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The day after Netflix’s ode to fluidity “The Queen’s Gambit” premiered, Google searched for the term “chess” to almost double what it was the year before. There had previously been what Levy Rozman – an international chess master and instructor who broadcasts as GothamChess – calls a “pandemic bump,” but the series solidified the game’s status as one of the “activities”. “of 2020, alongside baking banana bread and hoarding toilet paper.
“I think it was the best representation of chess you could present to an audience that doesn’t really know or think about chess on a daily basis,” Rozman said. “I tried to make an effort to see it in the first week, first of all, to broadcast some content from it, but at the same time, it was because I think that every 10 posts during the streams was : “Did you see him? What do you think?
As Salon’s Hanh Nguyen wrote, the series, which stars Anya Taylor-Joy, “begins with 9-year-old Beth in an orphanage in Kentucky, where she was raised after the tragic death of her mother. There, a taciturn janitor (Bill Camp) introduces her to chess, for which she has an amazing aptitude. After her adoption, Beth’s unique Bildungsroman begins in earnest as she travels the country and then the world to earn money in chess tournaments and seek the respect of her predominantly male peers. ”
Rozman started playing chess when he was young too.
“I played my first tournament at the age of seven and have been playing since then,” he said.
He started releasing instructional videos and chess commentary in 2018. It was hard work; it started with less than 10 subscribers and would be online from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. on some days. Then there was a noticeable increase in November 2018 when the World Chess Championship was broadcast on Twitch, and American Fabiano Caruana faced off against Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, who is the one of the greatest players of all time. The popularity of online chess saw its ups and downs throughout 2019, then the pandemic struck, followed by the release of “The Queen’s Gambit”.
Rozman’s viewership skyrocketed as everyone suddenly wanted to learn how to play the game, including celebrities.
“I gave an NBA player a chess lesson less than a month ago,” Rozman said. “And then I started experimenting with the ‘Queen’s Gambit Effect’ a few weeks ago. I had a video called “How to play the queen’s gambit” which I made on August 31st … This is now the most watched video I have. gained 150,000 views in two weeks. My average views was 70,000 views per day. I’m now at half a million. ”
It’s not just an American phenomenon. Antonio Radić is a Croatian chess player who currently owns the most popular chess channel on YouTube, with over 805,000 subscribers.
“More people are subscribing to my channel than usual,” Radić said. “I can’t say for sure if this is related to the show, but a video I made on [“Queen’s Gambit” character] Elizabeth’s last match against Borgov [released Oct. 25] is already at 1.6 million views, so I would definitely say there is a connection. ”
Rozman and Radić have also seen an increase in the number of women who subscribe and watch their content.
“Normally my audience is 98% male, 2% female,” Rozman said. “Right now, as we go through this boom, it’s now 3.6% female, so almost doubled.
Radić’s figures are similar. On paper, it’s a small change from an even smaller demographic, but as the series shows, women aren’t a majority in the professional chess world – not even close. As Emma Baccellieri wrote for Sports Illustrated in 2018, “Women aren’t disproportionately outnumbered right at the top of the rankings. They are disproportionately outnumbered everywhere, from youth competitions. Only 14% of the members of the American Chess Federation are women; this might seem low, but it is a record, reached this year. Most female players find themselves surrounded by men all the time. ”
This is one of the reasons “The Queen’s Gambit” is such a breath of fresh air. It shows a dominant young woman in a space historically dominated by men. It could also allow women and girls to get more involved in the game.
Jennifer Shahade is a two-time US Women’s Chess Champion, a female Grandmaster and author of the books “Chess Bitch” and “Play Like a Girl”. She is also the director of the American Chess Federation’s Women’s Program and said that since the series released, her inbox has been flooded with messages about learning the game.
This is encouraging as school chess has become more popular with girls over the past decade, but there is a sharp drop in the number of young women playing chess after graduation.
“I see a big increase in the number of girls – but also especially in the number of teenage girls and adult women who are enrolling in our various programs,” said Shahade. “For example, we have over 150 women signed up for a combined chess lesson with a book club on Friday. And a lot of them are well known outside of chess but aren’t really testers. We have writers. , actresses, influencers. ”
Shahade continued, “So it’s very exciting. I think maybe this glamor of ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ can build a bridge for people to maintain their interest beyond the younger ages, because that’s where it is. that we have a lot of losses. I think that’s where we’re really going to see the “The Queen’s Gambit” effect. “
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