88CHESS.COM

Chess.com is a huge website with over 3.8 million members. Chess.com offers free play 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.’

Development

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 though Chess.com. Basic members can use all of these, but cannot create tournaments. Live chess had been a beta feature until recently. 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 skills. 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’.

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.