Cool chess online1/9/2023 Online chess had already had a huge boost from the lockdown, since few activities are quite so well suited to these straitened times. In fact, the success of The Queen’s Gambit catalysed a process that was well under way. I feel like a guest at a slow-burning party, energised by the late arrival of a crowd of revellers who heard the nerds are cool now but don’t know what they missed in the past 50 years. (The plot of The Queen’s Gambit borrows a lot from the mythology surrounding that ‘match of the century’.) The modern chess boom lacks the same geopolitical resonance, but the online game has added new dimensions. The public image of chess was fossilised in Reykjavik in 1972, when the American Bobby Fischer defeated the Soviet Boris Spassky. The game has always been enchanting, but it is curious to see the wider world paying attention. They didn’t swipe and they didn’t scroll, but they stared intently at their chequered screens, lost in the possibilities. I would often glimpse those opponents in pre-pandemic times, seated alone on a train, or in a café, and feel a sort of kinship. Websites such as and make it possible to start a game in seconds, at any time of day, against opponents across the world. Following the series’ release, sales of chessboards went through the roof - not that you need one to get started. Some told me so, while others asked me to give them lessons. It’s not for everyone, this teetering between anguish and triumph, but the show made people want to try it. Playing the game probably won’t make you rich, but it might get you laid. But chess had a place at the heart of it, and The Queen’s Gambit brought to life the grunge and glamour you get on the chess circuit. The wondrous eyes of Anya Taylor-Joy as heroine Beth Harmon surely played a part, and period styling works like catnip on TV audiences. I suppose I can admit that the popularity of the series wasn’t entirely down to the chess. Late last year, Netflix TV series The Queen’s Gambit was watched by 62 million households in its first 28 days. So we stopped playing chess.’ Not bad, as jabs go, and I’ve heard a few - as has any lifelong chess player. ‘I was playing chess with my friend and he said “Let’s make this interesting”. Ten years ago, comedian Matt Kirshen’s one-liner was voted the fifth-best at the Edinburgh Fringe.
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