Founded in 1994 by Jerry Yang and David Filo, Yahoo! is a web service provider based in America. Offering a range of Yahoo! services, including news, mail, search, email and its own social media websites, it was popular as an online games portal.
Yahoo! Games was launched in 1998 and remained in use until the very end in 2014. Giving users the opportunity to play, either together or solo, across games such as backgammon, mahjong, poker and of course, chess. Although there are many online sites that allow you to expand your chess knowledge and experience for free, Yahoo Chess was arguably one of the most popular, and still holds legendary status amongst older players.
Attracting all abilities, beginners found it very user-friendly and enjoyed the setup. Initial times and increments could be fully tailored, although blitz chess seemed to dominate the play. Communication was easy and with the multitudes of chat rooms, games could easily be discussed and tips shared around.
Many would stalk the platform all day, even avoiding school to pick up where play had left off the day before, and although other platforms existed, like errant chicks, Yahoo Chess would draw them home. Eating would become unimportant, baths even less so, and parents would beg their once-clean offspring to fight the addiction. We promised to play less, step away from the screen, but had fingers crossed behind our backs!
But then it disappeared from our lives in March 2014. Yahoo! claimed that the reason for their closure was due to:
“Changes in supporting technologies and increased security requirements for our own Yahoo! web pages, made it impossible to keep the games running safely and securely”
As a final claim to fame, Yahoo! Chess was referenced by the popular Liverpudlian band Half Man Half Biscuit. On their 2008 album CSI: Ambleside, fictional player, Dennis Ball loses a chess game, and signs out of the app. The song ends with the memorable lyrics:
“Good game, Sir, do you want another bout? But Dennis ain’t replying ‘cos he’s just signed out.”
