LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, September 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — it.com Domains, the global domain registry redefining how businesses and individuals establish their digital identity, today announced that it is providing the technical registry infrastructure for the .chess domain application by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and World Chess as part of ICANN’s 2026 New gTLD (generic top-level domain) Program.
If approved, .chess will create a dedicated digital namespace for the global chess community estimated at more than 600 million people. FIDE and World Chess plan to develop it as a recognizable online home for chess, giving players, clubs, federations, tournament organizers, platforms, media and other members of the chess ecosystem the opportunity to establish identities directly connected to the game.
A dedicated .chess domain could make chess-related websites easier to recognize and help users understand immediately that a person, organization, event or service is connected to chess. The detailed registration policies and launch model will be developed as the application progresses through the ICANN process.
FIDE and World Chess will remain responsible for the vision, policies and community and commercial model behind .chess. it.com Domains will provide the registry technology needed to operate the namespace if the application is successful.
“We see significant potential in .chess and in the wider market around digital identity for global communities,” said Andrey Insarov, CEO and Founder at it.com Domains. “We are pleased to continue our long-term partnership with World Chess and to support FIDE and World Chess as the technical partner for this application. Our role is to provide the reliable registry infrastructure needed to turn this vision into a secure and scalable namespace.”
Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess, added: “Chess has everything a major sport needs — ratings, titles, a global federation, a billion-strong audience — everything except its own territory on the internet. .chess is that territory. Approval is not guaranteed, and ICANN’s process is rigorous. But this is infrastructure the game deserves, and together with FIDE we intend to build it — and to hand every federation, club and player a domain that says exactly who they are”.
The company, it.com Domains, has successfully completed ICANN’s Main Registry Service Provider evaluation for the 2026 round and is included on ICANN’s official list of evaluated RSPs. Its platform provides the core infrastructure behind a top-level domain, including domain registration and lifecycle management, connections with registrars and registration-data services. DNS and DNSSEC services are provided through it.com Domains’ partnership with Swedish internet infrastructure operator Netnod.
This model allows organizations to create and control their own domain namespace without having to build and operate registry infrastructure from the ground up. The applicant defines what the TLD is for, who can use it and how it should develop, while it.com Domains supplies the evaluated technical foundation and operational support behind it. The approach draws on it.com Domains’ own experience bringing a namespace to market, documented in How to Get Your Own Top-Level Domain by CSO Joe Alagna and CEO Andrey Insarov. The book covers the practical steps involved in applying for, launching and operating a TLD.
The .chess application builds on an existing long-term partnership between it.com Domains and World Chess. Their most recent major collaboration was Hans Niemann vs. You, an award-winning, AI-powered interactive match staged at Web Summit in Lisbon in November 2024. The project brought together 106,638 participants from 132 countries, who joined forces to play against Grandmaster Hans Niemann.
ICANN’s Reveal Day is expected to take place no later than nine weeks after the application window closes, in approximately mid-October 2026. If the application progresses, FIDE, World Chess and it.com Domains will continue through the relevant ICANN evaluation, contracting, technical onboarding and testing stages before .chess can be introduced.
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About it.com Domains
The company, it.com Domains LTD, is the official operator for the .it.com domain registry offering domains under the .it.com suffix, e.g., yourname.it.com. It is also an evaluated Registry Services Provider (RSP) in the 2026 ICANN’s new gTLDs round.
Headquartered in London, it.com Domains is committed to promoting the adoption and trusted use of the *.it.com domain space worldwide.
For more information, please visit https://get.it.com.
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Andrey Insarov
it.com Domains
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