PogChamps Chaos Continues Into August (And Other Updates)
The months of July and August both received their names from Roman emperors (Julius and Augustus) and we never really got around to changing them.
There have been plenty of changes across Chess.com and the chess world over the last month, however. Check them out below, and get a look at some exciting upcoming events!
Here's what this monthly update covers:
Chess.com's game analysis is now stronger than ever. Will your next Game Review be a masterpiece?
- August features new bots, with July's canine challengers replaced by
tumultuous terrapinsRenaissance artists. Sorry, got a bit confused by the names there. - Chess.com has upgraded to the most powerful version of Stockfish, which is now powering Game Review and is available for use in all web browsers in Analysis!
- A whopping 27,895 puzzles were added to the database, reaching a month-end total of 713,507.
If you are in tech and would like to join our team, we're hiring!
Events
PogChamps 5 has lived up to lofty expectations, and the world's top chess players (including GMs Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura) are showing no signs of slowing down.
- GM Hikaru Nakamura clinched the 2023 Bullet Chess Championship, defeating Carlsen in overtime in a spectacular Grand Final.
- Carlsen won the Champions Chess Tour Aimchess Rapid 2023, defeating GM Wesley So in the Division I Grand Final.
- GM Ju Wenjun won a wild final game of the 2023 FIDE Women's World Championship against GM Lei Tingjie to claim her fourth women's world championship title.
- PogChamps 5 is off to a blistering start, with brilliancies and blunders in (roughly) equal measure as celebrities and content creators go head to head.
- The 2023 FIDE World Cup has kicked off in Baku, Azerbaijan, with GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, and Ian Nepomniachtchi among the top contenders.
Community
Earn premium Chess.com membership by joining the chess community on Twitch, play in upcoming tournaments, and more!
- Registration is now open for the Fall 2023 season of the Collegiate Chess League! This event features a $25,000 prize fund and is open to all university students.
- Between July 26 and August 11, you'll be able to watch chess streams on Twitch to earn 14 days of free premium! In other words, you can enjoy PogChamps 5 and the 2023 FIDE World Cup while getting two weeks of free premium Chess.com membership as a bonus.
- Untitled Tuesday has been added to our weekly community event line-up, meaning that any (untitled) member of the official Chess.com Community club can take part.
- Over 2,000 of you participated in the International Chess Day arenas in the Community Club!
- The name of the $500 chessboard has been chosen... congratulations to our winner Ahmed, and don't miss this announcement from Brad himself.
Content
Some of our favorite content from the last month featured GM David Howell challenging Carlsen to solve obscure chess dilemmas, as well as fascinating deep-dives into women's chess champions and more.
- Ever wonder how good a chess grandmaster's memory is? Watch the video above to find out.
- As a bonus, how about watching two grandmasters playing chess while having to remember what all the pieces are?
- Last month also saw a deep-dive into the greatest women to ever play chess, and how they compare on a decade-to-decade basis.
- “That’s it. This is going to be my last game ever, I’m quitting chess.” If you've ever found yourself saying something similar, check out this article by guest writer Jules and overcome your chess stress!
Chessable
Level up your chess skills with free lessons from some of the world's top players and coaches below.
- The Chessable Festable was held on International Chess Day (July 20), featuring 14 hours of free lessons in the Chessable Classroom with big names like GMs Maurice Ashley, Sam Shankland, and many more.
- GM Peter Heine Nielsen (a.k.a. Magnus Carlsen's coach) has made his debut on Chessable with Techniques of Positional Play, in which he teaches you 45 positional maneuvers you need to know. Check out the free lesson here!
- GM Gawain Jones recently released Lifetime Repertoires: Jones' 1.e4 e5, with a free sample of the course available here.
ChessKid
ChessKid remains the best place to develop the future generation of chess talents, and the best platform for all kids who want to enjoy the game of chess.
- ChessKid superstar IM Alice Lee made an appearance on Good Morning America to discuss her amazing achievement of reaching the International Master title at only 13 years old.
- Fellow ChessKid icon FM Tani Adewumi also found himself on television, playing tennis legend Roger Federer in New York! Check out the video above.
- The ChessKid Youth Speed Chess Championship is reaching its conclusion, as Canadian prodigy CM Aaron Mendes awaits his opponent in the final after defeating FM Fausti Oro (the youngest player to ever reach 2300) in their semifinal leg.
- ChessKid also celebrated International Chess Day with a live-streamed tournament; the winner received the chance to join a special Q&A call with GM Magnus Carlsen!
Fair Play
The Fair Play team works hard behind the scenes to keep Chess.com a safe and fair place to play and is always vigilantly monitoring events.
Fair Play stats for July:
- 70,760 Fair Play closures (including 16 titled players)
- 110,000 mute actions
- 97,000 accounts muted
- 107,000 abuse closures
Support
The Chess.com Support Team is always working to resolve your issues as quickly and effectively as possible. Here are the stats for July:
- Average Time to First Response: 1 day, 7 hours
- Total Requests Received: 86,058
- Average Quality by Member Rating: 94%
- Total Ratings: 7,407
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...
