Why is Chess so Popular?
World chess champion Magnes Carlsen (right) won’t play his computer or play the game like a computer. Instead, he chooses his strategy based on what he knows about his opponent
February 3, 2023
Strategy, Battle, Sacrifice, these are things you would not usually expect to take place in a school, and yet, with the rise of chess, this has become commonplace around our school. Chess has been around since the 6th century but has suddenly surged in popularity. According to Google Trends, searches for chess are at the highest they have ever been since the advent of the internet. All this leads to the question, why is chess so popular?
The sudden growth of Chess can be traced back to a number of reasons, all of them affecting Chess in different ways. One crucial way was the cheating scandal, in September of 2022, Magnus Carlsen, the man considered to be the best Chess player in the world, lost a game to nineteen year old Grandmaster Hans Niemann. Carlsen abruptly withdrew from the tournament and later accused Niemann of cheating in their game. In a subsequent investigation, the top Chess website, Chess.com, found that Niemann had cheated in over one-hundred online games. Niemann has since sued Carlsen and Chess.com for defamation. This scandal went viral, and vastly increased the amount of Chess players.
Another key reason for the growth of Chess was Youtuber Ludwig Ahgren’s Chess Boxing event. The game of Chess Boxing involves two opponents boxing for a round, then playing chess for a few minutes. This process repeats until a checkmate or a knockout takes place. This event garnered over 500,000 live viewers and led to an increase of Chess players. Another cause of this was the viral trend of the Chess bot known as Mittens. Mittens went viral as a “cat” that plays against you in Chess. This cat used an advanced Chess analysis bot to be almost unbeatable for casual players. The draw of this bot affected more players to Chess.com. Another reason for this growth was that the most popular Instagram post of the year, the Messi and Ronaldo picture for the World Cup, involved a Chess board with the pieces in the position of a real game. Several other reasons for this surge in popularity include Youtuber Gotham Chess’ Wired interview performing well on Youtube, the Chess.com app being the second most popular app on the app store, and several large Chess events taking place.
This growth of Chess has had its drawbacks, the website has had issues running smoothly due to the large influx of new players and accounts. Playing Chess.com has also led to distractions in our school. I myself have witnessed many students playing Chess on their Chromebook while being taught important information.
Chess also has its benefits, Chess has been found to improve problem solving and critical thinking skills in its players. The brain is like a muscle, and Chess exercises the muscle, this repeated use of the brain has been found to improve its function over time. Chess can also build relationships between players and teach sportsmanship.
Overall, Chess has swept through our school, and all over the world, for a number of reasons. This global phenomenon has both positive and negative effects, but its impact is undeniable.
