Erik Allebest

Erik Allebest is the CEO and co-founder of Chess.com, the #1 platform for people to play and learn chess. Erik was introduced to chess by his mother when he was eight years old. His passion for the game was reignited in college, where he met Jay Severson, the chess club president, who would later become his co-founder at Chess.com. Together they launched Chess.com in 2005, right as Erik graduated from Stanford Business School. Over the last 18 years, Erik and the team have grown the company to over 700 employees, $100M in revenue, and most importantly, a community of 200 million registered users. Erik lives in Utah with his family, and enjoys a variety of activities including CrossFit, pickleball, and disc golf.