Certain X users felt attacked when the Chess.com account created a joke post asking people to help them rename the “bishop” piece. Right-wing Christians flooded the comments with angry replies, jumping to the conclusion that because a bishop is a title within the Catholic church, the post is an affront to their religion. The chess website account, however, made a similar post about the rook a few weeks ago.
The outrage went to some ugly places in the hours after Chess.com made their silly post, with one side spamming antisemitic replies and the other sitting back and enjoying the show.
Chess.com asks users to rename the bishop
On March 14, 2025, the account for Chess.com—a leading online chess game website—posted side-by-side images of black and white bishops with the prompt, “accepting new name ideas for this piece.” They made a nearly identical tweet on Feb. 13 about the rook, which led to a decent amount of engagement with 1.1 million views and silly good times in the comments.
The joke with the bishop turned out differently. The new post got over 50.5 million views in a week, plus 17,000 comments split between conservative accounts spitting vitriol and liberals and leftists making fun of their counterparts for failing to recognize a harmless joke. You can find some silly suggestions for new names in between, but it might not be worth wading through the various slurs.
Chess.com has not responded to these reactions in any way, other than electing to keep the post up despite the horrors in the comments. Their only other interaction with the post is the same joke they made with the rook—requesting that users “please stop suggesting ‘bishop’… silly name.”
‘F*ck your atheist gay race communism’
The sheer number of accounts (often boosted by blue checks) taking the post seriously is staggering. The furious replies range from simple demands to keep the name as “bishop” as though Chess.com has the authority to change it.
“The erasure of anything remotely Christian from society needs to stop,” wrote @OldHollowTree.
“F*ck your atheist gay race communism,” said @kikisknees. “That’s the Bishop. Forever will be.”
People found that second one to be so hilarious that it’s become a new copypasta among lefty X users. The user who originally posted it deleted the tweet instead of explaining what gay race communism has to do with anything.
Counter-reaction: ‘Absolute circus’
Once folks on the other side of the aisle caught wind of what was happening in the Chess.com post replies, it became the joke of the week. Left-wing users gawked at the intensity of the right-wing responses and laughed at them for taking it seriously. Many pointed out the irony around the fact that conservatives often accuse the left of being “snowflakes” unable to take a joke.
“If you want to entertain yourself for hours, read the responses to this post,” recommended American chess International Master Levy Rozman under his account @GothamChess. “Absolute circus.”
Some users attempted to keep the fun going by trolling the offended parties.
“‘Fauci takes drag queen. Check,’” joked @yumtapwater with an image of a Gigachad playing chess.
Some politically ambiguous accounts also got in on the fun with their forms of trolling, which went to some interesting places.
“I love putting the bishop in my a**,” writes @perkins_becket. “I put the bishop on my a** whether it’s white or black. Black or white, it doesn’t matter; it’s going in my a** either way. I love putting the bishop in my a**.”
More bishop renaming outrage reactions
They just keep getting funnier.
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