New Features And A New World Champion
April may have been the cruelest month as far as T.S. Eliot was concerned, but in the chess world it's shaping up to be pretty great. Find out what happened in March and get some sneak previews and insights into April's highlights! Hint: we're going to have a new world champion very soon.
Here's what this monthly update covers:
Product & Engineering
The team has made some awesome new improvements to your Chess.com experience. On a side note, the plumbing at Chess.com HQ has never operated more smoothly.
- We've made lots of changes to the Chess.com Events Page, making it the perfect starting point to discover and watch top-tier chess events. If you haven't yet discovered the thrill of watching some of the world's top players conjure brilliancies and blunders live, now's the time.
- The all-new Report Card feature has been released on web as part of significant improvements to Game Review. Enjoy analyzing your games with grades for each phase of your gameplay, as well as rating estimates from your chosen coach. Find out exactly what your strengths and weaknesses are, and learn from more in-depth move explanations.
- The Super Plumber Bots have appeared, providing you with a new AI challenge. Can you defeat these oddly familiar figures? Boshi!
- March gave online chess fans the unique opportunity to play against some of the strongest women in chess history—in bot form, that is. GMs Judit Polgar, Hou Yifan, Anna Muzychuk, and Irina Krush can now be found in the 'Top Players' section in Play Computer.
- Good news for puzzle lovers: we added 13,358 puzzles to our collection in March, going from a functioning total of 594,570 to 607,928.
If you are an engineer and want to help grow the game of chess, come work with us! Visit Chess.com/jobs to find out more.
Events
The main season of the PCL has finished, but it's time to start getting excited about the finals. The Champions Chess Tour continues, and Titled Tuesday has never been more competitive. There's also a little thing called the 2023 FIDE World Championship happening right now, the most important over-the-board chess event of the year in which two of the world's top players battle it out to determine the next chess world champion.
- The main season of the 2023 Pro Chess League concluded after some truly spectacular action. We saw major upsets, brilliant moves, and (as always) incredible team names. Eight teams remain, and will battle for supremacy starting on May 11 as the Shanghai Tigers take on the Norway Gnomes and the Gotham Knights face the Saint Louis Arch Bishops.
- After a great start, the second leg of the Champions Chess Tour 2023 didn't disappoint as the Chessable Masters concluded in a riveting final between GMs Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. With the very best players in the world and a $2,000,000 prize fund, the CCT is Chess.com's most important event to date.
- Titled Tuesday has seen some all-star participants over the last month, with winners including GMs Dmitry Andreikin, Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, and other luminaries of the game. GMs Daniil Dubov and David Paravyan each won a Titled Tuesday tournament on March 28, achieving the rare feat of scoring 10 points.
- The 2023 Collegiate Chess League's spring season rolls on with some exciting play-offs Check out a preview here and enjoy the best online chess league for college students.
- As mentioned above, the 2023 FIDE World Championship is officially underway. GM Ding Liren faces off against GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, with the winner taking over GM Magnus Carlsen's crown as FIDE world champion. Who will win? Check out what the numbers say...
Community
Here are some of the Community Team’s highlights, including lots of ways you can be part of the Chess.com community no matter where you are in the world.
- The PCL Prediction Contest is on pause as we wait for the finals, but it's not over by any means. If you're near the top of the leaderboard, you're still in with a chance to win a Chess.com Diamond membership, a special merch package, or even a one-on-one lesson with IM Kassa Korley. Even if you get every prediction wrong, you're still in with a chance to win a random prize!
- Chess.com has been expanding its presence on Meetup as part of our mission to foster healthy chess communities on a local and international level. Join over 15,000 like-minded people on Chess.com's Global Chess Community and make some new friends! There are also great benefits for organizers who host a minimum of one event every two months.
- Do you watch our event coverage on ChessTV, Twitch, or YouTube? We would love to hear your thoughts or feedback on how we can improve your experience. Submit your answers here for a chance to win a month of free Diamond membership on Chess.com.
Content
Enjoy a rundown of some of the top chess content from the last month, including GM Anish Giri's spectacular (and entirely fictional) rise and fall as CEO of Chess.
- While Anish Giri is definitely one of the world's best chess players, we can confirm he is not the new CEO of Chess.com. Any news you might have seen indicating otherwise, or any articles devoted to his greatness, were all part of Chess.com's April Fool's content.
- "I was so absorbed in my task that I didn’t even see my opponent sit down. At 4’9", holding a train-themed notebook and sporting a bright yellow backpack, he couldn’t have been older than eight. So naturally, I was terrified." — Popular streamer and chess content creator JulesGambit has written a great guide to playing your first over-the-board tournament, full of tips as well as entertaining stories.
- Ever wonder who some of the faces behind Chess.com are? As part of Women's History Month, we spoke to a few of the amazing women who help power the world's largest online chess platform. Meet our team!
- Two-time US Women's Champion and author Jennifer Shahade talked to Chess.com about her accomplishments, challenges, and the struggles she's faced and helped others deal with in the chess world.
Fair Play
The Champions Chess Tour and Pro Chess League events went swimmingly from a Fair Play perspective, and the team is confident that these two tournaments are an absolute gold standard for fair chess events.
Fair Play stats for March:
- 137,983 Fair Play closures (including 10 titled players)
- 286,557 mute actions
- 250,823 accounts muted
- 165,172 abuse closures
Support
The Chess.com Support Team is still experiencing a huge amount of requests and questions, but these superstars are actively working to resolve your issues as quickly and effectively as possible.
Here are the stats for March:
- Average Time to First Response: 52 hours
- Total Support Responses: 44,800
- Average Quality by Member Rating: 93%
- Total Ratings: 4,449
As always, thank you for making Chess.com such an amazing place, and thank you for the comments you leave on these updates. Stay tuned—your thoughts might be featured in one of these updates soon...
