Why Chess is Now Bigger Than Ever
Unless you live under a rock, you have probably noticed that chess has become more popular than ever. More people are talking about it to friends, online, and on the news. Why is that? Today we explore the top reasons why there has been such a rise in chess players in the past year.
1) The Pandemic
Experts and chess champions have seen an uptick in popularity in the hobby as a result of the pandemic, with some people spending more time indoors. Recently, 480,000 new players have signed up to play on Chess.com, almost 100,000 more than the previous milestone of 378,000, set in March 2020.
People are also buying chess sets to enjoy at home to reduce their screen time. The significant rise in young chess players since the pandemic is due in part to a global paradigm change we've witnessed, in which self-improvement and new talent learning are more highly regarded than ever before.
2) The Queen’s Gambit
"The Queen's Gambit" is a fantasy tale set in the 1960s about an orphaned Kentucky girl who, while still in her youth, becomes a chess champion. Beth Harmon, the precocious protagonist, fights pill and alcohol addictions, as well as sexist stereotypes regarding her chess abilities, thus defeating one male grandmaster after another.
"The Queen's Gambit" has been one of Netflix's most successful series ever. The exhibition has become a cultural sensation among chess players. Addiction, grief, personal conflict, and facing challenges are topics that many people can relate to. It also didn't hurt that the chess scenes were a fantastic and often realistic depiction of chess at the highest level.
3) Huge Viewership on Twitch
Twitch.tv is a live-video-streaming website that was established in 2011 to allow users to watch others play video games. Since 2015, the number of people watching chess has increased exponentially. At any given time, just 59 people were watching chess streams. Today, the figure is about 4,313.
Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura is at the helm of this increase in popularity. He started streaming chess on Twitch in 2015, in addition to his typical competitive career. He went unnoticed at first, but after dedicating upwards of 30 hours a week to streaming in 2019, Nakamura became known as “GMHikaru” to his rising online fanbase. By the year 2020, those fans would have watched 9.95 million hours of Nakamura's chess playing.
So, what’s the best way to capitalize on this new wave of chess interest? Get 2 FREE chess classes included with our Clubhouse Membership! You can sign up your child today at: chessclubhouse.com/memberships
