Lifetime Repertoire Caro-Kann

129 Shares

I was doing market research when some data jumped out at me, and an awesome idea was born. What if the biggest chess sites were part of an epic game of Risk? Oh, what a mighty battle that would be. I went down the rabbit hole.

This map shows that the chess playing market is dominated by two behemoths, Chess.com and Lichess.org. Chess24 has bravely held some territories but looks set to lose out should some key contested areas not go their way.

Like in a true game of Risk, both Chess.com and Lichess.org hold strongholds in their capital countries. The game of Risk is said to have been originally invented by a French filmmaker in 1957. Similarly, Lichess.org was too born in the country of love, started by a passionate French developer. Therefore, France remains the stronghold of Lichess.org with a commanding presence, outranking Chess.com by over 25%.

Chess.com, which was started by two high-energy American entrepreneurs, has made the most of their capital country. They out-rank Lichess.org in the United States by almost 65%! This advantage has led to their domination of the entire North American continent. They must be getting a seriously awesome army bonus for controlling a whole continent!

GM Yasser Seirawan\'s Winning Chess Strategies

Finally, Chess24’s capital is Germany, and despite a strong presence, it is just not enough to tip the scales. They are the first player in this awesome game of Risk (or Risiko) to lose their capital.

If this were a true game of Risk, which side would you pick? Where would you send more troops? What key territories would you be aiming for? Let us know via Twitter @chessable and join in the fun!

Methodology

The top three most popular chess sites according to Alexa.com were picked.

Countries were awarded to players if their Alexa.com rank in that country was at least 10% better than the others.

Alexa ranks were accessed on June 7th, 2017

Some countries had no data available, even with our premium albeit still rubbish access to Alexa.

Disclaimer

This is just for fun. We endorse no one and love all these sites equally as much; we think they are all awesome in their own way. If you haven’t yet, claim your free Chessable account today!







David is Chessable’s CEO and Chief Scientist. He finished his dissertation on expertise and expert performance as part of a MSc in Psychology of Education (BPS) at the University of Bristol, and also holds a PGCert in Applied Psychology from the University of Liverpool. David’s chess rating is around 1,850 FIDE.