Note: This review is part of an ongoing Startup Fest 2011

This a a gaming startup that chess fanatics would love to get addicted to.It’s PlayE4

PlayE4 is a chess service that offers multi-player chess games in real time.The 3D, user-friendly chess software allows chess enthusiasts to grow their pool of game partners and play against players of their skilset(or above) any moment.

You are required to download their software to start playing Chess with other contenders.Right now,PlayE4 is available in 3 game modes and 6 different languages including English, French, German, Hebrew, Russian and Spanish.What helps PlayE4 stand out as a unique gaming service is its anti-cheating system, which can identify use of auto-chess programs in real time.

While most of the chess softwares in the market are designed to introduce the game to kids and novice or to help professional players to improve their play,PlayE4 is oriented towards the recreational chess player, who is familiar with the rules, already got the moves and enjoys playing chess for fun.Yet chess beginners and players who need a little warm up, can use Play E4 chess school with step-by-step tutorials starting from chess rules to grand chess masters strategies.

At PlayE4,members can also play chess online for real money,knowing that their opponents are human who are not consulting with chess bots or programs;that’s because PlayE4′s advanced anti-cheating software is capable of tracking inhuman behavior(they have partnered with Cognisafe) and preventing abuse of assisting chess programs, thus ensuring fair play on PlayE4 software.

Founded by Antigone Jones,PlayE4 has plans to translate the site to additional languages and add more community features in the site.

What’s still not there….

‘Software download for playing chess’ is something they should work out to eliminate.Users should easily get on with the play with no software download required.

As the website is oriented to a single game,some consistent promotional efforts will be required to gather a considerable audience for PlayE4.And it will easily take one more year to start getting decent traction.(i actually doubt on this bcoz Chess fanatics aren’t tens of millions)

They can add some more games to their shelf for a broader traction.