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If he had it to do over again, Sleator said, he would have left the old, buggier version of what was called the Internet Chess Server up and running for anyone to play for free. Instead, he announced that anyone already on the system would have six more months for free, then have to pay the same $49 a year he was going to charge new players. At the time, very few sites charged for anything on the Internet, and some CMU students were outraged. They cobbled together another system, calling it the Free Internet Chess Server, and in the spirit of the open-source movement, they posted their code to the Web for anyone else to modify for their own systems. That effort took half a year. By then, Sleator’s system had critical mass and could advertise that it had more players, better customer service, and stronger features than the free alternative. Sleator hired students from time to time, and others volunteered to help administer the system, which did business as the Internet Chess Club, or ICC. One of the helpers was Dmitry Dakhnovsky, an online chess player from a California high school whom Sleator had recommended for admission to the university.

John Fanning used the ICC service heavily and played at an above-average level. Today he has a U.S. Chess Federation rating of 1813, making him a Class A player in the federation’s traditional rankings: That’s better than Classes E through B but shy of Expert and Master. On the system, Fanning struck up a relationship with another of Sleator’s players, the emotional and brilliant Roman Dzindzichashvili, who had twice shared the U.S. championship. Dzindzichashvili earned a small amount for playing games and giving commentary on Sleator’s system. Fanning helped Dzindzichashvili produce a series of instructional videotapes on chess strategy, and he began looking for a place to sell them. According to e-mails from Fanning, in early 1995 he offered to buy Sleator’s company for $50,000 plus future royalties. Sleator turned him down.

In December of that year, Fanning asked how he could advertise Dzindzichashvili’s tapes on Sleator’s system, and Sleator’s wife and partner offered a package for $500 that would include a mass e-mail to members of the ICC. (Now known as ChessClub.com, Sleator’s system is the most popular chess site on the Web.) Fanning didn’t respond, Sleator said. He had figured out a way to get the e-mail addresses of the club’s members on his own, and Fanning sent them all offers to buy the video-

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