Chess.com is a scam anyway. Rather than comparing the price of Norwegian Chess.cok to Nigerian Chess.con you should be comparing to lichess.org. They have a better app and plenty of people to play with, without any paywalling or marketing or rent-seeking.
> Chess.com is a scam anyway
Is it? How so?
Just because you like an alternative better doesn't make it a scam.
Sure they are turning a profit. But when you pay, you get more features. You don't need to pay if you don't want those features or want them somewhere else.
And they use some money to sponsor events. Titled Tuesday is a staple in the worldwide chess community and most top players play there. Not really yo make money, but to stay relevant (it's great PR to play against Magnus Carlsen and last for more than 20 moves or even make a draw) or to have a constant supply of really good players which keeps you sharp. They provide streaming and top-class commentary for top events. They are also involved in tournament sponsorship.
So, please keep the hate to yourself and don't use "scam" lightly. You don't need to like them or ever use them. But once you come across an actual scam, it would be a pity if you burned that term.
Loads of top players play on lichess too, including Carlsen. Titled Tuesday is not a staple in the worldwide chess community. The world championships (classical, blitz and rapid) are.
[flagged]
Idk man, your definition of "scam" seems different from other people's.
"Old rope"? Is every non-EV a scam because it's "old rope"? Are people with cable TV subscriptions victims of scams because cable is "old rope"?
There is a difference between "in my opinion, there is no value" and "scam". Most items in the grocery store around the corner I don't buy, because they don't have value to me. But the store is not a scam. There is an element of directed deception and lying missing, in my grocery store and chess.com as well. Unless you have evidence to the contrary, then please present it.
It seems that people who express such strong, polarizing opinions often do so because they enjoy engaging in debate. If their goal were simply to communicate their perspective without confrontation, they could present their views in a more measured and considerate way.
With that in mind, it might be more effective to share your logical arguments with someone who is genuinely open to hearing them, rather than with someone who appears committed to their position.
Just my 2 cents.
Thanks for pointing that out. I've spent a little too much time today engaging in such debate on HN and should reconsider.
[flagged]
Chess.com is fundamentally a scam operation masquerading as a premium service. They've built an empire by paywalking features that should be free - and ARE free elsewhere. Lichess proves every single day that unlimited puzzles, deep analysis, opening exploration, and even advanced features like studies and cloud analysis don't need to cost a dime. They're open-source, ad-free, and completely transparent about their finances.
That's still not a scam. They tell you what you're paying for. If you don't like it, then go somewhere else. There's no deception going on.
So the hecklers selling overpriced trinkets at every major tourist attraction in Europe or the US aren't scams? I disagree.
Unless they're trying to force them on you, no, they're not. Them being annoying as fuck doesn't mean they're dishonest.
So like Windows then? Cause a free alternative exists?
Or farmers markets? Cause you can just grow all those crops for free yourself.
Or carpenters? Just get some tools, do your home renovations for free.
Or sex workers? Cause you can just go to a bar and get it for free.
Oh, they are differences between the free and the pay options? The occupy different niches in the marketplace? You don't say. Maybe they are not scams after all, just cater to different tastes.
(I also prefer lichess over chess.com but that doesn't mean I think this is a reasonable argument.)
A better analogy: imagine if someone built a public water fountain, then chess.com set up next to it selling the exact same water for $100/year while limiting the public fountain to 1 cup per day through lobbying. Then they sponsored all the popular hydration influencers to only drink their bottled water on camera.
> Cause you can just go to a bar and get it for free.
Not at the same convenience, can you ;) So they are selling convenience. Chess.com isn't selling convenience - both platforms are websites you access identically. They're not offering portability or solving a distribution problem. They're artificially limiting a digital service that costs them essentially nothing to provide unlimited access to.
How, specifically, are chess.com limiting anyone using lichess?
> that costs them essentially nothing
If you know how to run such a platform for free, then I'm sure you could sell your knowledge for a lot of money. And the company running chess.com would be your highest paying customer.
In other words, I think you are underestimating the effort. Just ask the lichess guys.
None of that makes it a scam. It makes it "more expensive".
I'm a big fan of lichess! Their developers are also super friendly and helped answer my questions when I was using their open source projects to build a hobby chess app. I donate regularly too.
This post was more about exploring regional pricing using a case study and lichess being free in every country wasn't a good fit :)
I used to subscribe to chess.com and now I only play on lichess, but in all fairness when you subscribe to chess.com you don’t just get to play games (that you can do for free), you get all the videos which I used to enjoy but now I got no time.
I was a Platinum subscriber for a few years. It's definitely not a scam, but in my opinion, they completely fail at detecting cheaters.
It's very frustrating when you lose a lot of games to cheaters. I cancelled my subscription and moved to Lichess — and although I still lose games, I don't feel like I'm being cheated nearly as often as on Chess.com.
I subscribe to chess.com and they do support a large chess universe of videos and contests. Still, lichess.org has my heart. It’s free and the user interface rocks.