The classic chess game has enjoyed increasing popularity in recent years, including online. But for a well-known chess site, the hype is apparently a bit too big at the moment.
Anyone who has joined the chess hype in recent years may have come across the chess.com site. Here chess enthusiasts can play, train and interact with each other (via chess.com).
But right now, it seems that too many people are doing just that.
According to a blog post by the site, on December 31, 2022, the site had 7 million logged-in members in a single day for the first time in its history. Not even a month later, on January 20th, there were already ten million members in one day.
According to the post, the numbers are increasing noticeably. Only on 5 days in January 2023 was there no new visitor record, data traffic on the site is said to have almost doubled since the beginning of December.
The chess.com mobile app is also currently on the road to success. In the German iOS store, for example, it is number 1 among the free games, and there are also high rankings in other countries. On January 20, 2023 alone, the site counted 31,700,000 games played.
But these really strong numbers are noticeable, especially in popular times, but also in the form of server problems. You know something like that from new MMOs, for example – now chess has also gotten it.
Why so many people are playing chess right now
Here’s what chess.com believes to be the reason: In the post, the team behind the site explains what might be behind the hype.
In 2020 and 2021, things like the lockdowns, but also the Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit” or the tournament series “Pogchamps” on Twitch would have caused a real boom. Various successful creators played along, from Ludwig to Pokimane.
Today, many different things combined would create a resurgence in that boom. For example, Chess.com lists the “most popular social media post of 2022” in which footballers Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi were shown with a chessboard.
According to the site, a major cheating controversy in 2021 also drew many eyes to the chess world, with many celebrities openly expressing their love of chess.
Creators, streamers, coaches and the general chess community are all cited as possible reasons, among others, as well as the possibility that many people have been given chess boards and the like as gifts around the holidays – and are now developing a passion for them.
This is how the site wants to tackle the problems: According to the current status, too much data is being sent on the journey. This includes the games (the site averages 16,000 moves per minute), but also things like interactions, chats, comments, account creation and more.
Unfortunately, one cannot simply “push a button”, according to the statement, with which the problems improve. A solution is being worked on, for example with better hardware and more powerful servers.
In addition, you want to improve various systems, but all of this takes time.
“Honestly, this is all a big bummer. We know you are here to play chess and have fun and how frustrating it is to get a 502 error (database connection) or lose a game because of it,” the statement said: “There has never been a more exciting one It’s time for chess fans and that’s why it’s so frustrating to have constant service outages.”
Short-term improvements should come, even by the end of the week – before major changes are due in two to three weeks.
What do you think of the chess boom? Have you found a passion for the game yourself? Tell us in the comments!
In the summer of 2022, a chess AI made headlines. More precisely, a robot – it broke the finger of a 7-year-old while playing.