The 2020 Chess Boom

A 1,500-year-old game is now conquering the internet

Inspired by the recent Netflix hit The Queen’s Gambit, millions of people are getting into chess. Chess websites, content creation, and esport events are booming. It may not have 100 champions, 50 weapons, or crazy explosions, but it has an unrivaled tactical depth, which makes it not only a great game to play but also a very interesting and engaging esports title.

Chess is the ultimate easy to learn, hard to master game. Everyone can learn how the pieces move in a few minutes and understand what is happening in a game between professional players, but very few of us will achieve Grandmaster titles ourselves.

2020 Chess Boom

The global pandemic has lead to a big online chess boom. With large parts of the population in lockdown, chess has become a popular pastime and coping mechanism. And a quick chess game during home office hours doesn’t hurt anyone either, right?

Further fueling the growth of chess were collaborations of big streamers with strong chess players, which made some of them very popular Twitch streamers themselves. Most notably the American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, the #1 blitz player and #4 rapid player in the world. His streams reach 10k or more viewers regularly. He also signed with one of…