The Chess Popularity Is Surging
By
Richard Janvrin
Contributor Updated: 06 January 2025
Richard Janvrin Contributor
Richard has been writing about sports since he was a teenager. Still, his first professional role came in 2015, covering all things NFL and fantasy football-related. From there, in December 2018, he started in the sports betting industry, covering sportsbook reviews before arriving to where he is today.
The Chess Popularity
The origins of chess date back to India in the 6th century CE. By the 10th century, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe began playing the game.
It’s always been viewed as a game of mental dexterity, and the first FIDE World Championships were held in 1948.
From 1993 to 2006, there were split titles due to issues with the FIDE, but it returned in 2006 and has been going since.
However, there has been a massive increase in chess popularity over time, including online sportsbooks with chess odds.
While that’s happened, it’s different now. Below, I’ll examine factors and answer the question, “Why is chess so popular?”
Let’s dive in.
The Queen’s Gambit Show
In 2020, a new television series, The Queen’s Gambit, debuted based on Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel. While chess popularity over time has steadily increased, a massive surge happened when this show came out.
The show is set during the Cold War and centers around chess prodigy Beth Harmon, who aims to become the best chess player in the world while dealing with addiction.
Harmon is meant to be in the image of Bobby Fischer, who battled with mental issues before beating Boris Spassky in 1972.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, this show became the No. 1 show in 12 countries.
This show helped change chess from another boring game to something cool and unique.
Following the show, CNN reported that chess sets saw an 87% increase in sales, and books on the game saw eye-popping sales increases of more than 600%.
It also helped drive millions in traffic to places like Chess.com and helped YouTube channels grow.
The Chess.com YouTube channel has more than 2 million subscribers. The YouTube channel GothamChess has 5.58 million subscribers.
Chess.com also saw a 400% increase in registrations.
It’s true: The Queen’s Gambit television show greatly impacted chess popularity in 2020 and beyond.
The Pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, plenty of protocols were in place that rendered many Americans and others worldwide into their homes.
While some were re-navigating nostalgia from their youth, like collecting baseball cards or video games, some—and apparently many—flocked to chess.
The Queen’s Gambit came out during this time, and Chess.com saw its monthly active users increase from 8 million to 17 million.
“Covid lockdowns created an environment where people stayed home and indoors, and they started to look for things to do,” said Erik Allebest, CEO of Chess.com, to The New York Times. “Puzzle sales went through the roof. So did board games. In fact, all gaming surged, both online and offline. Chess, the granddaddy of all games, garnered a lot of attention.”
Chess.com’s CEO also cited The Queen’s Gambit show.
“That hit at the perfect time, like a double jump on a trampoline that boosted chess high into the zeitgeist,” Mr. Allebest said. “Everyone loved Beth Harmon (well, or loved Anya Taylor-Joy), and the show was a huge success. I guess having Anya visualizing chess moves on the ceiling made everyone intrigued and people started searching for where to play chess online.”
In May 2020, Chess.com sponsored PogChamps, a chess tournament for Twitch streamers with a peak viewership of about 165,000.
During COVID, the Marshall Chess Club in New York was closed. Upon re-opening, it hit an active member record with more than 1,000. The highest in its 100-plus year history.
Dr. Frank Bandy, also speaking to The New York Times, is an author who wrote about Fischer and Spassky in his book “Endgame” and cited the pandemic as boosting the game.
“There’s no question that the pandemic helped promote interest in chess. Chess is an absorbing and wonderful game. You can be by yourself and play over games, try to solve problems, and learn by doing that.” But, he insisted, the Fischer boom was unique. “When Fischer stood on that stage in Laugardalsholl and Euwe gave him a plaque as world champion, it was a tremendous moment of American pride. I was sitting in the second or third row and I was so moved by Bobby’s accomplishment. It was like something that he did for America.”
Online Streaming Outlets
I mentioned PogChamps and YouTube channels above, but these outlets’ viewership is staggering.
GothamChess has nearly 100 videos with 1 million views or more.
The PogChamps match between xQc and MoistCr1tikal, which ended after six moves, has 19 million views.
J. Schlatt, another top Twitch streamer, has a video with 25 million views of him losing a game in two moves.
For context, the FIDE YouTube channel has 4.6k videos, and only one has north of 1 million views, indicating that chess popularity by country is also increasing as this is an international championship.
This is how people consume and enjoy chess content through their favorite streamers.
Chess Grand Master Hikaru Nakamura has 1.9 million followers on Twitch, which exposes the game to that ecosystem even more.
The Site Chess.com
While chess can be played on a board that you buy at a retail store like Walmart, the accessibility of online games allows players to play now more than ever. This site has much to do with the increase in chess popularity over time as it launched in 2007.
If you open the Chess.com site, you can immediately click two links: one to play against a customizable bot and one to play online against real people that correlate to your skill level.
Additionally, you can solve puzzles to improve pattern recognition or take lessons online to improve your play.
On the left side of the homepage are the following: Play, Puzzles, Learn, Watch, News, Social, and more.
Chess.com has made playing chess accessible to anyone with an internet connection, which also helps educate players.
Having these resources in one place helped Chess.com’s monthly uses more than double.
For general interest, under the Watch tab, you can search for events, ChessTV, those playing right then and there, and streamers who regularly play chess.
Here’s Chess.com’s reach per platform:
- TikTok: 1.7 million
- X: 600k
- YouTube: 2.1 million
- Twitch: 1.2 million
- Instagram: 1.3 million
You can also download the Chess.com app, which has 508k downloads on the Apple App Store and a five-star rating.
Finally, on the Google Play Store, Chess.com has over 50 million downloads, 2.3 million reviews, and a 4.7 out of 5-star rating.
