Overview

The Chess.com Rename the Bishop Controversy refers to backlash over a joke posted by the chess.com X / Twitter account in mid-March 2025 asking what they should rename the bishop chess piece. Some users interpreted the post as a genuine desire to rename the bishop, presumably because the term "bishop" has ties to Catholicism and Christianity, resulting in numerous high-engagement antisemitic and generally hateful comments under the post blaming Jewish people for supposedly trying to rename the bishop. The outrage became the subject of memes and discourse over the following days, with many criticizing those who got mad about the post for being unable to recognize a joke and believing chess.com has any authority to rename a chess piece.

Background

On March 14th, 2025, the chess.com X^[1] account, @chesscom, posted two images of bishop pieces from chess, writing, "accepting new name ideas for this piece," garnering over 46,000 likes and 9,500 reposts in a week.

The post is presumably meant to be a joke, as chess.com, a site that allows people to play chess online, has no authority over the naming of chess pieces. Further, @chesscom has posted jokes in the same format before about other chess pieces, suggesting there is no specific reason why they chose the bishop in this instance.^[7]

Developments

The post by @chesscom inspired numerous hateful and antisemitic comments in March 2025 from people who, presumably, thought it was making a mockery of Christianity due to the bishop's name being a reference to catholic and Christian bishops, as the piece is said to resemble a bishop's hat.

For example, on March 15th, 2025, X^[2] user @WardoftheStates posted, "It's a Bishop and delete your Twitter account," garnering over 51,000 likes in five days. X^[3] user @HermitYab posted, "I hate Jews so fucking much man," garnering over 30,000 likes in the same span of time.

Later that day, X^[4] user and internet figure Lord Miles (@real_lord_miles) posted a screenshot of a DM he sent to @chesscom reading, "Do not rename the bishop and insult Christ, I will cancel my subscription. Fuck you," garnering over 44,000 likes in five days.

Chess.com's Response

Later on March 15th, 2025, the @chesscom X^[8] account quoted their viral post, writing, "please stop suggesting 'bishop'… silly name," garnering over 160,000 likes in five days.

Online Reactions

Response To Outrage Over Post

The hateful comments towards chess.com's joke were noticed by many online, who began criticizing the commenters as nazis and suggesting they can't take a joke.

For example, on March 15th, 2025, X^[5] user @aledornell posted a meme calling out the irony of conservatives saying liberals can't take a joke, then reacting how they did to the chess.com post, garnering over 150,000 likes in five days.

On March 16th, Redditor u/Carlogamer17 posted a screenshot to the subreddit /r/confidentlyincorrect^[6] sharing an anonymous comment left under the chess.com post in which the user seems to think the site can actually change the name of the bishop, titling the post, "Bro thinks Chess.com invented chess," garnering over 2,000 upvotes in four days.

That same day, YouTuber^[9] Cr1tikal (penguinz0) posted a video reacting to the post and the outrage towards it, criticizing those who got upset over the joke, garnering over 1.6 million views in four days.

Search Interest

External References