EP 368- Erik Allebest (Chess.com CEO)- Online Cheating, The Magnus-Hikaru match that fell through, the Chess24 closure & more

Recorded on January 31, 2024 

Featuring guest co-host FM Nate Solon 

With talk of online cheating recently dominating chess conversations, Chess.com CEO and co-founder Erik Allebest joined me (and guest co-host FM Nate Solon) to discuss the issue at length. While Erik acknowledges that chess cheating is an existential threat to the game, the research of his Chess.com team suggests that people overestimate the frequency of online cheating occurrences. Erik also discussed Chess.com’s current and forthcoming anti-cheat measures, their policy regarding not naming suspected cheaters, and Erik’s thoughts on some recent headline-grabbing comments by GM Fabiano Caruana. We also covered a lot of topics unrelated to online cheating, including The Magnus-Hikaru match that fell through last year, the closures of Chess24 and the Pro Chess League, Chess.com’s relationship with FIDE, and Erik’s reflections on the Niemann-Carlsen story. As Erik discussed, there will still be a lot more information coming out about that story in a forthcoming Netflix documentary. I appreciated Erik’s willingness to speak so openly about so many issues and think that you will learn a lot from the conversation. 

0:00- Be sure to check out Chessable’s new courses including GM Srinath Narayanan’s brand new course on the Classical Sicilian, and if you use this link to sign up for Chessable Pro, and/or make a Chessable purchase, it will help support Perpetual Chess. 

https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro

0:01- Here are the links to subscribe to guest co-host FM Nate Solon’s blog and to check out his new learning cohort, The Chess Gym:

https://thechessgym.com/

https://zwischenzug.substack.com/

0:03- Erik Allebest joins the podcast! We begin by discussing chess cheating. 

Mentioned: Erik’s first interview with Ilya Levitov

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZDRrWAx2Rk

(there is a part 2 to that interview that was released after this podcast was recorded)

NY Times article: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/22/crosswords/chess-cheating-online-fide.html

13:30- What does Erik think of GM Fabiano Caruana’s recent suggestions of widespread cheating during Titled Tuesday? 

Mentioned; Nate’s post called Beating Hikaru

https://zwischenzug.substack.com/p/beating-hikaru

27:00- More on cheating, including whether they have considered having players play from centralized locations and other issues. 

31:00- What goes into their policy of not naming cheaters, might that policy be changed? 

40:00- Has Chess.com had discussions with FIDE about sharing info about who has been banned from their site? 

42;00- Would Chess.com consider being involved in a new chess governing body? 

Mentioned: Episode 364 with GM Patrick Wolff 

49:00- What happened with the match between Magnus and Hikaru that fell through last year? 

Mentioned: The State of Chess.com 2023:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri3Z809CbS8

55:00- What will be the subject of a forthcoming Netflix chess documentary?

Mentioned: GM Sam Sevian 

57:00- What did the CHess.com team learn from the Niemann-Carlsen controversy? 

1:01:00- Why was the Pro Chess League shut down? What about Chess24? 

1:11:00- Was selling a partial stake of Chess.com to the private equity firm General Atlantic related to the Play Magnus acquisition? 

Mentioned: Isai Scheinberg, General Atlantic Announces Investment in Chess.com:

https://www.generalatlantic.com/media-article/chess-com-announces-growth-investment-from-general-atlantic/

1:20:00- Closing thoughts- what is Erik excited for in the coming year? 

Thanks to Erik for joining us, and to FM Nate Solon for co-hosting! 

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https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess

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