Queen’s Gambit: The Big Business of Chess.com

Chess is a business that has, without a doubt, been supercharged by linear media and has been booming since COVID-19. As one of the most tactically complex games ever designed, Chess has over 700 years of retention and history.

But what is it like to build a chess empire? Chess.com, purchased by Erik Allebest and his co-founder for $55K in 2005, has built a web and mobile platform with over 170M raw accounts, 50M monthly active users, and 5-7M daily active users.

Join our host, Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, in a discussion with Erik that covers growing a team of two to 600 over 20 years, the monetization and engagement of a Chess platform, an overview of external acquisitions the company has made, and growing rapidly via what Erik calls a “great meme game”. We also discuss the pros and cons of not owning your IP and where the future of online Chess is headed! Checkmate! 

Also, big thanks to ZBD for making this episode possible! ZBD provides a plug-and-play API and SDK for seamless integration of instant, borderless, and low-fee payments using the Bitcoin Lightning Network. Want to better engage and monetize your global user base? Start for free at http://zbd.gg/https://grid.gg/?utm_source=naavik.co&utm_medium=media&utm_campaign=Naavik

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Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.