FIDE and World Chess say a .chess application has been submitted

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) and World Chess (LSE: CHSS) announced on 1 September 2026 that an application for .chess has been submitted to ICANN. The release describes the filing as made “through a dedicated subsidiary of World Chess and on behalf of FIDE”, in what it calls ICANN’s first new-domain window since 2012.

The split the two parties describe

Under the agreement as the release states it, 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 applicant of record is therefore a World Chess subsidiary, not FIDE. World Chess names it.com Domains as technical partner on its own project page.

Community status is how they filed, not what they have

The release says the application “was submitted as a community one”, and adds that “this status provides it with potential leverage over any competing applications for the same string through ICANN’s Community Priority Evaluation process”. Both halves of that sentence are the applicants’ own; the second describes what they expect the status to do for them.

Whether it does is ICANN’s decision, and the release does not claim otherwise. Ilya Merenzon, Chief Executive Officer of World Chess, is quoted in the same statement saying that “Approval is not guaranteed, and ICANN’s process is rigorous”, alongside the company’s position that “The Company’s management believes the application is strongly positioned in the Community Priority Evaluation”.

World Chess is equally explicit on its project page, where .chess is described as “a proposed generic top-level domain, subject to application to and approval by ICANN under the New gTLD Program”, with availability, timing and registration policies subject to change.

What is promised to federations, and when

The release says national federations “will receive dedicated .chess domains, allocated in coordination with FIDE”, and that registration “will open only if and when ICANN approves the application”. Ahead of that, both parties point to an early-access list rather than to any registration.

Viswanathan Anand, Interim FIDE President, is quoted saying chess “deserves its own place on the internet”, and describing that place as “one where a player, a parent or a sponsor can see at a glance that a domain is genuinely part of the game”.

What remains unconfirmed

Neither source says whether .chess was filed as a primary or a replacement string, and neither discloses any second string. No other public claimant for .chess was found in the sources reviewed. Only ICANN’s official publication can establish the full applicant list for the string, the primary-or-replacement status of any application, and whether the community designation survives evaluation.