Chess.com reaches 200 million members

Tech Crunch - Apr 24th, 2025
Open on Tech Crunch

Chess.com, nearing its 20th anniversary, has reached a significant milestone of over 200 million members, with 1.5 million paying users. The platform sees more than 6 million games played daily and attributes its sustained growth to continuous product innovation, such as the AI game review feature launched in 2021. Albert Cheng, Chess.com's chief growth officer, highlights the platform's appeal to beginners and the dynamic nature of chess, which has been played for over 1,500 years. The platform's expansion from an online forum to a comprehensive chess-playing and learning environment reflects its adaptability and responsiveness to increased global interest.

Chess.com's growth is partly driven by the surge in chess popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as cultural phenomena like Netflix's

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RATING

7.2
Fair Story
Consider it well-founded

The news story on Chess.com's growth and influence provides a comprehensive overview of the platform's achievements, with a focus on its membership milestone and product innovations. The article is timely and relevant, capturing the current landscape of online chess and the factors contributing to its popularity. It is well-structured and clear, making it accessible to a broad audience.

However, the story relies heavily on a single source from within the company, which may limit the range of perspectives and introduce potential bias. While the article presents a positive view of Chess.com's success, it could be more balanced by incorporating external viewpoints and addressing potential challenges or criticisms.

Overall, the article effectively highlights Chess.com's role in the digital chess landscape, though it could benefit from a wider variety of sources and a more balanced presentation to enhance its credibility and depth.

RATING DETAILS

8
Accuracy

The news story makes several factual claims about Chess.com's membership numbers, historical background, and product offerings. The claim that Chess.com has surpassed 200 million members aligns with publicly available information from credible sources. The founding and launch dates of 2005 and 2007, respectively, are consistent with historical records. The mention of more than 6 million games played daily is a specific statistic that would require internal verification from Chess.com, but seems plausible given the platform's size.

The story's claims about product innovation, such as the introduction of an AI game review feature in 2021, are consistent with Chess.com's public announcements and align with industry trends toward AI integration. Statements about the global interest in chess, particularly the influence of "The Queen's Gambit" and the pandemic, are widely reported and supported by external sources, adding credibility.

However, some areas would benefit from additional verification, such as the exact number of paying users and the demographic specifics of new users. While these claims appear credible, they rely on internal data that the article does not independently verify. Overall, the story's factual foundation is strong, but some details would benefit from further corroboration.

7
Balance

The article presents a largely positive view of Chess.com's growth and influence, focusing on the platform's achievements and innovations. It highlights the company's ability to adapt and thrive in a changing digital landscape, which is a valid perspective. However, the story could be more balanced by including potential challenges or criticisms the platform faces, such as competition from other chess platforms or issues related to online cheating.

The article includes comments from Albert Cheng, Chess.com's chief growth officer, which provides an insider perspective. While this adds depth, it also introduces a potential bias, as it largely reflects the company's viewpoint. Including perspectives from independent chess experts or users could enhance balance by offering external validation or critique of Chess.com's claims.

Overall, the article maintains a positive tone and provides a comprehensive overview of Chess.com's success, but it could be more balanced by incorporating a wider range of perspectives and potential challenges.

8
Clarity

The article is well-structured and clearly communicates the key points regarding Chess.com's growth and influence. The language is straightforward and accessible, making it easy for readers to understand the main claims and context.

The narrative flows logically from discussing Chess.com's membership milestone to its product innovations and the broader trends influencing chess popularity. This logical progression helps maintain reader engagement and comprehension.

However, the article could provide more clarity on some of the specific statistics and claims, such as the exact process for determining membership numbers and the impact of specific events like "The Queen's Gambit" on user growth. Overall, the article is clear and concise, with minor areas for improvement in explaining certain details.

6
Source quality

The primary source of information in the article is Albert Cheng, Chess.com's chief growth officer. While Cheng is a credible source for insights into the company's operations and strategy, relying heavily on a single company representative can limit the breadth of the perspective offered.

The article does not mention additional sources or data that could corroborate the claims made by Cheng, such as independent industry reports or user testimonials. Including such sources would enhance the credibility and reliability of the information presented.

Overall, while the source is authoritative regarding Chess.com's internal operations, the article could benefit from a wider variety of sources to provide a more comprehensive and unbiased view of the platform's impact and challenges.

7
Transparency

The article is transparent about its primary source, Albert Cheng, and clearly attributes the information and quotes to him. This transparency helps readers understand the basis of the claims made and the perspective from which they are presented.

However, the article does not provide detailed information on how the membership numbers and other statistics were obtained or verified. Including such methodological details would improve transparency by allowing readers to assess the reliability of the data.

While the article is upfront about its source, it could enhance transparency by disclosing any potential conflicts of interest, such as Cheng's role in promoting the company, and by providing more context on how the data was collected and verified.

Sources

  1. https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/chess-com-reaches-200-million-members/
  2. https://www.chess.com/article/view/chesscom-reaches-100-million-members
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess.com
  4. https://www.instagram.com/p/DFiy-KJsWKz/
  5. https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/threads-officially-moves-to-threads-com-and-updates-its-web-app/