Guides
Is 'Chess.com' Trying To Rename The Bishop? The Outrage Over A Joke About Renaming A Chess Piece Explained
The online chess website chess.com has seemingly sparked an all-out war on Twitter / X after posting a joke about renaming the bishop piece.
The post inspired a wave of hateful comments from people who seem to have misinterpreted or taken the joke out of context, with some even seeming to believe that chess.com invented the ancient board game.
So why are people mad at chess.com and what did they post to start all this backlash? Here's what you need to know.
Is Chess.com Trying To Rename the Bishop?
On March 14th, 2025, the official Twitter account for chess.com, a site that allows you to play chess online with others, posted a joke that went on to receive over 46,000 likes in the next six days. The post shares two images of the bishop chess piece under the caption, "accepting new name ideas for this piece."
The post follows an engagement-baiting format that the account has used before, such as back in February when they made an identical post about renaming the Rook.
While the post was made to inspire funny comments offering new names for the piece, instead they inspired outrage, largely from conservative and religious Twitter users.
These users believed that chess.com was genuinely calling for the piece, which is named after a Catholic bishop's hat, to be renamed due to its religious implications.
How Did Social Media React To The Post?
The initial reactions to the post were brutal, as users flocked to leave hateful comments about chess.com. Many of these posts featured antisemitic sentiments blaming Jewish people for wanting to rename the bishop.
The assumption that these people are making is that, because of the religious ties to the name, Jewish people want it erased and replaced with something non-religious.
It's worth mentioning that chess.com does not have the power to officially change the name of the bishop, which has been in use since the game made its way to Europe around the 9th or 10th century.
The extreme reactions soon attracted the attention of those who understood the initial joke. They took the opportunity to fire back at the haters by calling them nazis and posting memes about their inability to understand a joke.
Many also pointed out the perceived hypocrisy on display, with many right-wingers often accusing the left of being unable to take a joke in similar instances.
For the full history of the chess.com bishop controversy, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.
