Chess.com’s Bishop Joke Goes Viral

What began as a playful post quickly spiraled into an online spectacle, becoming Chess.com’s most viewed tweet ever and racking up over 50 million impressions.

With nearly nine million followers across its various platforms, Chess.com often shares content aimed at promoting chess and engaging fans. Most posts go by without much fuss—until one lighthearted comment about a chess piece ignited a digital wildfire.

On March 14, Chess.com's official X (formerly Twitter) account posted a humorous tweet suggesting the bishop piece might need a new name. The caption read, “Accepting new name ideas for this piece,” accompanied by a photo of the bishop.

It was intended as a joke – similar to a previous, less-noticed post about renaming the rook in February. But this time, the internet didn’t just laugh. It exploded.

The tweet accumulated more than 50 million views in just five days, making it the most viral post in Chess.com’s history. On Reddit, the discussion also took off, with one thread earning over 67,000 upvotes and thousands of comments before being locked.

The term "bishop" in English chess comes from the piece's top resembling a bishop's miter. But other languages name it differently. In French, it’s “fou” (jester), in Russian, “slon” (elephant), and in Norwegian, “løper” (runner). That international variation is what made the original post relatable—and ripe for wordplay.

Thousands of users joined in on the fun, suggesting everything from the historically inspired (“priest,” “runner”) to the downright absurd (“truck driver,” “witch,” “Bob”).

But not everyone found it funny.

Some users perceived the post as an attempt to rewrite or remove historical and religious roots, prompting backlash. “Why are you trying to erase the word bishop?” one person commented. Another insisted, “That’s a bishop. How do you not know that if you run a chess site?” Others accused Chess.com of going “woke” and disrespecting tradition.

Some comments grew even more intense, with users demanding the company fire its social media team or apologize for the joke. While much of the criticism was exaggerated or performative, a few replies crossed into hateful or antisemitic territory, which Chess.com did not highlight further.

Still, many others saw the humor and mocked the outrage. International Master Levy Rozman (aka GothamChess) posted a blunt summary: “The responses to this post fully encapsulate what is wrong with this platform and, more generally, the world today.”

Popular YouTuber Charles White Jr., known online as Cr1TiKaL, joined the conversation too. In a video with over 1.5 million views, he praised the tweet as “the greatest chess post of all time” while sarcastically describing the chaotic reaction as a “meltdown with bodies piling down the street.”

He pointed out how many commenters completely missed the joke: “A lot of people really believed this was serious. Even a toddler could tell it was a joke. It’s bad.”

Rozman also addressed the broader implications in an Instagram reel. “Social media is wild. People take things way too personally,” he said. “Not every post is an attack on your beliefs. Let’s all take a breath.”

He wrapped up with a wholesome reminder: “At the end of the day, chess is an amazing game you can enjoy with your whole family.”

During a livestreamed segment called State of Chess, IM Danny Rensch, Chess.com's Chief Chess Officer, weighed in on the viral moment: “Obviously this was meant to be playful, but it kind of went viral in both good and bad ways,” he said. “And guess what—we’re probably going to do this again with the queen or king.”

He emphasized that Chess.com doesn’t claim ownership of the game or its history and apologized to anyone who felt offended. “It was never meant that way. We like to have fun with this stuff—and we’ll keep doing that.”