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Garry Kasparov, a former world chess champion and widely regarded as one of the sport’s greatest players, acted as show business consultant to ensure authenticity.
Chess has enjoyed something of a resurgence in recent years, thanks in part to the influence of current world champion Magnus Carlsen, who is likely becoming a household name.
Kasparov says the success of “The Queen’s Gambit” will only further increase the game’s global appeal.
“I think chess is on the rise now in America and around the world,” Kasparov told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “But I think this series will do a great job promoting it further and I expect a boom now, because it helps disprove the image of the game of chess as something that could turn you into a nerd – or just drive you crazy.
“On the contrary, we can see that chess helps Beth Harmon overcome her weakness and addiction. So chess helps lift her to new heights and I think it will encourage many, many more parents to look at chess more favorably and push. their children in this direction, especially the girls “.
According to the International Chess Federation (FIDE), in the 10 days following the release of “The Queen’s Gambit”, searches for the word “chess sets” on eBay increased by 273%, one search every six seconds.
While FIDE says it’s too soon after the show’s release on October 23 to say whether it impacted the game’s numbers, chess has enjoyed a huge surge in online interest since the first coronavirus crash.
In early 2020, FIDE says up to 11 million games of chess were played online every day. After the lockdown, that number has increased to 17 million, while FIDE says these platforms have seen a 40% increase in new registered accounts.
Twitch and YouTube streaming platforms, more commonly used by online gamers to stream more conventional video games, have also seen a boost. FIDE says Twitch users spent around two million hours watching chess in February and four million in April. In May, this was up to eight million hours.
With more than a billion smartphones worldwide with some sort of chess app downloaded, FIDE claims the game was a “sleeping giant”.
“It’s nerdy, but also cool and trendy. It’s intensely competitive, but full of interesting, creative and colorful characters. We are very happy that thanks to this show so many people are discovering or rediscovering chess.”
But, as “The Queen’s Gambit” shows, chess remains a very male dominated game.
Hungarian Judit Polgár is widely regarded as the greatest player of all time and was once the youngest grandmaster in history at the age of 15 years and four months, breaking the record previously held by the legendary US chess player Bobby Fischer.
Now 44, Polgar believes the series can help change the current dynamic, but says the show alone won’t be enough.
“I think it can immensely increase the promotion of the game for girls,” Polgar says. “And I hope not just more girls start [playing] it, but they will be – not dependent – but they will stay in the game and will be supported by their parents and teachers and coaches, who if they are talented can also reach their maximum potential.
“I think it’s very important for everyone to see talented girls get the same encouragement as boys.”
Polgar hopes that any rise in popularity after the success of “The Queen’s Gambit” isn’t a flash in the pan. His desire is for chess to become a fundamental part of school learning and he believes that children would benefit enormously if this happened.
According to the numbers from FIDE, the game definitely seems to be heading in that direction.
The federation says the number of schoolchildren participating in chess has “steadily increased” since 1990 and estimates that there are currently more than 30 million children participating in Chess in School programs each week around the world.
“I think chess is generally one of the most important educational tools and it is practically in every country that you go to see different types of programs,” Polgar says. “He teaches children many different skills that they can use in everyday life.
“Just to name a few: logical thinking, decision making, accountability, resilience and many things they should have in their daily life. Take their consequences and make their decisions in a way that they know how to move from one to another to manage a defeat, one win, one win and be strong.
“I think in many ways chess can give this to the next generation and I work a lot on that, to promote chess in education – Garry does the same, sometimes we do it together – and I really believe it will give better. quality of life and understanding for children “.
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