"The actual number of moves that are not utterly stupid in chess is tiny and chess will be fully solved one day," Elon Musk tweeted on his own website, X, on Sep. 3.
The bold prediction got the attention of Chess.com, or at least the person working the website's presence on X.
"Skill issue," they replied in a clap-back quote-tweet later that same day.
skill issue https://t.co/6kvRqb0AS2
— Chess.com (@chesscom) September 3, 2026
Musk and the @chesscom account have since sent a flurry of snarky, passive-aggressive tweets back and forth. Musk is defending his chess knowledge, while the Chess.com account is questioning it.
What's unstated is that their beef actually goes back years.
Musk has called chess 'too simple'
In December 2022, Elon Musk shared an innocuous post about chess on Twitter (the website he had just bought and
would later rename X).
"I did as a child, but found it to be too simple to be useful in real life: a mere 8 by 8 grid, no fog of war, no technology tree, no random map or spawn position, only 2 players, both sides exact same pieces, etc." he wrote in the post.
Chess.com then published an article titled "Why Elon Musk Doesn’t — And Can’t — Play Chess."
They questioned Musk's abilities by bringing up "rich" chess moves that might contradict his "limitations" claim, including castling, en passant, pawn promotion and knight moves. Regarding the last one Chess.com wrote, "How can one piece jump over another and then have the possibility of landing on up to eight squares? True, it’s not random and it’s probably confusing to someone who is a billionaire."
Chess.com replied to Musk's tweet back then as well, but it did not provoke a response from the Tesla boss.
Hey Elon!
— Chess.com (@chesscom) October 24, 2022
fog of war chess exists
tech tree = promotion
random map / spawn position = chess960
2 players > 4 player chess
both sides same pieces > horde
The beef reignited
This time around, after Chess.com's tweet mentioning a "skill issue" (a video game slang term for questioning someone's skill live), Musk responded.
"Chess is hard for humans, but not for computers," he wrote. "One day, it will be fully solved like checkers. Between now and then, or even after, have fun. People enjoy many games/sports where machines are vastly better."
The spat continued, and at one point Musk called the Chess.com admin an "intern," and they responded, "I'm a full-time employee."
I’m a full-time employee. https://t.co/ehEKTSkDLY
— Chess.com (@chesscom) September 4, 2026
The Chess.com admin remarked about Musk's speedy replies, "Even my friends don't text me back that fast."
Others on X began to take notice. "Have been really enjoying this chess account wolloping on Elon Musk for the last 12 hours. Elon Musk continues to be one of the dumbest people around," wrote @CantEverDie in one example tweet.
have been really enjoying this chess account wolloping on elon musk for the last 12 hours. elon musk continues to be one of the dumbest people around its incredible https://t.co/Qi8Wh8gjg6
— onion person (@CantEverDie) September 4, 2026
Chess is quite popular in memes
Jokes about chess are prevalent in meme culture, and Chess.com is featured in many of them.
In one meme shared in the /r/AnarchyChess subreddit in 2021, the creator jokes about getting "en passant'd," referring to a move that involves one pawn taking another pawn in an unconventional manner. The meme suggests that the move was so confusingly good, they must have been hacked, so they search for how to report a hacker on Chess.com.
In March 2025, Chess.com shared a viral tweet, receiving over 53.4 million views, that asked users to rename the bishop. A slew of replies took over the app that day. Many recommended naming it "bishop."
The savvy account admin tweeted, "Please stop suggesting 'bishop' … silly name.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Elon Musk is feuding with Chess.com. And not for the first time.
