Chess.com buys Chesspark
They say, “Life is short.” This is certainly true in the online world of commerce. Online chess servers have sprouted up over the past 15 years, but only a few have shown to be sustainable. The Internet Chess Club may be one of the most stable of the bunch and appears to be consolidating its position. After buying a number of competitors, ICC got strong competition from the ChessBase PlayChess interface and the two, along with Chess.com, share the bulk of the paid online traffic.
Chess.com claims to be “the largest site”. While it is not clear what that means, one may assume that it is based on subscribers. Along with upstarts such as Chesspark, Chesscube and Chessbomb make up a captive market. However how may argue that the market is a bit crowded. When that happens consolidation is inevitable.
Recently chesspark was fighting a losing battle to keep its doors open and had admitted that it would eventually shut its doors. They were able to reach a deal with rival chess.com to sell its trademark. The other assets will be liquidated maintained by chesspark on a new search engine project called “collecta”.
Source: https://www.chess.com/news/chesscom-welcomes-chesspark-members-2379
Wouldn’t say liquidated. 😉 The core technology behind Chesspark lives on behind (and transferred to) the ultra-hot Real-time search engine Collecta which we spun out of Chesspark, and that the Chesspark founding team is now focusing all attention on Collecta is the primary reason for merging Chesspark into Chess.com, and not continuing it as a free standing site.
It was a fun run, and we do still own all the technology. 🙂
Brian,
OK… that was a journalistic error.
I remember when Chesspark spun off. Interesting idea… especially since it came from neighbors here in Florida. 😎 I also remember the deal with RZA and his wuchess.com website. I haven’t visited the site in awhile, but I wonder if it will continue given that chesspark was providing the services.
Any insight on that?
Quite a bit of complaining from Chesspark customers in the forums at Chess.com today. Perhaps Chesspark could have done more to notify their subscribers that they would be transferred soon.