Chess Industry is Underrated

Chances are, if you’re not in the chess industry, you probably don’t realize how big the market actually is.

I’m not saying chess is bigger than semiconductors, AI, or any of the other massive tech industries out there. But once you combine chess and technology, the opportunity starts looking very different.

Take Chess.com, for example.

One of the leading chess company in the world, with a gigantic $150m ARR business that is growing really well. 250m+ total members and a growing 38m+ monthly active users. Who would’ve thought?

And Chess.com isn’t the whole market.

There are other major businesses built around chess. One example is Chessly by Levy Rozman (GothamChess). The business is estimated to have more than $1m usd recurring revenue per year, without even counting his books, YouTube ads, sponsorships, and other chess-related income streams.

I have done my research (read: ask AI to summarize and estimate), top 10 chess companies market size is around $195m-$226m per year.

And honestly, I think that number is probably an underestimate.

Chess.com alone reportedly generates more than $150M. Then you have everything else that isn’t necessarily captured in those numbers, such as private coaching, chess academies, tournaments, offline education, books, content creators, equipment, and formal chess education.

The more I look into it, the more I realize that chess isn’t a small market. It’s just a market that most people don’t pay attention to.

And that’s exactly why I’m interested. That’s my bet on what i want to do this time. I would be very happy if i can get 0.1% of the total market size. I would be glad if I can make it to 1%, but I will aim a bit lower since i will try to build for the Indonesian market first, then I can take a look later. So, we’ll see where it can go.

So yeah, that’s the bet. Wish me luck on Causath.