One Click Back, Two Clicks Forward
by Hanon W. Russell

April has arrived. Four years ago this month The Chess Cafe first
opened its doors to the public. Yes, we are four years old, which
makes us, in some ways, "ancient" - at least in terms of the world
wide web where things move at the speed of light. It seemed
appropriate, if not terribly original, to pause as the world enters a
new century, a new millennium, and ponder where we at The
Chess Cafe have been and where we are going.

The Chess Cafe first officially opened its electronic doors to the
public on April 1, 1996. Its fare included book reviews, an
historical section and the presentation of the games from the
Botvinnik autobiography. No columnists, regular contributors or
online store. We were just sticking our toe in the water to take its
temperature.

The reception was good, but the traffic not very great. Data
provided to us by the ISP (the server) then located in San Diego,
California indicated approximately 15,000 "hits" in that first
month. This converted to about 1,000-1,200 actual visits. Within
the first few months, however, things began to change. Most chess
sites then (and now) that seemed to present themselves as online
journals were really ancillary to "hard print" versions. In other
words, there was not much original content being published.

Why not? Several reasons, probably. First, it was not clear how
such an online site could sustain itself. How would the dollars be
generated to pay for quality contributions. Second, the time
demands and the costs associated with servicing and maintaining
the site also seemed to be an obstacle. Finally, nobody really knew
whether "if you built it, they would come."

At The Chess Cafe, we decided that this concept of publishing
original material online was worth pursuing. We were fortunate
that, at the outset, we were able to secure the fine journalistic
services of two of the best known chess writers around. Tim
Harding, followed almost immediately by Hans Ree, joined us in
the summer of 1996. It was said that their two columns, the weekly
book reviews and the Botvinnik games were the most popular
pages on the site. Of course that was said. They were the only
pages on the site.

Readers who were not frequenting The Chess Cafe back then may
wonder what the Botvinnik games were. In the mid-1980s, Mikhail
Botvinnik published a four-volume autobiographical work, with
380 annotated games. In 1987 we secured publication rights from
VAAP, the Soviet agency in charge of the use and licensing of
works by Soviet writers. The Botvinnik games were being
translated and made available, one per week, at The Chess Cafe.

But, since acquiring these non-exclusive rights, two major events
had happened: The Soviet Union had collapsed and Botvinnik had
died. At the end of 1996, the heirs of Botvinnik, with nephew Igor
leading the charge, contacted The Chess Cafe and demanded that
either the publication of these games stop or that fees be paid. They
repudiated the written agreement that had been reached almost ten
years before. Negotiations, conducted via fax over several months,
proved unsuccessful. The decision was made to stop the
publication of the games. They were replaced by a weekly
endgame study and to the surprise of many, it became a popular
feature at The Chess Cafe. (As an aside, our information is that
these games have finally begun to be released in book form. But
we digress...)

The site continued to evolve, and as it entered its second year
online, The Skittles Room was introduced, a place where diverse
articles, not necessarily falling within a specific category, could be
presented. Glenn Budzinski and then Taylor Kingston came on
board, helping with reviews and articles, and more regular
contributors were added: Edward Winter, Danny Kopec, Susan
Lalic, Burt Hochberg and Sunil Weeramantry each spent some time
as a Chess Cafe columnist. The idea of a public forum, The Chess
Cafe Bulletin Board, was developed, while extensive Archives
and an online store also became part of The Chess Cafe
experience.

As essentially an online electronic chess magazine, The Chess
Cafe has never been constrained by the conventional limitations to
which hard copy magazines are subject. Articles did not have to fit
within a pre-determined number of pages and writers were able to
pursue most any subject, virtually free of censorship. It also
allowed us to present quality writers previously unknown to the
chess world.

In that regard, four columnists are worthy of note. It is safe to say
that before they had started writing for The Chess Cafe, Richard
Forster, Geurt Gijssen, Chris Depasquale and Mike Franett were
relatively unknown as journalists. Forster, a Swiss International
Master, developed his love of history into the popular Late Knight
column; Gijssen's column, An Arbiter's Notebook, has become a
must-read for arbiters the world over; Australian master
Depasquale's irreverent wit has made his View from Down Under
among the most popular at The Chess Cafe; and former Inside
Chess editor Franett brings a new perspective to readers in The
Wanderer. With Tony Miles, Bruce Pandolfini, Tim Krabbe,
Carsten Hansen, Gary Lane as well as Ree and Harding, they form
a core of writers equal to any other chess publication, on the web
or on paper.

The response from you, the readers, has been tremendous. We have
broken through the magical monthly "one million hits" barrier; this
by itself is a great accomplishment for any site, let alone one
dedicated to chess. This means, at last count, about 75,000 separate
visits from readers in over 90 countries worldwide. Furthermore,
when you visit The Chess Cafe, the average time you spend here
is about 10 minutes.

There is a constant, ever-increasing stream of email messages.
People have questions for the writers, comments about articles and
suggestions and observations about the site in general. We try to
answer each email, although occasionally we tend to be
overwhelmed by the volume. About three years ago, a weekly
Chess Cafe email update was started. Now, about 2,000 people
each week receive the latest news about what is new online and
other information that may be helpful about what is going on.

The Chess Cafe is freely accessible to anyone who is online. No
fees or charges of any kind. And we intend to keep it that way.
Many people ask us how we can provide such an array of quality
columns week in and week out. The high volume of traffic has
attracted advertisers and has allowed us to develop an online
bookstore for the sale of books and equipment. This is how we
generate revenue to pay our writers and maintain the site. We
appreciate your patronage of both the bookstore and our
advertisers. 

So, what lies ahead for The Chess Cafe? We continue to explore
new columns, new ideas and new services for the site. It is an
ongoing, never-ending process. We realize that we must never
allow the site to become static, to stagnate. The medium is a
dynamic, evolving one, and we must adapt accordingly, something
which we will continually strive to do. Yes, it is perhaps a happy
fourth birthday for The Chess Cafe, but it is you, dear reader, who
deserves our gratitude. Thank you...