June 15, 2025 • 8 mins
Social media is a minefield for professional athletes. But online chess offers rankings, instant analysis, wholesome interactions and few trolls.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Professional athletes can't get enough of Chess dot Com by
Ira Budwey Rent by Mike Cooper. Last summer, Will Palmer,
a twenty eight year old consultant, ran into one of
the world's most famous soccer players in the lobby of
a hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. Mohammed seller an Egyptian winger
for Liverpool Left C, was in town for a pre
(00:22):
season exhibition match when Palmer spotted him sitting with a
couple of team mates. A lifelong Liverpool fan, Palmer was
thrilled to see Sellah, but he didn't want to ask
for a selfie or an autograph. He knew that Sellah
loved chess, though in a twenty twenty three interview, Sellah
said he played every day online. So Palmer, who also
(00:42):
plays regularly, opened a chess board on his laptop and
conspicuously held the screen where Sellah could see it. To
his surprise, Sellah waved him over and handed Palmer his
phone so he could out himself as a friend on
the chess dot Com app. Later that day, Sellah challenged
Parmer to a game of blitz, a former where a
match typically takes less than ten minutes. To finish, he
(01:03):
outplayed me pretty quickly, Palmer says. The chance encounter, which
Palmer first talked about on the soccer network Men in Blazers,
is a case study in serendipity, but it's also a
testament to the growing popularity of chess among professional athletes
and Chess dot COM's unique role in democratizing the market
for online play. Seller may be no New Friends level famous,
(01:25):
but with one glimpse of the app's signature green and
white board, he was willing to hand his phone to
a total stranger. Athletes playing chess is not a new phenomenon.
Professionals from the worlds of boxing Lennox Lewis, basketball, Wilt
Chamberlain baseball, Barry Bonds, football Jim Brown, and soccer Johann
Krout have all been known to enjoy the game. No
(01:47):
less an authority than grand master and five time World
chess champion Magnus Carlson has repeatedly pointed out the strategic
similarities between chess and soccer and basketball. But before chess
migrated online, athletes who played were regarded as anomalies jocks
doing nerd things. Then the smartphone came along, giving rise
to short format. Versions of the game, apps such as
(02:10):
chess dot Com put the ancient game in everybody's pocket
and allowed casual players to be matched up instantly with
opponents of equal skill. That shift changed the commitment needed
to play, and in turn, the perception of the game
in the past. I'm a chess player, and I'm super smart.
I take this really seriously. I go to a chess club.
That's my whole life, says chess dot Com co founder
(02:32):
and chief executive officer Eric Annabest. Now, being a chess
player means I play chess on my phone when I've
got five minutes to kill before my meetings start, or
in line at the grocery store. The life of a
professional athlete is filled with pockets of idle time. If
I'm laying on the training table getting worked on for
the game, I'll play, says Arizona Cardinal's quarterback Kyler Murray,
(02:53):
a daily Chess dot Com user. Aerial Powers, a veteran
WNBA player who is currently a free agent, also spends
spare moments on the app. I can play at anywhere,
at any time, she says former NBA player Gordon Haywood,
who retired last year. Says he used to play on
bus rides or at his locker in the dead time
before games. It's cool that you could get in a
(03:15):
two minute or three minute game on your phone against
any one in the world, he says. Murray, Powers and
Hayward alsoy they typically play blitz games against strangers, relying
on chess dot COM's algorithm to match them up. I'm
playing randoms all day, Murray says. Therein lies the appside
the appeal. For pro athletes, social media is a minefield
(03:35):
where they can accidentally stumble into controversy or make private
things public. It's also where fans and betters gathered at
taunt and insant players, but online chess is mostly free
from such entanglements, allowing athletes to have encounters with regular
people without the interference of celebrity. In twenty twenty two,
Cincinnati Bengals quart about Joe Burrow played ten games on
(03:56):
chess dot Com before stepping onto the field for the
Super Bowl. Although chess dot Com has a chat function
to allow interaction during games, both Murray and Heywood have
usernames that don't make their identities obvious. They like that
their opponents usually seem none the wiser. I'm just another
dude playing and testing my knowledge versus theirs, Murray says.
Asked if there are rather online spaces where he can
(04:18):
have this kind of interaction with strangers, Murray doesn't equivocate.
Hell No, Hayward says. Every so often some one will
recognize his handel because he streamed some of his chess
games on Twitch. Shalah, whose username includes his name and
a number, has said that his opponents will sometimes ask
whether he's that most Sullah, but most refuse to believe
him when he admits that he is. Murray is one
(04:41):
of tens of millions of people who signed up for
a chess dot com account in twenty twenty. The sight
boomed during the pandemic as people turned to online games
to connect with family and friends, and as top players
found an audience for streaming matches and tutorials. The October
twenty twenty release of The Queen's Gambit, a hit Netflix
series about a theme mal Chess Prodigy, provided an extra push.
(05:02):
Almost overnight, Chess became a fixture in the culture of
online gaming, complete with its own influences, rivalries, and scandals.
Chess dot Com was the backdrop for almost all of it.
Between June twenty twenty and December twenty twenty two, accounts
on the site jumped from thirty five million to one
hundred million. It had taken fourteen years to bring in
(05:23):
those first thirty five million, and unlike pandemic Darling Peloton,
chess dot Com didn't suffer in popularity when lockdowns ended.
The site recently announced its two hundred millionth sign up
and monthly active use. As a holding steady at thirty
five million, chess dot Com routinely hosts twenty five million
games per day. We've fallen into a very predictable one
(05:44):
hundred thousand new registrations a day. Alabest says, I thought
at some point soon the last person interested in chesswell register,
but it just keeps going. The privately owned company, founded
in two thousand and five by Alabest and Jay Sibson,
makes most of its money from SCIA subscribers, who pay
five to fifteen dollars a month for features such as
unlimited play and postmatch analysis. Alabis says annual revenue is
(06:08):
more than one hundred million dollars for Murray. Like many others,
chess dot Com offered a new way to pursue an
old interest. He first picked up the game as a
fourth grader, and throughout school, says he stood out as
an athlete who could hang with the chess kids. Nowadays
the athletes are playing Chess, Murray says, but I've been
doing it my whole life. Chess's locker room infiltration is
(06:30):
part of a broader boom in online gaming. Many in
the current generation of pro athletes grew up playing video games.
Now Chess effectively is one. Hayward, an avid gamer whose
favorites include League of Legends and counter Strike, says that
when he came into the NBA in twenty ten, few
of his fellow players enjoyed video games. By the time
he retired last year, almost everybody did Chess, especially chess
(06:53):
dot Com. It's just an extension of that, he says.
It's just another game to play, another rank system to
try to climb. Home. Athletes are not only a hyper
competitive bunch, Hayward points out, they're accustomed to feedback on
their performance. Chess's E low rating system offers another leaderboard
to ascend, and chess dot Com offers instant analysis of
(07:14):
games played, pointing out mistakes. And moves missed that resonates
with professional athletes because we watch film after games. Hayward says,
it's kind of like your rewatching film of the chess
game Powers. An inveterate gamer who favors Call of Duty
and NBA two K, added chess to her online diet
after the pandemic. Chess is kind of different in that
(07:34):
its mobile and its relaxing, She says, it's more of
my peaceful game. Now that she's on chess dot com,
she plans to begin inviting fans to play against her weekly.
Following a Madison Square Garden game against the New York
Knicks last Christmas, san Antonio spurse sent to Victor Wembagyama,
another chess lover, put out a call on social media
for fans to play him at the tables in Manhattan's
(07:56):
Washington Square Park. Dozens took him up on the offer.
After his loss against Sellah in Pittsburgh, Parmer texted a
few of his Liverpool fan friends and then went on
with his day. When he got home that night, he
opened the chest dot com app to play against a
random opponent. To his surprise, he was paired with Cellah.
I Immediately messaged him hullo again and he wrote back
(08:18):
high with a little emoji. Parmer says, this time Palmer
got the win.
Professional athletes can't get enough of Chess dot Com by
Ira Budwey Rent by Mike Cooper. Last summer, Will Palmer,
a twenty eight year old consultant, ran into one of
the world's most famous soccer players in the lobby of
a hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. Mohammed seller an Egyptian winger
for Liverpool Left C, was in town for a pre
(00:22):
season exhibition match when Palmer spotted him sitting with a
couple of team mates. A lifelong Liverpool fan, Palmer was
thrilled to see Sellah, but he didn't want to ask
for a selfie or an autograph. He knew that Sellah
loved chess, though in a twenty twenty three interview, Sellah
said he played every day online. So Palmer, who also
(00:42):
plays regularly, opened a chess board on his laptop and
conspicuously held the screen where Sellah could see it. To
his surprise, Sellah waved him over and handed Palmer his
phone so he could out himself as a friend on
the chess dot Com app. Later that day, Sellah challenged
Parmer to a game of blitz, a former where a
match typically takes less than ten minutes. To finish, he
(01:03):
outplayed me pretty quickly, Palmer says. The chance encounter, which
Palmer first talked about on the soccer network Men in Blazers,
is a case study in serendipity, but it's also a
testament to the growing popularity of chess among professional athletes
and Chess dot COM's unique role in democratizing the market
for online play. Seller may be no New Friends level famous,
(01:25):
but with one glimpse of the app's signature green and
white board, he was willing to hand his phone to
a total stranger. Athletes playing chess is not a new phenomenon.
Professionals from the worlds of boxing Lennox Lewis, basketball, Wilt
Chamberlain baseball, Barry Bonds, football Jim Brown, and soccer Johann
Krout have all been known to enjoy the game. No
(01:47):
less an authority than grand master and five time World
chess champion Magnus Carlson has repeatedly pointed out the strategic
similarities between chess and soccer and basketball. But before chess
migrated online, athletes who played were regarded as anomalies jocks
doing nerd things. Then the smartphone came along, giving rise
to short format. Versions of the game, apps such as
(02:10):
chess dot Com put the ancient game in everybody's pocket
and allowed casual players to be matched up instantly with
opponents of equal skill. That shift changed the commitment needed
to play, and in turn, the perception of the game
in the past. I'm a chess player, and I'm super smart.
I take this really seriously. I go to a chess club.
That's my whole life, says chess dot Com co founder
(02:32):
and chief executive officer Eric Annabest. Now, being a chess
player means I play chess on my phone when I've
got five minutes to kill before my meetings start, or
in line at the grocery store. The life of a
professional athlete is filled with pockets of idle time. If
I'm laying on the training table getting worked on for
the game, I'll play, says Arizona Cardinal's quarterback Kyler Murray,
(02:53):
a daily Chess dot Com user. Aerial Powers, a veteran
WNBA player who is currently a free agent, also spends
spare moments on the app. I can play at anywhere,
at any time, she says former NBA player Gordon Haywood,
who retired last year. Says he used to play on
bus rides or at his locker in the dead time
before games. It's cool that you could get in a
(03:15):
two minute or three minute game on your phone against
any one in the world, he says. Murray, Powers and
Hayward alsoy they typically play blitz games against strangers, relying
on chess dot COM's algorithm to match them up. I'm
playing randoms all day, Murray says. Therein lies the appside
the appeal. For pro athletes, social media is a minefield
(03:35):
where they can accidentally stumble into controversy or make private
things public. It's also where fans and betters gathered at
taunt and insant players, but online chess is mostly free
from such entanglements, allowing athletes to have encounters with regular
people without the interference of celebrity. In twenty twenty two,
Cincinnati Bengals quart about Joe Burrow played ten games on
(03:56):
chess dot Com before stepping onto the field for the
Super Bowl. Although chess dot Com has a chat function
to allow interaction during games, both Murray and Heywood have
usernames that don't make their identities obvious. They like that
their opponents usually seem none the wiser. I'm just another
dude playing and testing my knowledge versus theirs, Murray says.
Asked if there are rather online spaces where he can
(04:18):
have this kind of interaction with strangers, Murray doesn't equivocate.
Hell No, Hayward says. Every so often some one will
recognize his handel because he streamed some of his chess
games on Twitch. Shalah, whose username includes his name and
a number, has said that his opponents will sometimes ask
whether he's that most Sullah, but most refuse to believe
him when he admits that he is. Murray is one
(04:41):
of tens of millions of people who signed up for
a chess dot com account in twenty twenty. The sight
boomed during the pandemic as people turned to online games
to connect with family and friends, and as top players
found an audience for streaming matches and tutorials. The October
twenty twenty release of The Queen's Gambit, a hit Netflix
series about a theme mal Chess Prodigy, provided an extra push.
(05:02):
Almost overnight, Chess became a fixture in the culture of
online gaming, complete with its own influences, rivalries, and scandals.
Chess dot Com was the backdrop for almost all of it.
Between June twenty twenty and December twenty twenty two, accounts
on the site jumped from thirty five million to one
hundred million. It had taken fourteen years to bring in
(05:23):
those first thirty five million, and unlike pandemic Darling Peloton,
chess dot Com didn't suffer in popularity when lockdowns ended.
The site recently announced its two hundred millionth sign up
and monthly active use. As a holding steady at thirty
five million, chess dot Com routinely hosts twenty five million
games per day. We've fallen into a very predictable one
(05:44):
hundred thousand new registrations a day. Alabest says, I thought
at some point soon the last person interested in chesswell register,
but it just keeps going. The privately owned company, founded
in two thousand and five by Alabest and Jay Sibson,
makes most of its money from SCIA subscribers, who pay
five to fifteen dollars a month for features such as
unlimited play and postmatch analysis. Alabis says annual revenue is
(06:08):
more than one hundred million dollars for Murray. Like many others,
chess dot Com offered a new way to pursue an
old interest. He first picked up the game as a
fourth grader, and throughout school, says he stood out as
an athlete who could hang with the chess kids. Nowadays
the athletes are playing Chess, Murray says, but I've been
doing it my whole life. Chess's locker room infiltration is
(06:30):
part of a broader boom in online gaming. Many in
the current generation of pro athletes grew up playing video games.
Now Chess effectively is one. Hayward, an avid gamer whose
favorites include League of Legends and counter Strike, says that
when he came into the NBA in twenty ten, few
of his fellow players enjoyed video games. By the time
he retired last year, almost everybody did Chess, especially chess
(06:53):
dot Com. It's just an extension of that, he says.
It's just another game to play, another rank system to
try to climb. Home. Athletes are not only a hyper
competitive bunch, Hayward points out, they're accustomed to feedback on
their performance. Chess's E low rating system offers another leaderboard
to ascend, and chess dot Com offers instant analysis of
(07:14):
games played, pointing out mistakes. And moves missed that resonates
with professional athletes because we watch film after games. Hayward says,
it's kind of like your rewatching film of the chess
game Powers. An inveterate gamer who favors Call of Duty
and NBA two K, added chess to her online diet
after the pandemic. Chess is kind of different in that
(07:34):
its mobile and its relaxing, She says, it's more of
my peaceful game. Now that she's on chess dot com,
she plans to begin inviting fans to play against her weekly.
Following a Madison Square Garden game against the New York
Knicks last Christmas, san Antonio spurse sent to Victor Wembagyama,
another chess lover, put out a call on social media
for fans to play him at the tables in Manhattan's
(07:56):
Washington Square Park. Dozens took him up on the offer.
After his loss against Sellah in Pittsburgh, Parmer texted a
few of his Liverpool fan friends and then went on
with his day. When he got home that night, he
opened the chest dot com app to play against a
random opponent. To his surprise, he was paired with Cellah.
I Immediately messaged him hullo again and he wrote back
(08:18):
high with a little emoji. Parmer says, this time Palmer
got the win.
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