The world’s largest online chess platform, Chess.com, is abusing its dominance through a host of anticompetitive practices, including killer acquisitions, price discrimination and exclusivity clauses, according to a complaint filed with the European Commission by former world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik.
Kramnik, a Russian grandmaster based in Switzerland, told The Capitol Forum that he filed his complaint against Chess.com with the EU enforcer on May 20. An EC spokesperson confirmed the agency is assessing the allegations in line with standard procedure.
“I don’t want to destroy the company – I just want all the, in my opinion, multiple misconducts happening nowadays to be stopped so we come back to a normal, transparent and fair world of chess,” said Kramnik, who held the world title from 2000 to 2007.
Chess.com is considered the largest platform globally for playing online games of chess, hosting tournaments with cash prizes up to $500,000. It’s not required to publish user statistics, but its website shows over 216 million members and this month it claimed to have 10 million daily active users.
A Chess.com spokesperson declined to comment on the non-public allegations…
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