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A significant new domain name project has been announced today: the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and World Chess have applied to ICANN for the new .chess top-level domain — with our friends at IT.com Domains named as the technology partner for the project.
The application was announced on September 1, 2026 by World Chess and FIDE and has been submitted as part of ICANN's new gTLD programme.
If approved, .chess is intended to become a dedicated internet namespace for the global chess community, covering national chess federations, chess clubs, academies, tournaments, professional and titled players, platforms, media organisations and chess-related businesses.
World Chess has submitted the application through a wholly owned subsidiary in cooperation with FIDE, while IT.com Domains will serve as the technology partner.
Photo: CEO - Ilya Merenzon, CEO, World Chess & Andrei Insarov, Founder and CEO, it.com Domains
A new digital home for chess
The idea behind .chess is to create an identifiable and trusted namespace specifically for the sport.
Rather than chess organisations being spread across .com, .org, country-code domains and other extensions, the proposed TLD could eventually make domains such as:
possible within a namespace officially connected with the international chess ecosystem.
According to the announcement, national chess federations are expected to receive dedicated .chess names in coordination with FIDE.
FIDE will act as the institutional sponsor of the project, while World Chess is managing and financing the application. If ICANN ultimately approves and delegates the TLD, World Chess intends to operate .chess on behalf of FIDE.
It is important to note that .chess has not yet been approved or delegated. The application must first progress through ICANN's evaluation process.
IT.com Domains provides the technical infrastructure
For those of us in the domain industry, one particularly interesting part of today's announcement is the involvement of IT.com Domains.
IT.com Domains was officially included by ICANN earlier this year among the Evaluated Registry Service Providers (RSPs) for the new gTLD programme.
That evaluation covers the technical and operational capabilities required to provide the registry backend behind a top-level domain.
IT.com Domains already operates the .it.com namespace, which has grown to more than 150,000 active domains and is distributed through registrars around the world.
The .chess announcement therefore represents a notable example of the company's expansion from operating its own namespace into providing registry infrastructure for applicants in ICANN's new gTLD round.
An existing relationship with World Chess
The partnership also isn't completely new.
IT.com Domains and World Chess have worked together for several years. In 2023, World Chess announced a three-year partnership with IT.com Domains for its Armageddon chess series, in an agreement valued at more than €1.2 million.
Today's announcement takes that relationship into a very different area: the operation of internet naming infrastructure.
Photo: CEO - Andrei Insarov, Founder and CEO, it.com Domains, Matvey Shekhovtsov, COO, World Chess & Ilya Merenzon, CEO, World Chess
Why .chess is interesting for the domain industry
The application is a good example of the type of specialised namespace we may see emerging from the new ICANN round.
Rather than attempting to create another completely open generic extension, .chess is being positioned around a clearly defined global community.
FIDE represents more than 200 national chess federations, while World Chess describes chess as having an audience of approximately one billion people worldwide.
If approved and successfully adopted, .chess could therefore become an interesting case study for community-focused new gTLDs: a namespace where the governing organisation of a sport, its commercial partner and a specialist Registry Service Provider work together on the same extension.
For DNForum, it is also great to see our friends at IT.com Domains involved at the technical level in one of the first high-profile applications emerging from the new gTLD round.
Congratulations to the IT.com Domains team — we will be following the progress of .chess closely.
Photo: current World Chess Champion - Gukesh Dommaraju, India
Sources:
World Chess / FIDE announcement — “Chess Is Getting Its Own Home on the Internet”: https://worldchess.com/news/chess-i...chess-domain-extension?utm_source=chatgpt.com
World Chess Plc regulatory announcement — confirms IT.com Domains as technology partner
World Chess Plc: https://www.investegate.co.uk/annou...ew-domain-application-loan-agreement-/9749453
IT.com Domains — ICANN Evaluated Registry Service Provider announcement: https://get.it.com/blog/it-com-doma...service-provider-for-the-next-new-gtld-round/
The application was announced on September 1, 2026 by World Chess and FIDE and has been submitted as part of ICANN's new gTLD programme.
If approved, .chess is intended to become a dedicated internet namespace for the global chess community, covering national chess federations, chess clubs, academies, tournaments, professional and titled players, platforms, media organisations and chess-related businesses.
World Chess has submitted the application through a wholly owned subsidiary in cooperation with FIDE, while IT.com Domains will serve as the technology partner.
Photo: CEO - Ilya Merenzon, CEO, World Chess & Andrei Insarov, Founder and CEO, it.com Domains
A new digital home for chess
The idea behind .chess is to create an identifiable and trusted namespace specifically for the sport.
Rather than chess organisations being spread across .com, .org, country-code domains and other extensions, the proposed TLD could eventually make domains such as:
- federation.chess
- clubname.chess
- tournament.chess
- playername.chess
possible within a namespace officially connected with the international chess ecosystem.
According to the announcement, national chess federations are expected to receive dedicated .chess names in coordination with FIDE.
FIDE will act as the institutional sponsor of the project, while World Chess is managing and financing the application. If ICANN ultimately approves and delegates the TLD, World Chess intends to operate .chess on behalf of FIDE.
It is important to note that .chess has not yet been approved or delegated. The application must first progress through ICANN's evaluation process.
IT.com Domains provides the technical infrastructure
For those of us in the domain industry, one particularly interesting part of today's announcement is the involvement of IT.com Domains.
IT.com Domains was officially included by ICANN earlier this year among the Evaluated Registry Service Providers (RSPs) for the new gTLD programme.
That evaluation covers the technical and operational capabilities required to provide the registry backend behind a top-level domain.
IT.com Domains already operates the .it.com namespace, which has grown to more than 150,000 active domains and is distributed through registrars around the world.
The .chess announcement therefore represents a notable example of the company's expansion from operating its own namespace into providing registry infrastructure for applicants in ICANN's new gTLD round.
An existing relationship with World Chess
The partnership also isn't completely new.
IT.com Domains and World Chess have worked together for several years. In 2023, World Chess announced a three-year partnership with IT.com Domains for its Armageddon chess series, in an agreement valued at more than €1.2 million.
Today's announcement takes that relationship into a very different area: the operation of internet naming infrastructure.
Photo: CEO - Andrei Insarov, Founder and CEO, it.com Domains, Matvey Shekhovtsov, COO, World Chess & Ilya Merenzon, CEO, World Chess
Why .chess is interesting for the domain industry
The application is a good example of the type of specialised namespace we may see emerging from the new ICANN round.
Rather than attempting to create another completely open generic extension, .chess is being positioned around a clearly defined global community.
FIDE represents more than 200 national chess federations, while World Chess describes chess as having an audience of approximately one billion people worldwide.
If approved and successfully adopted, .chess could therefore become an interesting case study for community-focused new gTLDs: a namespace where the governing organisation of a sport, its commercial partner and a specialist Registry Service Provider work together on the same extension.
For DNForum, it is also great to see our friends at IT.com Domains involved at the technical level in one of the first high-profile applications emerging from the new gTLD round.
Congratulations to the IT.com Domains team — we will be following the progress of .chess closely.
Photo: current World Chess Champion - Gukesh Dommaraju, India
Sources:
World Chess / FIDE announcement — “Chess Is Getting Its Own Home on the Internet”: https://worldchess.com/news/chess-i...chess-domain-extension?utm_source=chatgpt.com
World Chess Plc regulatory announcement — confirms IT.com Domains as technology partner
World Chess Plc: https://www.investegate.co.uk/annou...ew-domain-application-loan-agreement-/9749453
IT.com Domains — ICANN Evaluated Registry Service Provider announcement: https://get.it.com/blog/it-com-doma...service-provider-for-the-next-new-gtld-round/
