Chess.com leverages a private cloud strategy to scale for a global community

The obstacles they faced

Chess.com offers an intuitive user interface that is easy to navigate, so even novice players can easily find their way around. The site makes top-level chess content highly accessible, providing high-quality video streaming through tutorial videos on its platform as well as through grandmaster live streams broadcast on Twitch. A matchmaking system facilitates games between players of all levels, from novice to expert. The result is a smooth user experience for accessing and viewing games and instructional content.

In 2007, when the Chess.com team was deciding how to host its online offering, private clouds were just starting to emerge as a hosting option for technology companies. Up to that point, most companies ran applications in their on-premises data centers. While on-premises provided predictable workloads and costs, companies had to manage the infrastructure themselves.

"Our slow, but steady, growth allowed us to start with a single in-house data center that met our initial needs," said Kelty. "As our popularity grew, we expanded to a second data center. Then added public cloud to handle demand spikes and overages."

However, when the COVID-19 lockdowns began in 2020, people started seeking at-home activities, which led to a significant increase in traffic to the Chess.com website. The release of the popular Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit" triggered another surge, as the game of chess gained exposure. An uptick in awareness of the World Chess Championship led to even more growth for the company, spurring new partnerships and a significant increase in user demand.

What we achieved together

By using a mix of private cloud and public cloud, Chess.com can scale cost-effectively to exceed audience needs and facilitate growth. Private cloud helps Chess.com predict and control infrastructure costs by owning on-premises data centers and using a flexible public cloud for unexpected spikes in workloads. This fluid hybrid approach has enabled Chess.com's continuing success.

“RackConnect Global streamlines Chess.com's ability to scale Google Cloud utilization for our infrastructure overflow needs,” said Kelty.

Without that single-vendor relationship and RackConnect Global’s ability to provide rapid bandwidth expansion into Google Cloud, Kelty said Chess.com would otherwise need to coordinate across multiple vendors and connections to achieve the same expansion flexibility.

"With RackConnect Global helping us rapidly match inbound traffic spikes, we can ensure smooth gameplay across our global community, wherever and whenever we need it," said Kelty.

Chess.com has also begun discussing data center expansion strategies with Rackspace Technology, which includes a plan for Chess.com to phase in new data centers before their current resources reach full capacity.

As chess continues to entwine lives worldwide, the synergy between clouds symbolizes possibility — the connection players and fans have and can create regardless of their locations.

"When your mission is serving your community, decisions unfold naturally and very purposefully,” said Kelty. “By listening to our audience and safeguarding what makes this game sacred, we get to empower everybody who loves chess."