About this episode

Erik Allebest discusses the evolution of Chess.com and its impact on the chess community amidst technological advancements.

In a world of infinite gaming and entertainment possibilities, how does a centuries-old game stay so popular? Chess.com co-founder and CEO Erik Allebest joins Sarah Guo to explain how the evolution of technology has kept people coming back to chess, even when machines can beat us at the game. Erik talks about how the desire to build a MySpace-like community for chess led to the purchase of a domain name from a bankruptcy sale back in 2005, and scaled into a community with 10 million daily active users and 250 million total registered members. He also discusses the growth of the cultural relevance of chess, how investments from private equity firms General Atlantic and CVC helped grow and strengthen their platform, and how Chess.com is leveraging AI both within the business itself and to make a better product for its community. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @chesscom | @erikallebest Chapters: 00:00 – Cold Open Trailer 01:05 – Erik Allebest Introduction 01:48 – Chess.com Today 02:57 – Buying and Scaling Chess.com  06:29 – Competition and Growth 11:52 – Chess and Cultural…

People in this episode

Host: Sarah Guo

Guest: Erik Allebest

Topics covered

• chess
• technology
• community building
• AI
• business growth
• cultural relevance

Keywords

• Chess.com
• Erik Allebest
• AI
• community
• private equity
• cultural relevance
• gaming

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Chess.com, General Atlantic, CVC

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