"Chess.com is a complete monopoly in online chess... And monopoly is always very dangerous" — Vladimir Kramnik

Vladimir Kramnik

14th World Champion

“If we take a more global view, apart from cheating and things that are at a secondary level, I think, somewhat exaggerating, we can say that chess belongs to certain private financial structures, people we do not even know.

We do not know the owners of Chess.com, who the beneficiaries are. That is, where does the money that chess players receive from Chess.com for participating in various online tournaments come from.

This is, as they say, undisclosed information. That is, certain incognito figures who essentially have enormous influence in the chess world. And considering that Chess.com is a complete monopoly in online chess, and expands its influence every year over the entire chess society. And monopoly is always very dangerous.

And we see how the monopoly is spreading to chess media, to the agenda, which Chess.com and the people behind this structure essentially control through financial contracts with ‘independent’ media. This leads to situations like with me and like with Hans Niemann.

To summarize, the main threat is that people, forces we do not even know about, will completely take over the chess world and reshape it in a way that is specifically beneficial to them. And private structures are always interested in one thing — financial profit.

That is, everything will be done for one single reason — what will bring greater profit to a specific company, to specific people. And this, of course, is a very great danger. I see movement in this direction, and it seems obvious to me.

FIDE, without a doubt, has lost its position significantly in recent years, and was unable or unwilling to fight this ‘takeover’ of the chess world.

And if this trend continues, it could lead to complete authoritarian control of the chess world.”