Chess is getting its own home on the internet: FIDE and World Chess apply for the .chess domain extension

The application for the game’s official top-level domain has been submitted to ICANN – the first chance in over a decade to create one. If approved, every federation, club, tournament and titled player will be able to carry a verified domain name ending in .chess. 

LAUSANNE / LONDON, September 1, 2026 – The International Chess Federation (FIDE) and World Chess (LSE: CHSS), FIDE’s official commercial partner, announce that an application has been submitted to ICANN, the organisation that governs internet names, for .chess – a new top-level domain (TLD) built for the game. The application was filed in ICANN’s first new-domain window since 2012, through a dedicated subsidiary of World Chess and on behalf of FIDE. The application was submitted as a community one – this status provides it with potential leverage over any competing applications for the same string through ICANN’s Community Priority Evaluation process. 

Today, the chess-related domains are scattered across .com, .org and dozens of country-code strings, and nothing marks them as belonging to the game. .chess changes that. Just as .com serves commerce, .chess will serve one game: a dedicated, officially recognised TLD where every name – be it for  a national federation or a neighbourhood club, a super-tournament or a grandmaster’s own page – is verified as genuine part of the chess world.

What .chess means for the chess world

National federations will receive dedicated .chess domains, allocated in coordination with FIDE – a common, recognisable internet identifier system for organised chess in every country. Clubs, academies, organisers, platforms, media and players will be able to register names that instantly say what they are: a string built for the game, backed by the institution that has governed it since 1924, and operated by World Chess.

Under the agreement, FIDE acts as the institutional sponsor of the domain and receives a share of the revenues it generates, together with an allocation of domains within the TLD. World Chess manages the application, funds the project and, if the application is successful, will operate the extension on FIDE’s behalf. The initiative is a part of the broader programme by FIDE to build the sport’s digital infrastructure.

First move for the community

Registration will open only if and when ICANN approves the application. Ahead of that, an early-access list is open at worldchess.com/domains: members of the list will receive regular project updates, including notices of the upcoming domain registration availability, allowing them to be among the first to secure the names they are interested in.

Viswanathan Anand, Interim FIDE President 

“Chess deserves its own place on the internet – one where a player, a parent or a sponsor can see at a glance that a domain is genuinely part of the game. .chess will give our federations and our community a shared, trusted home online, and I am glad that FIDE is anchoring it together with World Chess.”

Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess

“Chess has everything a major sport needs — ratings, titles, a global federation, a billion-strong audience –  everything except its own territory on the internet. .chess is that territory. Approval is not guaranteed, and ICANN’s process is rigorous. But this is infrastructure the game deserves, and together with FIDE we intend to build it – and to hand every federation, club and player a domain that says exactly who they are.

FIDE – the international governing body for chess, recognised by the International Olympic Committee, with 200+ national federations – has endorsed the application as institutional sponsor. The Company’s management believes the application is strongly positioned in the Community Priority Evaluation.”

For national chess federations

Federations will receive further information from FIDE and World Chess about their dedicated domain names as the ICANN process advances. Questions and expressions of interest can be sent to im@worldchess.com – no action is required at this stage. You can find more information and sign up for alerts at worldchess.com/domains.