The Queen’s Gambit Brings Back the Chess Frenzy

The Queen’s Gambit Brings Back the Chess Frenzy, since the release of the Netflix series, sales of chess sets have risen by nearly 125%.

The Queen’s Gambit is a period drama series based on the 1983’s novel by Walter Tevis. It’s about the life of an orphan chess prodigy, Beth Harmon, during her quest to become the world’s greatest chess player while struggling with emotional problems and drug and alcohol dependency.

According to Nielsen, it was the most watched streaming show in the world the week after it debuted—a list that includes both new series and older ones, like The Office. Critics are calling it one of the best shows of the year.

The show released on October 23rd, 2020, just in about a month 62 million households have watched the show already. And by now chess retailers and app makers would be thanking Netflix for this show. As the Queen’s Gambit brings back the chess frenzy. Ever since the release of it, according to the market research company NPD. One toy company, Goliath Games, told NPR that sales of its chess sets have increased more than 1,000% compared to the same period last year. Downloads for Chess.com’s iPhone app have jumped from obscurity to the top of the charts.

Along with this, the google search queries for “how to play chess” has hit an all-time high in 9 years and the number of new players on chess.com has multiplied by 5. And the time when it released was beneficial too, as consumers are cooped up at home amid the pandemic, looking for new forms of at-home leisure.

While Netflix’s impact is perhaps most noticeable in the world of chess, there’s some evidence it was also partly responsible for a rise in barbie sales at two separate points this year, each jump tied to a release of new Barbie content on the service.

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