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Chess.com has done one thing, and one thing very well, for almost 20 years, but now it\u2019s going beyond its domain name. The biggest name in online chess quietly launched its first companion site in beta back in May: Gambit, a free online poker website where players can learn the game without risking any real money. Now Gambit\u2019s ready to really get the ball rolling with its first livestreamed event and collaborations with content creators, and Chess.com is planning to branch out into even more games from here.<\/p>\n
Chess.com\u2019s chief growth officer, Albert Cheng, told The Verge<\/em> the company chose poker for its first companion site because, like chess, it has learning and social elements on top of just playing the game. He also promised there will never be real-money gambling on Gambit, saying, \u201cReal money is the problem we built Gambit to get away from, the whole industry makes money when beginners lose. We\u2019d rather build a place where people can actually learn.\u201d<\/p>\n Gambit will look familiar to anyone who\u2019s used Chess.com. It borrows the same design style and includes similar play modes, like bot matches, games with friends, tournaments, a review mode for studying your past games, and a learning mode. Gambit even includes Chess.com\u2019s bot characters, with matching skill levels \u2014 I immediately recognized \u201cMartin,\u201d the lowest skill level bot from Chess.com, who is also the lowest skill level bot on Gambit.<\/p>\n PreviousNext<\/p>\n 1\/2<\/strong>Gambit includes interactive lessons to learn poker. <\/em> Image: Gambit<\/span><\/p>\n Chess.com also developed its own Elo-style rating system for Gambit. Cheng explained in an interview with The Verge<\/em> that the rating system serves as the main motivator for players to improve: \u201cYou\u2019re not gambling your own hard-earned money necessarily, so the stakes are lower from that standpoint, but you need something to counterbalance it that you care about, and that keeps the ecosystem in play, and keeps the poker that\u2019s on Gambit reasonably high-quality.\u201d<\/p>\n The rating system is also the backbone of Gambit\u2019s paid subscription for access to premium learning features, following the same model Chess.com uses. \u201cOur primary business model of Chess.com is a subscription, but most people play Chess.com for free,\u201d Cheng said. \u201cThey subscribe to get unlimited access to review their games and to get unlimited puzzles, lessons, et cetera.\u201d A reliable rating system allows players to track their improvement, potentially motivating them to pay for those premium features.<\/p>\n PreviousNext<\/p>\n 1\/2<\/strong>Players can study their past games in Gambit\u2019s review mode. <\/em> Image: Gambit<\/span><\/p>\n Rating systems are also at the heart of Chess\u2019s next move. Chess.com is now looking to expand into even more classic games, including go, backgammon, and mahjong. Like Gambit, Chess.com is developing Elo-style rating systems for these games, as well. Cheng didn\u2019t say when the new sites will launch but that \u201cdevelopment is moving quite rapidly\u201d on them, using the same playbook he used for Gambit.<\/p>\n AI is a key reason Chess.com was finally able to expand into other games after nearly 20 years, according to Cheng. He and one other employee took Gambit from prototype to launch within a year, partly with help from AI, mainly for coding tasks. \u201cI think the biggest advantage that it\u2019s provided is essentially being able to read our existing codebase and our design system and apply consistent patterns to how we develop Chess.com over to a different platform and do so quickly,\u201d Cheng said.<\/p>\n He went on to add that there were also a lot of areas where AI struggles, such as brand and feature design. \u201cI think that\u2019s the best ultimate use of AI is that ultimately it\u2019s going to be a blend, right?\u201d Cheng said, adding, \u201cJust because code is easier to write doesn\u2019t mean that you just let it run on its own, but it certainly is a superpower in getting things off the ground.\u201d Cheng also said the version of Gambit that\u2019s live at the time of writing has \u201czero or close to zero\u201d AI-created assets, which were used in early prototypes.<\/p>\n According to Cheng, without help from AI, getting another site up and running would have required a bigger team or \u201cwould have been a lot more disruptive to the status quo of building and growing Chess.\u201d Now that a \u201csmall, scrappy\u201d team can get a new platform off the ground much faster, it\u2019s opened the door for Chess.com to dip into more games, starting with poker.<\/p>\n As Chess.com plans its next move, Cheng says they\u2019re focusing on games with \u201cboth that classic durability plus the community around it,\u201d like chess. Now that Gambit has launched, Cheng\u2019s leaning into the community and social side of the platform more, following Chess.com\u2019s lead, and getting content creators more involved. On August 31st at 12PM ET \/ 9AM PT, Gambit\u2019s livestreaming its Gambit Cup for the first time on Twitch and YouTube with Chess.com co-founder Danny Rensch and chess content creator Alexandra Botez.<\/p>\n Follow topics and authors<\/strong> from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.<\/span><\/p>\n\n