Chess.com

Chess.com
Front page of Chess.com.

Chess.com is an online chess community with over 4 million members[1] as of October 2011. Chess.com offers free play[2] and contains a range of activities for its users, including game play, tournaments, articles, videos, and social tools. Its slogan 'Play, Learn, Share' reflects its aim to provide users with an 'enjoyable environment where chess players of all skill levels can learn, contribute, play, build, chat, and share.'[3]

Contents

History

Chess.com was originally owned by Aficionado, Inc., the makers of the software Chess Mentor. It later changed hands and was re-launched in May 2007 by its founders (Erik Allebest, Igor Green, Piotr Dachtera, and Matt Helfst).[4] There are more than 20 staff members who program, do customer service, and manage content. There are an additional 20+ paid contributors doing articles, videos, and online chess courses. While the site centers around playing online chess, it was also designed as a place for users to learn and share, which is emulated by the site's slogan. The site has strict rules against using software.[5]

Julie "Kohai" Howells is one of the oldest employees at Chess.com having been there for some four years or so. She joined the site in August 2007. She was a regular user who consistently offered advice and answered questions in the forums when owner Erik plucked her out and offered her a job. She now is the Site Experience Manager and answers tickets, tests for bugs, and generally handles problems and complaints by users.

Julie is typically on the site an average of 10 to 15 hours a day and is a self-described "workaholic." She lives in Wales with her husband and two dogs, a Jack Russell named Spud and a Terrier named Oscar.

Development

Various design enterprises were employed to construct the foundations of the site, such as Prototype JavaScript Framework (to ease development of dynamic web applications), TinyMCE and Qcodo.[6] Funding for projects and the development of the site comes from advertisements and paid memberships. Chess.com does not prioritize playing, sharing, or studying chess, which allows it to expand into the different online chess markets. However, taking part in discussions, posting comments, and being a greeter are all considered beneficial to the site's reputation. To recognize a player's contributions, players have a user profile where all activities are listed, and member points are rewarded to value these activities. The website is divided into the following sections:

1) Play: The play section implements six ways to play chess- turn-based, live, tournament, vote, against the computer, and mobile chess. You can also play chess on Facebook and iGoogle. Basic members can use all of these, but cannot create tournaments. Live chess had been a beta feature until recently, as the servers are now considerably more stable. Turn-based chess offers both standard and Chess 960 games.

2) Learn: Various tools are available in the learn section, which encourages players to improve their chess. The majority of the tools offer a free trial, but are generally not accessible by basic members. These include video lessons, Chess Mentor, a game explorer, book openings, tactics trainer, a daily puzzle, and a computer workout.

3) Read: Articles, news and personal blogs are posted in the read section. Columns are also posted weekly by several different grandmasters, and there is a chess encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

4) Forums: This section houses the Chess.com forums, where everyone can talk about whatever they want.

5) Resources: This section includes an analysis board, downloadable items, Chess.com gear, classified ads, a site map, a welcome video, books & equipment, a browser toolbar (powered by Conduit), and widgets & badges.

6) Members: This section lets users search for members & titled players, invite friends, look at photos, buy a membership, or look at a country list & an interactive map.

7) Groups: Users can choose to join a public group, a private group, or a team. These teams can compete with other teams in regular and vote chess matches. Some examples of team names are 'NBAfanclub' and 'Team USA'.

8) Local: This section allows users to search for local tournaments, coaches, and clubs. There are maps for locating where all of these things are.

9) Fun: The 'fun' section is available to all users. It includes Chess.com TV, an endless quiz, trophies, free videos, surveys, chess quotes, fun articles, and a Chess.com podcast.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.chess.com/members/member_countries.html
  2. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/crosswords/chess/14chess.html
  3. ^ http://www.chess.com/about.html
  4. ^ http://www.chess.com/article/view/about-chesscom
  5. ^ http://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/chesscom-policy-on-cheating
  6. ^ http://www.chess.com/thankyou.html

External links


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