Chess.com, the dominant online chess platform, has launched its first companion site, a free online poker service called Gambit, which has been in beta since May and is now expanding with new events and content creator partnerships. The company is also planning to add more classic games, including go, backgammon, and mahjong, using the same development playbook. The move marks the first major expansion beyond chess for the company, which has focused on that single game for nearly two decades.
Albert Cheng, Chess.com鈥檚 chief growth officer, told The Verge that poker was selected as the first new game because, like chess, it combines learning and social interaction with the core gameplay. He stated that Gambit will never offer real-money gambling, emphasizing that the company wants to avoid the typical industry model where platforms profit when beginners lose. Instead, Gambit is designed as a place where players can learn poker without financial risk.
The poker site borrows Chess.com鈥檚 visual design and features similar modes, including bot matches, games with friends, tournaments, review tools for past games, and a learning mode. Gamers will also recognize Chess.com鈥檚 bot characters, with the lowest-skill bot, Martin, appearing as the lowest-skill opponent on Gambit as well. The site has its own Elo-style rating system, which Cheng said serves as a key motivator for players to improve, providing stakes that matter even without real money on the line.
Cheng credited artificial intelligence as a critical factor in allowing the company to expand so quickly. He personally, along with one other employee, took Gambit from prototype to launch within a year, using AI mainly for coding tasks. Cheng said the biggest advantage was the ability to read the existing Chess.com codebase and design system and apply those consistent patterns to a new platform rapidly, something that would otherwise have required a much larger team or disrupted the company鈥檚 normal operations.
While AI accelerated development, Cheng noted that it struggled with areas like brand and feature design, and he emphasized that human oversight remains essential. He said the live version of Gambit currently contains little to no AI-generated assets, as those were used only in early prototypes. He described the final approach as a blend of AI鈥檚 coding speed with human judgment on creative decisions.
Chess.com is now looking at games that offer both long-term durability and strong community engagement, similar to chess. With Gambit launched, the company is focusing more on the social and community aspects, following the model that has worked for chess. On August 31st at 12PM ET, Gambit will livestream its first Gambit Cup event on Twitch and YouTube, featuring Chess.com co-founder Danny Rensch and chess content creator Alexandra Botez.
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