Pandemic boredom drove many to the game, and The Queen’s Gambit piqued the interest of more. Will it last?
The grand, historic but occasionally lampooned sport of chess believes its moment has come, after lockdown encouraged a rapid rise in the number of online players worldwide. Go on a site such as chess.com at any time of the day or night and you will find tens of thousands of players from around the world doing battle in blitz (very short) games, swearing at each other via the comments box in a variety of languages.
The success of the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit was the icing on the cake. Chess has finally become cool. TV presenter Tilly Ramsay even featured in a chess-based dance routine in Strictly Come Dancing last week – one of the game’s rare outings on British terrestrial television since the 1980s.
