The Most Popular Chess Platform Enters the World of Poker with AI's Help

For nearly two decades, the name Chess.com has been tied to a single game it has mastered to perfection: online chess. But the world's most popular platform in this field has finally decided to break its traditional boundaries and venture into other games, beginning a new journey into the world of poker through a standalone site called Gambit.

A Poker Site with No Financial Risk

The company quietly launched its new site in a beta version this past May, offering a completely free platform that allows players to learn and practice poker without risking any real money. Today, Gambit is ready for its official launch through the first live stream of its events, along with collaborations with content creators.

Albert Cheng, who leads growth at Chess.com, explains that choosing poker was no coincidence; it resembles chess in that it contains educational and social dimensions that go beyond mere gameplay. He emphasized that the platform will never allow gambling with real money, saying that real money is precisely the problem Gambit was created to avoid—the entire industry profits when beginners lose, whereas the company chose to build a place where people actually learn.

A Familiar Design and a Custom Rating System

Any former user of Chess.com will find Gambit completely familiar, as it uses the same design approach and offers similar play modes, including:

• Matches against bots with graduated skill levels.
• Playing with friends and tournaments.
• A review mode for studying past games.
• A learning mode for developing skills.

The site even brings back the same bot characters found on Chess.com, such as "Martin," the lowest-skilled bot, who holds the same ranking on the new platform.

The company also developed a custom rating system modeled after the "Elo" system used in chess. Cheng believes this system is the main engine that drives players to improve; since they aren't risking their money, they need an alternative incentive they care about that keeps the quality of play at a reasonable level.

A Subscription-Based Business Model

The rating system also forms the backbone of the paid subscription model that grants access to advanced educational features, just as Chess.com does. Cheng explains that the majority of users play on the platform for free, while some subscribe to get unlimited review of their games plus additional lessons and puzzles. Having a reliable rating system allows players to track their progress, which may later push them toward a paid subscription.

Other Classic Games on the Way

Chess.com does not intend to stop at poker; it plans to expand toward additional classic games including:

• Go.
• Backgammon.
• Mahjong.

The company will develop similar rating systems for each of these games. Although Cheng did not specify launch dates, he confirmed that development is moving quickly, relying on the same approach that succeeded with Gambit.

AI: The Key That Opened the Doors

Cheng considers AI to be the main reason the company was finally able to expand after nearly twenty years. He and just one other employee were able to move Gambit from prototype to launch within a single year, with AI's help specifically in programming tasks.

He explains that the biggest advantage AI provided was its ability to read the existing codebase and current design system, and to apply consistent patterns when building a new platform very quickly. On the other hand, he pointed to areas where AI still struggles, such as brand design and product features, stressing that the optimal use lies in blending human and machine, and that the ease of writing code doesn't mean leaving it to run on its own.

He added that the current version of Gambit is almost entirely free of any elements created by AI, as its use was limited to early prototypes. Without this technology, launching a new site would have required a larger team or caused greater disruption to the development of the parent platform.

Focusing on Community and Live Streaming

As the company plans its next step, Cheng says the focus is on games that combine classic durability with the community surrounding them, just like chess. Now that Gambit has launched, the company is moving toward strengthening the social aspect and involving content creators more, through a live stream of the "Gambit Cup" tournament on Twitch and YouTube featuring prominent figures from the world of chess.

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