The site logo, and how it came to be.

The site logo, and how it came to be.

The Flaming Pawn

The site logo, and how it came to be.


RedHotPawn nearly wasn’t RedHotPawn at all. There was only a two and a half month development period in early 2001 before the initial launch, and for the first month it was going to be called “WorldNetPlay” - the intention initially was to support many different game types, not just chess. The domains were registered, the logo was designed by a graphic designer friend....and then we switched the name at the last moment.

World Net Play


The logo and text changed as more time was invested in developing the site – it had launched as a pet project, and the initial interest was a surprise, largely because AOL had decided to place us so highly on their search engine at the time. This gave the momentum to those early months to mature the site.

RHP Logo Feb 2001

First logo - February 2001



A later iteration - April 2001

A later iteration - April 2001


The main pawn was redesigned, and remains today.

A first outing for the new pawn graphic - Summer 2003

A first outing for the new pawn graphic - Summer 2003


The text component kept changing..

The text component kept changing..



The text has changed numerous times though, most recently after a new logo was submitted. (Thanks Jason) But we decided to take the text but keep the existing burning pawn. The intention was to reuse the logo for the blitz site, but this is yet to happen.

The submitted logo we considered using

The submitted logo we considered using


The current logo

The current logo


And there we go, everything you wanted to know about the RHP logo but were afraid to ask.

The truth is, I was just testing the blog feature, but thanks for reading anyway 😉






Posted to The Flaming Pawn

Show Comments (16)
Comments (16)

  • Posted 3730 days 7 hours and 26 minutes ago
    Standard memberAaron Zepplin
    Really dig the old school burning pawn...
  • Posted 3834 days 17 hours and 22 minutes ago
    Standard membereyeman3
    Love the sight, been playing for some yrs. now and have met numerous friends from all over the world. A great sight and well run. Appriciate the blocking of rude language. Keep it up.
  • Posted 4015 days 16 hours and 49 minutes ago
    Standard memberNAGYUR
    use the club or clan structure for your chess club; baseball fans playing chess?
  • Posted 4529 days 15 hours and 25 minutes ago
    Standard memberBaseball28315
    ONE OF THE 5TH GRADE TEACHERS AT MY SCHOOL INTRODUCED ME TO REDHOTPAWN AND I HAVE BEEN HOOKED EVERY SINCE.IS THERE A WAY THAT I CAN GET OUR CHESS CLUB AT ONE COMMON SITE?
  • Posted 4996 days 11 hours and 45 minutes ago
    Standard memberpawnhandler
    I love my RHP coffee mug. Maybe tonight I'll tell it a bedtime story about its origin.
  • Posted 5001 days and 11 minutes ago
    Standard membertheprotectors
    Thank you russ and and rest of you guys on the front of our beloved gameplace.
  • Posted 5006 days 7 hours and 59 minutes ago
    SubscriberSuzianne
    Well, whatever the rationale, Red Hot Pawn is a lot more descriptive, and more fitting the the site as it grew. World Net Play is, frankly, a bit boring and not very memorable.
  • Posted 5011 days 10 hours and 7 minutes ago
    Standard memberGrampy Bobby
    Use of the 'pawn' gave focus to just chess (rather than many different games). Logical choice. At the last moment, you chose 'red hot' over many other optional descriptive words. What became the compelling rationale which drove the selection?
  • Posted 5012 days 16 hours and 26 minutes ago
    Subscriberdivegeester
    so what happened to all the other games? Just asking as I'm crap at chess and could do with a boost by hammering someone at snakes and ladders.
  • Posted 5012 days 23 hours and 59 minutes ago
    Standard memberBugdroid
    Comment removed
    Last Post
    18 May '21
    Posts
    4
    Blog since
    02 Jul '10

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