![]() ![]() Events like PogChamps, an invitational amateur tournament series hosted by featuring some of the most popular non-chess Twitch streamers, have spurred streamers of all backgrounds to try out chess. Though, titled players and chess clubs are not the only channels getting views on their chess content anymore. The average viewership of the chess category on Twitch during December, January, and February increased tenfold from last year to this year (TwitchTracker, n.d.). Not only are people playing more chess, they are watching it more too. Also, the number of games being played per day on doubled from October to December (Dottle, 2020). Following the release of The Queen’s Gambit, coupled with the increase in public interest during the coronavirus pandemic, sales of chess sets were up 1100% in November and December for the toy retailer Goliath Games (Dottle, 2020). ![]() Sixty two million households watched the series over the first 28 days after it debuted on Netflix on Octo(Dottle, 2020). The Queen’s Gambit, a series about a fictional chess prodigy named Beth Harmon, was the most watched scripted limited series in the first month of its release. The US Chess Federation also offers five levels of certifications for the instruction of chess (US Chess).Ĭ, a popular online chess server, has been adding 1 million new accounts every month since March with a 2.8 million member increase in November following the release of The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix (Dottle, 2020). There exist women’s and men’s titles based on rating including but not limited to FIDE Master, International Master, Grandmaster, and World Champion. About 170,000 players were active in 2019 across the world (FIDE, 2019). A player’s rating is based on whether they win, lose, or draw games against rated players in tournaments. FIDE has a system of rating players on a scale of 1 to 3000 based on tournament performance and a system for giving titles to the best chess players in the world. As time went on, more and more people were watching and playing chess.įor those unacquainted with the world of chess, the governing body for the sport of chess is The International Chess Federation, abbreviated as either ICF or more commonly FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs) as the organization was founded in France in 1924 and moved its headquarters to Switzerland (FIDE, n.d.). ![]() The so-called “New Chess Boom” describes the increase in viewership and playing of chess across the world starting in 2018 and picking up speed in March 2020 as people were forced to turn toward the internet for more of their entertainment. Chess, a game that has been around for almost 1500 years, is seeing a rapid resurgence in popularity this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the release of a new Netflix series called The Queen’s Gambit, and the increasing availability of instructional resources for players of all levels. ![]()
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