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Queen’s Gambit has proved to be a surprise hit for the streaming giant Netflix. The show is proving to be a revolutionary tale for the game of chess, as that’s the subject it revolves around. Netflix has been sharing some facts that prove the show’s impact on the game.
Here’s what Netflix shared on its social media account:
– The series made the Top 10 in 92 countries & ranked #1 in 63 countries
– The novel has entered The New York Times bestseller list, 37 years after its release
– Google searches for “How To Play Chess” have hit a nine-year peak
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We thought to dig further and find out what’s happening on the the ‘Queen’s Gambit’s Effect’ side apart from the already known facts.
Folks down at Housebeautiful, contacted Anthony Barzilay Freund, an editorial director and director of fine art at vintage site 1stDibs. He said, “The Queen’s Gambit is driving interest in the game of chess among new audiences and demographics. At 1stDibs, in just a month following the show’s release, we’ve seen a 100% increase in sales of chessboards, pieces, and tables as compared to this time period last year.”
Shopping site eBay had a massive surge in searches for chess sets. They reported a 273% growth in the search for chess sets, and that too within ten days of the shoot.
As per a report in Salon, chess master Levy Rozman’s average views on his Twitch channel increased from 70,000 views to 500,000 views.
MentalFloss reported, “Chess apps have also seen a huge increase in interest, with the Chess.com game app reaching the no. Three spot in the strategy games category on U.S. iPhones in mid-November, according to App Annie. In the overall game download category, Chess.com has moved up 256 spots since the show’s debut, settling in at no. 62 in the U.S.”
Bloomberg says, “Chess.com, a social network and chess server website, has added around 1 million new members each month since the lockdowns began in March, and around 2.8 million in November alone. In the same month, over 78 million standard chess games took place on lichess, a free online chess server, compared to half as many in November 2019.”
The same report also said that during grandmasters Magnus Carlsen and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave’s semi-final of the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship, 70,000 viewers tuned in to twitch to watch. This number is more than the viewers, which can be fit in an average Major League Baseball stadium.
Now, that’s something for Queen’s Gambit and its makers! Have you watched the show yet? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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