ChessCube
Encyclopedia
ChessCube.com is an online chess
community with over 1,400,000 registered members as of early March 2011. ChessCube.com was founded in 2007 by Mark Levitt, and offers live play, chat, and ChessCube Cinema. In 2009, ChessCube hosted the world's first FIDE-rated online matches played in the SA Open 2009.
's GamePlay.com, but GamePlay.com naturally dropped its board and card games in 1999 after it listed. Mark launched ChessCube as a market test in 2007 in South Africa
, and ChessCube was offered internationally in January 2008. As of August 2009, ChessCube had over 650,000 registered users from over 200 countries. On 10 August 2009, ChessCube announced a US$1.25m VC funding from InVenFin.
ChessCube's community is managed by moderators who are ChessCube players themselves. Moderators may ban players who are abusive.
Various chat rooms are set up for various groups, mainly by country. Popular youtube commentator ChessNetwork/Jerry also has a chat room of his own in the site.
A dedicated ChessCube forum also exists independently of the main site to discuss the site and other topics.
, Michael Leeman and Vinny Lingham
.
ChessCube Chat allows all registered players who are logged in to chat to one another, either in chat rooms, while playing chess games against one another or while spectating chess games.
ChessCube Cinema is an Adobe AIR application that can be downloaded to a user's desktop. It allows chess videos and lectures to be downloaded and viewed by the user. These videos allow a chessboard demonstrating the lecture to viewed alongside the lecturer. The Foxy Openings series can be purchased to be viewed on ChessCube Cinema.
. After negotiating with FIDE, the World Chess Federation, several matches were played online using ChessCube. These matches were FIDE-rated — a world first for chess. Participants in Melbourne, Australia, played against participants in Cape Town. Amon Simutowe
won the SA Open 2009.
2008 Awards.
ChessCube won the 2008 WP Sports Award: Media Award - Electronic.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
community with over 1,400,000 registered members as of early March 2011. ChessCube.com was founded in 2007 by Mark Levitt, and offers live play, chat, and ChessCube Cinema. In 2009, ChessCube hosted the world's first FIDE-rated online matches played in the SA Open 2009.
History
Mark Levitt, founder of ChessCube, was involved in chess publishing in the early 1990s. From 1997 to 1998, Mark built the online Chess World for British TelecomBT Group
BT Group plc is a global telecommunications services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the largest telecommunications services companies in the world and has operations in more than 170 countries. Through its BT Global Services division it is a major supplier of...
's GamePlay.com, but GamePlay.com naturally dropped its board and card games in 1999 after it listed. Mark launched ChessCube as a market test in 2007 in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, and ChessCube was offered internationally in January 2008. As of August 2009, ChessCube had over 650,000 registered users from over 200 countries. On 10 August 2009, ChessCube announced a US$1.25m VC funding from InVenFin.
Community
ChessCube has over 1,000,000 registered users. ChessCube's users are from around the globe, including India, Philippines and the USA.ChessCube's community is managed by moderators who are ChessCube players themselves. Moderators may ban players who are abusive.
Various chat rooms are set up for various groups, mainly by country. Popular youtube commentator ChessNetwork/Jerry also has a chat room of his own in the site.
A dedicated ChessCube forum also exists independently of the main site to discuss the site and other topics.
Investors
ChessCube has secured $1.8m to date in venture capital. Investors include InVenFin, a subsidiary of Venfin LimitedVenFin
VenFin is an active private equity and venture capital investor focusing on high growth investment opportunities. The company has assets in excess of $1.1 billion spanning the telecommunications, software, energy and media sectors...
, Michael Leeman and Vinny Lingham
Vinny Lingham
Vinny Lingham is a South African Internet entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Yola, Inc. , a San Francisco-based Web 2.0 start-up that provides free website building, publishing and hosting services. He is also the co-founder of SiliconCape.com, an NGO based in South Africa that aims to turn...
.
Features
ChessCube Play is ChessCube's signature live chess platform. Games can be rated or unrated, and timed or untimed. Fast games are timed games less than 10 minutes. Slow games are games longer than 15 minutes. Games can be standard or Chess960, a variant where starting positions are shuffled. There are 960 possible starting variations, hence the name. Registered users who are logged in can spectate live games.ChessCube Chat allows all registered players who are logged in to chat to one another, either in chat rooms, while playing chess games against one another or while spectating chess games.
ChessCube Cinema is an Adobe AIR application that can be downloaded to a user's desktop. It allows chess videos and lectures to be downloaded and viewed by the user. These videos allow a chessboard demonstrating the lecture to viewed alongside the lecturer. The Foxy Openings series can be purchased to be viewed on ChessCube Cinema.
Memberships
In mid 2011, ChessCube switched exclusively to VIP memberships while still allowing people without memberships to play a limited amounts of games for free.SA Open 2009
In July 2009, ChessCube sponsored the SA Open held at Wynberg Boys' High SchoolWynberg Boys' High School
Wynberg Boys' High School is a public school for boys in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.It was founded in 1841 and is the second oldest school in South Africa. It had humble beginnings in Glebe Cottage under first Headmaster John McNaughton and changed site three times before moving onto its...
. After negotiating with FIDE, the World Chess Federation, several matches were played online using ChessCube. These matches were FIDE-rated — a world first for chess. Participants in Melbourne, Australia, played against participants in Cape Town. Amon Simutowe
Amon Simutowe
----Amon Simutowe is a Zambian International Grandmaster of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation. He currently resides in Oxford, where he is studying for the MSc in Economics for Development.- Childhood and early career :Amon's mother died before his second birthday...
won the SA Open 2009.
Awards
ChessCube was a semifinalist in the Adobe MAXAdobe MAX
The Adobe MAX is an annual event held by Adobe Systems in North America, Europe and Japan. The purpose of the event is to promote the latest Adobe releases to those in the computer design and development industries....
2008 Awards.
ChessCube won the 2008 WP Sports Award: Media Award - Electronic.