40] | Magnus Carlsen | Hikaru Nakamura | 18–9 | $50,000 |
3 | 2018 [41] | Hikaru Nakamura | Wesley So | 15.5–12.5 | $55,000 |
4 | 2019 [42] | Hikaru Nakamura | Wesley So | 19.5–14.5 | $50,000 |
5 | 2020 [43] | Hikaru Nakamura | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 18.5–12.5 | $100,000 |
6 | 2021 [44] | Hikaru Nakamura | Wesley So | 23–8 | $100,000 |
7 | 2022 [45] | Hikaru Nakamura | Magnus Carlsen | 14.5–13.5 | $100,000 |
8 | 2023 [46] | Magnus Carlsen | Hikaru Nakamura | 13.5–12.5 | $150,000 |
9 | 2024 [47] | Magnus Carlsen | Alireza Firouzja | 23.5-7.5 | $175,000 |
The tournament starts on January 1 and, depending on the number of participants, consists of 4 or 5 rounds. [lower-alpha 1] All players are divided into groups (up to 12 people [lower-alpha 2] ), and only the winners advance to the next round. [lower-alpha 3] Players play in each round a maximum of 22 games simultaneously (with each opponent as White and Black), with a maximum of one day allocated for each move. So it can be considered a form of correspondence chess. The winner of the Championship is the player who accumulates the most points in the final round.
No | Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Number of players |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2018 [48] | Jbd735 | USA Rob King | RUS Alexey Zimin | 7344 |
2 | 2019 [49] | GER Sascha Grimm | Jbd735 | NED Daan Brandenburg | 11609 |
3 | 2020 [50] | DEN Uffe Vinther-Schou | RUS Andrei Belozerov | TUR Irmak Sipahioglu | 16831 |
4 | 2021 [51] | DEN Uffe Vinther-Schou | RUS Andrei Belozerov | UKR Leonid Starozhilov POL Marcin Szymański | 16505 |
5 | 2022 [52] | USA NefariousNebula | RUS Andrei Belozerov | USA volunteers1998 | 33633 |
6 | 2023 [53] | POL Marcin Szymański | RUS DanilinDP | POL Kacper Drozdowski | 35000 |
7 | 2024 [54] | ? | ? | ? | 60466 |
Italic font - only usernames available on the chess.com platform. |
No | Year | Winner | Runner-up | Final score |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2017 [55] | St. Louis Arch Bishops | Norway Gnomes | 9–7 |
2 | 2018 [56] | Armenia Eagles | Chengdu Pandas | 12–11 |
3 | 2019 [57] | St. Louis Arch Bishops | Baden-Baden Snowballs | 10–6 |
4 | 2020 [58] | St. Louis Arch Bishops | Canada Chessbrahs/Chengde Panda | 9.5-6.5 |
5 | 2021 [59] | Russia Wizards | St. Louis Arch Bishops | 9–7 |
6 | 2023 [60] | Gotham Knights | Shanghai Tigers | 9.5-6.5 |
Titled Tuesday is an 11-round Swiss-system 3+1 blitz chess tournament held twice every Tuesday where all entrants must have a chess title and their full legal name displayed on their Chess.com account. [61] The event started as a monthly 9 round tournament. The first edition was held on October 28, 2014 with a total prize fund of $1000, including $500 for first place, and was won by Baadur Jobava. [62] It became a weekly event on April 7, 2020, permanently became 11 rounds on October 20, 2020, and on February 1, 2022, the prize fund went from $1600 to $2500, with $1000 for first place, and two events began to be held every week instead of one. [63] As of August 28, 2024, GM Hikaru Nakamura has the most tournament wins since October 2020 with 77, followed by GM Magnus Carlsen with 20, and GM Dmitry Andreikin with 17. Other super grandmaster winners include Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alexander Grischuk, Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Fabiano Caruana. [61]
In June 2018, Chess.com held a special version of the tournament for which the winner would go on to participate in the Isle of Man International which had a prize fund of £144,000. [64] Iranian GM Pouria Darini won the event. [65]
Death Matches were introduced in January 2012. They feature titled players taking part in a series of blitz games over a non-stop 3-hour period (5-minute, 3-minute and 1-minute, all with a one-second increment). [66] There have been 38 deathmatches, participants including the grandmasters Hikaru Nakamura, Dmitry Andreikin, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Lê Quang Liêm, Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana, Judit Polgár and Nigel Short. [67]
In November 2017, Chess.com held an open tournament, called the Chess.com Computer Chess Championship (CCCC, later CCC), with the ten strongest chess engines, with $2,500 in prize money. The top-two engines competed in a "Superfinal" tournament between the two finalists – Stockfish and Houdini. In the 20-game Superfinal, Stockfish won over Houdini with a score 10.5–9.5. Five games were decisive, with 15 ending in a draw. Of the decisive games, three games were won by Stockfish, and two by Houdini. [68] [69]
In August 2018, the site announced that the Chess.com Computer Chess Championship has returned, this time as a non-stop tournament for chess engines. [70] [71]
Event | Year | Time controls | Winner | Runner-up | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Computer Chess Championship | 2017 | 15+2 | Stockfish (1) | Houdini | [69] [68] |
CCC 1: Rapid Rumble | 2018 | 15+5 | Stockfish (2) | Houdini | [72] |
CCC 2: Blitz Battle | 2018 | 5+2 | Stockfish (3) | Komodo | [73] |
CCC 3: Rapid Redux | 2019 | 30+5 | Stockfish (4) | Leela Chess Zero | [74] |
CCC 4: Bullet Brawl | 2019 | 1+2 | Stockfish (5) | Leela Chess Zero | [75] |
CCC 5: Escalation | 2019 | 10+5 | Stockfish (6) | Leela Chess Zero | [76] |
CCC 6: Winter Classic | 2019 | 10+10 | Stockfish (7) | Leela Chess Zero | [77] |
CCC 7: Blitz Bonanza | 2019 | 5+2 | Leela Chess Zero (1) | Stockfish | [78] |
CCC 8: Deep Dive | 2019 | 15+5 | Stockfish (8) | Leela Chess Zero | [79] |
CCC 9: The Gauntlet | 2019 | 5+2, 10+5 | Stockfish (9) | Leelenstein | [80] |
CCC 10: Double Digits | 2019 | 10+3 | Leelenstein (1) | Stockfish | [81] |
CCC 11 | 2019 | 30+5 | Leela Chess Zero (2) | Stockfish | [82] |
CCC 12: Bullet Madness! | 2020 | 1+1 | Leela Chess Zero (3) | Leelenstein | [83] |
CCC 13: Heptagonal | 2020 | 5+5 | Leela Chess Zero (4) | Stockfish | [84] |
CCC 14 | 2020 | 15+5, 5+2, 1+1 | Leela Chess Zero (5) | Leelenstein | [85] |
CCC Blitz 2020 | 2020 | 5+5 | Stockfish (10) | Leela Chess Zero | [86] |
CCC Rapid 2021 | 2021 | 15+3 | Stockfish (11) | Leela Chess Zero | [87] |
CCC Blitz 2021 | 2021 | 5+5 | Stockfish (12) | Leela Chess Zero | [88] |
CCC Chess 960 Blitz | 2021 | 5+5 | Stockfish (13) | Dragon | [89] |
CCC 16: Rapid | 2021 | 15+3 | Stockfish (14) | Leela Chess Zero | [90] |
CCC 16: Bullet | 2021 | 2+1 | Stockfish (15) | Dragon | [91] |
CCC 16: Blitz | 2022 | 5+5 | Stockfish (16) | Dragon | [92] |
CCC 17: Rapid | 2022 | 15+3 | Stockfish (17) | Dragon | [93] |
CCC 17: Bullet | 2022 | 2+1 | Stockfish (18) | Dragon | [94] |
CCC 17: Blitz | 2022 | 5+5 | Stockfish (19) | Leela Chess Zero | [95] |
CCC 18: Rapid | 2022 | 15+3 | Stockfish (20) | Leela Chess Zero | [96] |
CCC 19: Blitz | 2022 | 5+5 | Stockfish (21) | Dragon | [97] |
CCC 19: Rapid | 2022 | 15+3 | Stockfish (22) | Leela Chess Zero | [98] |
CCC 19: Bullet | 2023 | 1+1 | Stockfish (23) | Dragon | [99] |
CCC 20: Blitz | 2023 | 3+2 | Stockfish (24) | Dragon | [100] |
CCC 20: Rapid | 2023 | 10+3 | Stockfish (25) | Leela Chess Zero | [101] |
CCC 20: Bullet | 2023 | 1+1 | Stockfish (26) | Torch | [102] |
CCC 21: Blitz | 2023 | 3+2 | Stockfish (27) | Torch | [103] |
CCC 21: Rapid | 2023 | 10+3 | Stockfish (28) | Leela Chess Zero | [104] |
CCC 21: Bullet | 2023 | 1+1 | Stockfish (29) | Torch | [105] |
CCC 22: Blitz | 2024 | 3+2 | Stockfish (30) | Torch | [106] |
CCC 22: Rapid | 2024 | 10+3 | Stockfish (31) | Leela Chess Zero | [107] |
CCC 22: Bullet | 2024 | 1+1 | Stockfish (32) | Torch | [108] |
CCC 23: Blitz | 2024 | 3+2 | Stockfish (33) | Torch | [109] |
Event | Year | Time Controls | Winner | Runner-up | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CPU Blitz Madness | 2020 | 3+2 | Stockfish | an older version of Stockfish | [110] |
Trillion-Node Throwdown III | 2020 | 150+5 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero on the CPU | [111] |
No-Castle II | 2020 | 5+2 | Stockfish | an older version of Stockfish | [112] |
Bullet Chess is Fun | 2020 | 2+1 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [113] |
Checkmate in 4 | 2020 | 3+2 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [114] |
Odds Ladder | 2020 | 3+2 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [115] |
Merry Queen Sac | 2020 | 2+1 | Stockfish | Stoofvlees | [116] |
Budapest Bullet | 2020 | 2+1 | Leela Chess Zero | Stockfish | [117] |
King Gambit Madness | 2021 | 5+5 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [118] |
Drawkiller Update Party | 2021 | 2+1 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [119] |
To Castle Or Not To Castle II | 2021 | 3+2 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [120] |
Eco Mega-Match 2 (part 1) | 2021 | 1+1 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [121] |
Eco Mega-Match 2 (part 2) | 2021 | 1+1 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [122] |
Caro-Kann Special | 2021 | 5+2 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [123] |
King's Indian Defense Special | 2021 | 10+2 | Leela Chess Zero | Stockfish | [124] |
Dutch Defense Special | 2021 | 10+2 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [125] |
Evans Gambit Madness | 2021 | 10+2 | Leela Chess Zero | Stockfish | [126] |
Sicilian Najdorf Special | 2021 | 10+2 | Stockfish | Dragon | [127] |
Belgian Stew | 2021 | 2+1 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [128] |
Saragossa | 2021 | 2+1 | Leela Chess Zero | Stockfish | [129] |
Double Bongcloud, Rapid | 2021 | 10+2 | Leela Chess Zero | Stockfish | [130] |
The Hillbilly Attack | 2021 | 10+2 | Leela Chess Zero | Dragon | [131] |
Romantic Openings: Danish Gambit Accepted | 2021 | 3+2 | Stockfish | Dragon | [132] |
Romantic Openings: Evans Gambit Accepted | 2021 | 3+2 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [133] |
Romantic Openings: Urusov Gambit Accepted | 2021 | 5+2 | Stockfish | Dragon | [134] |
Romantic Openings: Blackmar-Diemer Gambit | 2021 | 5+2 | Stockfish | Dragon | [135] |
Romantic Openings: Stafford Gambit | 2021 | 1+2 | Leela Chess Zero | Stockfish | [136] |
Romantic Openings: Calabrese Countergambit | 2021 | 5+2 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [137] |
Romantic Openings: Traxler Counterattack | 2021 | 5+2 | Leela Chess Zero | Stockfish | [138] |
No Black Castling | 2022 | 5+5 | Stockfish | Dragon | [139] |
Draw Killer | 2022 | 15+5 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [140] |
Romantic Openings: Wing Gambit | 2022 | 5+2 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [141] |
Chess 324 Bonus | 2022 | 5+2 | Stockfish | Dragon | [142] |
Classical Cup #1 | 2023 | 30+5 | Stockfish | Leela Chess Zero | [143] |
Rating Brawl: Fall 2023 | 2023 | 1+1 | Stockfish | Torch | [144] |
Chess.com has hosted PogChamps, an amateur online tournament featuring Twitch streamers, since 2020. The first PogChamps featured streamers including xQcOW, MoistCr1TiKaL, Ludwig Ahgren, and forsen. New participants from PogChamps 2 included itsHafu and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson. [145] PogChamps 3, beginning in February 2021, debuted with a wider range of Internet personalities and celebrities, with new competitors including MrBeast, Neekolul, Myth, Pokimane, actor Rainn Wilson, and rapper Logic. [146]
Chess.com provides an extensive feature for connecting with professional chess coaches. [147] Users can search for coaches at Chess.com Coaches Club [148] based on rating, language, and availability, and view detailed profiles that include teaching styles, experience, and rates. Coaches include top players like: José Eduardo Martínez Alcántara, [149] Raunak Sadhwani, [150] Benjamin Bok [151] and many more.
Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand is an Indian chess grandmaster, a former five-time World Chess Champion and a record two-time Chess World Cup Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and he has the eighth-highest peak FIDE rating of all time. In 2022, he was elected the deputy president of FIDE.
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Champion, the reigning five-time World Rapid Chess Champion, the reigning seven-time World Blitz Chess Champion, and the reigning Chess World Cup Champion. He has held the No. 1 position in the FIDE world chess rankings since 1 July 2011 and trails only Garry Kasparov in time spent as the highest-rated player in the world. His peak rating of 2882 is the highest in history. He also holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at an elite level in classical chess at 125 games.
Christopher Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess grandmaster, streamer, YouTuber, five-time U.S. Chess Champion, and the reigning World Fischer Random Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 15, the youngest American at the time to do so. With a peak rating of 2816, Nakamura is the tenth-highest-rated player in history.
Fast chess, also known as speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than classical chess time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blitz chess, and bullet chess. Armageddon chess is a particular variation of fast chess in which different rules apply for each of the two players.
Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi is a Russian chess grandmaster.
Anish Kumar Giri is a Dutch chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he completed the requirements for the grandmaster title in 2009 at the age of 14 years, 7 months and 2 days. Giri is a five-time Dutch champion and won the Corus Chess B Group in 2010. He has represented the Netherlands at six Chess Olympiads. He has also won major international tournaments, including the 2012 Reggio Emilia tournament, 2017 Reykjavik Open, 2023 Tata Steel Chess, and shared 1st place in the 2015 London Chess Classic. In 2019 he won clear first at the Third Edition of the Shenzhen Masters.
Ding Liren is a Chinese chess grandmaster and the reigning World Chess Champion. He is the highest-rated Chinese chess player in history and also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion. He was the winner of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the finals and winning the 2019 Sinquefield Cup. Ding is the first Chinese player ever to play in a Candidates Tournament and pass the 2800 Elo mark on the FIDE world rankings. In July 2016, with a Blitz rating of 2875, he was the highest-rated Blitz player in the world. In July 2023, Ding became the No. 1 ranked Rapid player, with a rating of 2830.
Stockfish is a free and open-source chess engine, available for various desktop and mobile platforms. It can be used in chess software through the Universal Chess Interface.
Jan-Krzysztof Duda is a Polish chess grandmaster. A prodigy, he achieved the grandmaster title in 2013 at the age of 15 years and 21 days. As of August 2024, he is ranked No. 1 in Poland and No. 18 in the world. His personal best rating of 2760 makes him the highest ranked Polish player of all time.
chess24.com was an Internet chess server in English and ten other languages, established in 2014 by German grandmaster Jan Gustafsson and Enrique Guzman. Chess24 also provided live coverage of major international chess tournaments, and hosted their own online tournaments, including the Magnus Carlsen Invitational.
Lichess is a free and open-source Internet chess server run by a non-profit organization of the same name. Users of the site can play online chess anonymously and optionally register an account to play rated games. Lichess is ad-free and all the features are available for free, as the site is funded by donations from patrons. Features include chess puzzles, computer analysis, tournaments and chess variants.
Daniel Michael "Danny" Rensch is an American chess International Master, event organizer, lecturer and commentator. He holds the Arizona state record for youngest national master, at the age of 14. He is the president of American Chess Events LLC and Chief Chess Officer of Chess.com.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is an Indian chess grandmaster. As of 2 September 2024, Praggnanandhaa is ranked 12th in the world by the International Chess Federation. Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali are the first brother and sister to earn GM titles. They are also the first brother and sister to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.
Play Magnus is a commercial computer chess mobile app available for the iOS and Android mobile operating systems. The software is named after former World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen and features adjustable difficulty levels for chess players of various skills. It has been available since 2014 and is developed by the Norwegian company Play Magnus AS, which was co-founded by Carlsen.
Andrew Tang is an American chess grandmaster. He is also a popular streamer, known online for his speed chess skills especially in bullet, hyperbullet, and ultrabullet time controls as well as for playing speed chess blindfolded.
Alireza Firouzja is an Iranian and French chess grandmaster. Firouzja is the youngest player to have surpassed a FIDE rating of 2800, beating the previous record set by Magnus Carlsen by more than five months.
Leela Chess Zero is a free, open-source, and deep neural network–based chess engine and volunteer computing project. Development has been spearheaded by programmer Gary Linscott, who is also a developer for the Stockfish chess engine. Leela Chess Zero was adapted from the Leela Zero Go engine, which in turn was based on Google's AlphaGo Zero project. One of the purposes of Leela Chess Zero was to verify the methods in the AlphaZero paper as applied to the game of chess.
The World Chess Championship 2021 was a chess match between the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen and the challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi to determine the World Chess Champion. It was held under the auspices of FIDE and played during Expo 2020 at Dubai Exhibition Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, between 24 November and 12 December 2021. It was originally scheduled for the latter half of 2020 but was postponed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, this is the first sporting event to be held at an international exposition since the 1904 Summer Olympics during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, United States.
PogChamps is a series of online amateur chess tournaments hosted by Chess.com. Players in the tournament are internet personalities, primarily Twitch streamers. PogChamps takes place over the course of two weeks. The first and second PogChamps had prize pools of $50,000 each, and the third and fourth iterations had prize pools of $100,000 each.
Hans Moke Niemann is an American chess grandmaster and Twitch streamer. He first entered the top 100 junior players list on March 1, 2019, and became a FIDE grandmaster on January 22, 2021. In July 2021, he won the World Open chess tournament in Philadelphia. He had a peak global ranking of No. 16 in September 2024.