Chess.com’s Chief Chess Officer, IM , hosted the latest installment of State of Chess on Thursday. He was joined by several colleagues to share exciting updates, including the highly anticipated return of PogChamps.
The three-hour broadcast on Thursday covered a range of topics, from tournament announcements to fair play updates and product innovations, before he eventually concluded by answering some spicy questions.
We provide you with a summary of the updates below, or you can watch the full three-hour broadcast:
The State of Chess had five segments with the following categories:
ICYM: In Case You Missed It
Danny kicked off the State of Chess with a recap of the major moments in the chess world in the last months.
Chess is booming among sports athletes. NBA star Victor “Wemby” Wembanyama turned up in New York to play chess against fans in the Washington Square Park.
NFL Films released on and chess in the NFL. BlitzChamps was also on site at the SuperBowl.
GM has been the star of Chess.com’s new prize tournament series, , completing .
GM , the 14-year-old U.S prodigy, became , dethroning five-time champion GM . “This was a big deal,” Danny said.
The signed to bring chess to the Esports World Cup (EWC). Fourteen of the world’s top players to major esports organizations.
GM received massive attention for his appearance , The Joe Rogan Experience, in an episode that currently has 4.7 million views .
Carlsen will also play an exclusive Vote Chess match against He follows in the footsteps of GMs and . Never before has such a match been a Freestyle Chess game.
Magnus’s infamous pair of was sold at an , raising money for Big Brothers Big Sisters. The winning bid came from author and podcaster, Peter Attia.
Chess.com launched the with over 36,000 registrants. , the first tournament for coaches and chess improvers, will take place in September and October and pair great improvers with great coaches.
PogChamps 6
The big news of State of Chess was the announcement of the sixth edition of PogChamps, the for internet personalities. Previous editions have been immensely popular and brought hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of new fans to chess.
“Ask your mom to get one weekend to watch your favorite streamers. It’s gonna be awesome,” Rensch teased.
POGCHAMPS IS BACK! 😮 April 29 – May 2!
— Chess.com (@chesscom)
More details on participants and the format will be revealed soon.
Product Updates
In the next segment, Danny was joined by Chess.com’s Growth Officer Albert Cheng, who shared some exciting product updates.
The World’s Best Virtual Chess Coach
A key update, was the announcement of an upgraded virtual coach. Members will have personalized virtual chess coaches to help with game review, lessons, and more.
Cheng called it a breakthrough for Chess.com’s more than 200 million members. “We want to make this character come to life with audio and potentially with animations. The coach is going to be integrated across a range of different chess activities,” he said. “It adds a humanizing element to our product experience.”
The new Virtual Chess Coach was announced during State of Chess.
New Puzzle Experience
Chess.com is also coming with a new puzzle experience where you can enjoy puzzles in an all-new way, exploring worlds, advancing through tiers and even prestiging.
“As you make your way through this experience, you can solve puzzles and get points. We are also integrating streaks and bonuses. You will even be able to see where your friends are on the path so you can pass them or share and challenge them,” Cheng explained.
Chess.com’s new puzzle experience is coming soon!
Some other product updates included:
The is now hosting 94% of games, delivering faster games worldwide for Chess.com’s members. Players who have previously experienced slower connections should see a great improvement in stability and speed.
Chess.com is introducing a new Friends & Family Plan, an affordable plan to share a Diamond-plan membership with up to six seats, saving up to 75% compared to the original price. “We saw this being a success at Duolingo and many other companies,” Cheng said.
Group Product Manager Dylan Rittman also joined Danny to speak about the new Game Review features, such as audio on the web version.
New Courses Feature For Improvers With Greg Giusti
You can now join the Chessable club. Join the Chessable club or join the beta to try out Courses on Chess.com!
The next guest on State of Chess was Chessable and Train President Greg Giusti. He shared the plans of bringing Chessable courses over to Chess.com.
, which gives you access to Chessable’s massive educational library, are now available in Beta. Expected launch is in April or May.
Join the to find valuable resources, discuss topics, and offer feedback.
Chessable now offers a Variation Preview, where you can see up to five variations in your favorite courses for free. Everyone gets 10 tokens for free every month.
The new Chessable PRO offers 20% discount on any course, access to 300 Pro Exclusive courses. You can also train anywhere with offline mode and have personalized puzzle training from your own games.
Fair Play Updates With Sean Arn & Kassa Korley
Danny was joined by Director of Fair Play Sean Arn and Director of Professional Relations IM to discuss the latest state and updates of the Fair Play department.
Sean Arn and Kassa Korley on the call with Danny Rensch during the State of Chess broadcast.
Korley shared a status report on their recent work on the new Freestyle Friday tournaments. With more tournaments in variants, Chess.com has also increased investment in Fair Play detection. There is now cheat detection in every variant of chess.
Some observations from the Fair Play team after two months of Freestyle Friday tournaments.
He noted how players in Freestyle Chess are less accurate and also play slower and longer games compared to Titled Tuesday with regular chess.
Some big numbers were revealed in the latest Fair Play Report, such as 106,000+ accounts being closed in February, including eight titled closures. “We are very vigilant about closing accounts of any level,” Korley said. “There has to be some public accountability for titled players,” he said.
Sean noted how more than 900 million games have been analyzed since October, which is six million per day. 91% of the cheat reports are related to players rated below 2000.
field, and the entire Champions Chess Tour qualifier, are now , Chess.com’s Fair Play software for prize events. The software can see and store the processes, along with video & audio output, that is running on the computer.
Live Q&A: Danny Answers Spicy Questions
Before following the tradition in State of Chess by taking on questions from the community, Danny talked about Chess.com’s plans for 2025.
A status update on Chess.com’s New Year Resolutions.
He revealed plans of hosting the Armageddon Championship, but noted how the chess calendar is “an absolute bleep show.” “It’s a nightmare. The chess calendar in 2025 is a complete mess. It’s hard to find dates even when you want to do cool stuff,” he said.
Danny also answered a number of questions from the community: Here are some of them:
arandomguyx: thoughts on ?
Answer: This was obviously a playful joke that really went viral in the wrong way in many ways. Guess what. We’re going to do it again with the queen or king. Chess.com does not own chess. If anyone was offended or misinterpreted that joke, I am sorry. It was never meant to be that way. It was a ton of fun and we’re going to continue to have fun and make fun of ourselves.
BlobKat: one question, and one question only: Did Hans Niemann cheat?
Answer: “I’ve talked a little bit about my history and perspective with Greg Mustreader.”
Hzchan: Do your chess tournaments make money, like the SCC or even Titled Tuesday?
Answer: “We lose more money with our events than people are happy about, typically me! We have always believed in investing in what I feel is our responsibility, which is to serve the community.”
arandomguyx: Is there some sort of secret blacklist? As in a list of people you all have secret beef with?
Answer: “There are a lot of claims about this and conspiracy theories out there. I find it funny that Hans, for example, continues to claim that Chess.com is the head of some sort of conspiracy theory when he is playing in all of our events and all of the partners that we directly work with or influence have been encouraged to invite Hans, if anything. Regardless of Hans’ actions or any implications of other events or organizers, there is no conspiracy theory there. There have been people who have been banned for cheating, but we do not hold grudges.”
Thanks to the Chess.com community for joining us for this State of Chess, submitting their questions and feedback, and we look forward to the next one!
