On this day, a year ago, chess24 opened its doors, launching a new platform to enable thousands of fans around the world to play for free, learn from top players, read news, and watch the best live tournaments. In this article we'll share some highlights from 365 exciting days, with many more to come!

From day one chess24 has been an international site, with full content available in our three launch languages — English, Spanish, and German. So, to celebrate we'll take a look back at some of our most popular content site-wide.

Most popular video series

We have hundreds of hours of video series content in our growing library for Premium members, including works by former World Champion Viswanathan Anand, Women's World Champion Hou Yifan, the seven-time Russian Champion Peter Svidler and other top players. However, the most-watched series so far is actually Georgian International Master Sopiko Guramishvili's "Sicilian Sacrifices".

We contacted Sopiko with the news:

Thank you! That's awesome news and I'm very happy about it. I really hope that viewers enjoyed the series and didn't miss the chance to watch my series on the Najdorf as well.

Indeed, don't miss all of Sopiko's work, and she also took the opportunity to tell us her own personal favorite series on chess24, The Grünfeld According to Svidler:

I love the way he shares his experience with us and covers all the details of the opening! I just love it!

Sopiko worked with Peter closely last November, giving commentary during the live webcast of the World Championship match in Sochi. She is currently preparing to return to Sochi for the upcoming Women's World Championship tournament:

It's my first participation in the World Championship so I'm really looking for it... For the moment I keep my usual training system and once the pairings are known I'll start to prepare against my specific opponent. With the Georgian Federation I have quite a bit of problems regarding the financing. It was disappointing to hear that all other Georgian players are financed for this event except me. I really hope that they will solve this problem somehow. Otherwise I can give you some very juicy interview about it!

Among our Spanish-language offerings, the most watched video series is currently 1.e4! Luchando contra la Caro-Kann (Fighting the Caro-Kann) from Spanish number one Paco Vallejo.



Paco tells us about his series:

It´s a video series with the line I usually play versus the Caro-Kann, and with good results, so I hope that if any user sees a blunder he'll write us, because I will continue playing the line! I usually play it even in blitz in the chess24 Playzone since I can premove with the knights!



In German, our prolific author Niclas Huschenbeth recommends his own repertoire on the Sicilian Najdorf. But he has also recently released two series in English especially for Nimzo & Bogo-Indian players.

The Najdorf is my favorite opening because it entails everything I love about chess - complexity, excitement and creativity. I'm very happy that the series appeals to many users and I hope it can be of value for many more in the future.







Most popular news

Every day something happens in the chess world and we try to keep you updated on chess24. We chronicle all the big tournaments, bringing you masterfully annotated games, interviews, and in-depth reports. But what has been the most popular, is another matter!

In English, the interview with Fabiano Caruana, by our contributing grandmaster Vlad Tkachiev, takes the cake. Among the juicy quotes from Fabiano you'll learn that the most important thing needed to beat Carlsen is "not to be too scared of him." Don't miss it!



In Spanish, the most hotly followed news was about a Bulgarian player, Ivan Tetimov, who was kicked out of a tournament in Bali, on suspicion of cheating. We shared views from all sides of the scandal and the community participation in both chess24's comments and social networking was impressive.

In German the most visited article was devoted to the third game of the Anand-Carlsen World Championship match. Anand's victory, thanks to some excellent theoretical preparation, was explained by grandmaster and chess24 co-founder Jan Gustafsson. You'll find that and dozens of other great videos on our YouTube channel.

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Most popular on YouTube

Our channel is chock full of highlights from live webcasts, GM analysis, examples of our learning videos and much more. We're thrilled to see it about to pass the one million views mark!

The most watched video, interestingly, is a video in Spanish, but you don't need to speak the language to appreciate this clip! Taken from the live webcast of Carlsen—Anand, this was a minute that could have changed chess history. Our commentators contemporaneous reaction to the players' bout of mutual tactical blindness is as dramatic as it is funny and underscores our belief that chess is truly a spectator sport online.

In second place is a video where the pieces do the talking - the exciting contest between Hikaru Nakamura and Levon Aronian from the 2014 Zürich Chess Challenge blitz tournament:



The most watched video in English is a fantastic guest segment during the Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, when we were joined by former World Champion Garry Kasparov. Garry, who at the time was in the midst of a contentious FIDE election, focused his attention on the live games, to the delight of all chess fans!

Finally, in German the most popular video to date was produced by Jan Gustafsson, who showed us the 10 biggest blunders in World Championship history. Even the best players of our royal game screw up royally sometimes! Fortunately for us, Jan also produced this video in English.



We've come a long way, but this is only the beginning!

What articles or videos have caught your eye?

What would you like to see more of?

Update 25 Feb: Thanks for all the great comments so far! Keep 'em coming!



