MXit’s chess portal has attracted over 285,000 players, with 50,000 games on New Year’s Eve.

“We are very excited to see that our users are embracing the strategic and intellectual world of chess,” says Paul Stemmet, general manager for sales at MXit. “We initially developed the game to test the viability of a gaming platform and we are delighted by the enormous uptake from users.

“MXit users’ social behaviour sees them engaging on multiple levels by spending time playing chess against other community members whilst chatting to their MXit contacts on the instant messaging platform.”

Stemmet said that the fact that young adults are playing chess shows that the game is not dipping in popularity, and that the appeal to players is that anyone can play anywhere, and even play multiple games at a time.

MXit is currently aiming to raise the number of players to one million by the end of 2011, and is thus seeking partners to sponsor this growth.