Chess, especially online chess platforms such as chess.com, has gained significant popularity during Covid-19 when many people had a lot of extra time to spend. Even after that, some people continued playing chess, even at school. Right after Covid-19, it was not uncommon to see students competing in a game of chess with each other. However, chess has gradually declined in popularity after a while and has lost many of its young players, and it became less and less common to see students playing chess.
However, recently there seems to be a sudden increase in popularity of chess, especially for chess.com. Is the online chess popularity coming back? “It feels like everyone is playing again, especially in 11th grade”, said Max Long, a St Mary’s student and a chess player. “I think people are rediscovering how fun it is to compete in chess, and chess.com makes it so easy to play chess anytime”. He often plays chess games with other classmates during recess, and he says that “playing chess bring friends closer together, I think”.
Chess.com offers free online chess lessons, practice games with AI, so that beginners can get a grasp of how the game works, as well as playing with other players around the world. There is a rating system that allows players to match up with other players with similar skill level, making each game fair and competitive. It has never been easier to get into chess, and that might be the reason why it’s popularity is growing every day.
