chess.com can not get their act together

It seems that chess.com is constantly 'resetting their server'. This happens in the middle of games, and without warning. Why? Chess.com adds on 30 sec on to those playing a game but it takes several minutes before players can access the game they were playing. Many players lose ranking as a result of this. Does chess.com not know what they are doing?

I have played games on apps that need to reset the game. Unlike chess.com, the apps are professional. They know what they are doing. At least 20-30 mins before a reset, they put a warning up with a countdown of the time remaining until the server resets. Players can even look up what resets have been scheduled over the next fortnight. That is professionalism.

Chess.com, you come across as completely amateur, like no-one has a clue what they are doing. That nothing is planned in advance and that no-one has any idea how to reset the server in 30sec.

I see apps that value player experience and ensure a professional service is provided. I also use other chess websites and none of them seem to have the constant resetting issue chess.com has. One website even stops new games beginning in the minutes before their maintenance starts. This means that no player loses a game or rank due to the website unable to provide the service. 

This website use to have many active players. Currently there are chess websites that are growing and expanding what they offer. It's only a matter of time before cheess.com becomes something like a 'Kodak' or a 'Blockbuster' - something that once was leading the field (like Kodak) and very popular (like Blockbuster) but didn't make the necessary changes and in turn, died.

The site is experiencing loads similar to what has was seen during the Queen's Gambit run. They are working hard on optimizations and scaling methods. Being popular can have some downsides and growing pains.

They are not as popular as they use to be. I see them going down a similar path as Kodak. Kodak use to be the leaders in all things photography. When the digital era began, Kodak knew they had the best cameras and focused more on the photo printing paper believing this is what was needed. They felt people would not like looking at photos on a screen and being able to touch a photo is what people wanted. They lost in both areas. Their cameras were overtaken by new companies producing digital ones, and their printing paper is something most people do not find value in buying.

I feel Chess.com is like Kodak at the beginning of the digital era. The leaders in their field, but making the wrong choices and beginning to decline. Recent changes have led to many people leaving chess.com and going to some of the newer, up and coming chess websites.

Like chess.com working on optimizations and scaling methods, Kodak did begin to focus on digital cameras, however user experience was not good. People who went digital and stayed with Kodak were left with frustration and blurry photos, which, in turn, led to more people no longer supporting Kodak. User experience at chess.com is kinda the same. Players are left with frustration and lower ranking and I feel this can lead to a further downfall of chess.com

Kodak failed to provide the main element of what people wanted 'To be able to take and enjoy photos'. And currently chess.com is failing to provide the main element of what players want 'To be able to play and enjoy a game of chess'.

The site has been seeing continued growth and increases in daily registrations, concurrent members playing games, total games per day. They recently finished the acquisition of PlayMagnus Group.

Staff is continually working on the site, working on optimizations, updating and adding features. They certainly aren't resting on their laurels.

They'll work through the issues and I'm guessing the site will continue to grow and provide services for a long time.

thanks to all the chess drama and crazy boxing/chess events, I think chess has grown greatly in popularity as more people are flocking here just to learn the honorable game... that makes me happy

I'm a computer programmer in websites of 30 years experience.  Chess.com has done an admirable job in many ways.  The user interface is perfectly slick, I can think of very little to ask for in that area.   Does anyone know how many programmers they have?

for real

There's over 400 employees https://www.chess.com/about

I believe a large portion are programming related, between front and back end and apps.

But were people really getting into chess because of that? I hope it wasn't the same for all of Beth's interests.

Pandemic had a big bump and as that started dropping some, Queen's Gambit came out and things bumped again. While it may have been coincidental, it's the most likely reason.

https://www.chess.com/blog/erik/incredible-second-wave-of-interest-in-chess

What's the reason now? Mittens?

Let's hear a Whoop! for Whoops!!

I'm not sure the reason is clearly known.

The site already has ways to spin up more servers.

There are some problems where throwing more resources at it doesn't really help on it's own. It really depends how n where the bottleneck(s) are and what needs to get done to get around those.

The way you talk, you sound like someone who works at chess.com,'continued growth, increase in dally registrations ...' , therefore your opinion has no value as a user.

Despite what you say, this site has lost a lot of players with all the changes they have made. There is increased waiting time for games to begin and an even bigger increase in games getting abandoned. Maybe it's chess.com using it's bots to register games so the lack of players is less noticeable, but the bots abandon and don't play, which is making user experience even worse.

And if you are connected with chess.com, then becoming a 'Kodak' is guaranteed because right now I see a worker who instead of listening to what players want, is currently trying to undermine their opinions by dismissing what they say and overwriting genuine feedback with their own comment.

I have noticed you have done this several times in this post alone and I feel if I were to look through other blogs, I would see your name dismissing and undermining many players genuine feelings of this website.

And to further highlight chess.com is going down hill, right now the servers have been down for at least 10 mins and that is why I am responding here. If chess.com was working right now, I would be playing a game - they are failing to provide the main thing players want, - to be able to play end enjoy a game of chess

I feel your pain bro. It makes me frustrated and dislike chess.com when this happens.

I'm a volunteer moderator and posting as a member first. I have some additional insights, since I interact with staff, but much of the information I posted is publicly available.

Daily registrations are increasing from even a few weeks ago, as can be seen in the member counts. Daily active players in Play are higher than they were a month ago. Daily completed games gave increased and are close to 18 million games a day.

The site does not employ bots in the playing pools. The only site bots are the ones in the computer section.

That increase in traffic is causing very high loads. Staff are working on optimizations and resource increases to keep up with the higher loads along future potential increases as well.

https://twitter.com/chesscom/status/1613212771914551301

I try to pass along information in things I'm aware of, and will say when I'm speculating based on my understanding. I also pass along concerns/bugs to staff when I see they are more widespread. You can certainly discount my posts but doesn't mean that what I've mentioned is incorrect

yowzers!!!