Whether you’re at the library, in chemistry class, or even at a show choir competition, there’s one thing you’re bound to see–chess. Recently there’s been a sudden surge in the popularity of chess, a game originally given the reputation of being boring and outdated, now commonplace in our daily lives. Why, you may ask, has this ancient game become relevant in society again? Teacher Mr. Graham points to shows like Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, remembering how after its release “all of a sudden people were like “Oh yeah! I used to play chess when I was a little kid!” In addition, things like Ronaldo and Messi posing with a chess board and scandals surrounding the game have taken the internet by storm. 

In this day and age, access to chess is fairly easy–especially with Chess.com, a website where players can compete either live against other people or against a computer player. Over the last month the website has seen a huge increase in activity, hitting a new milestone of 10 million users a day. Chess.com posted on its forum that “31,700,000 games were played on January 20 alone, a site record, and we are now regularly seeing more than one million games an hour.” The site has had trouble keeping up with the increased numbers and has in suit experienced multiple crashes. 

But what’s really driven the resurgence of the game amongst teens? Is it simply because of its sudden popularity or is it something deeper? Aaron Butikofer (‘25) tells us that he just finds it fun. ”I actually started playing when I went to Boy Scout Camp and I played with my grandma in her living room…” While the game has deeper roots in some people, the revival has definitely influenced the joining of new players. When asked how long he’s been playing chess, Cam Andrews (‘25) told us, “Honestly probably like a month ago, two months ago. Um I just saw someone playing it in class and I just started playing it…” Though both have different backgrounds in chess, both play each other often. 

Although what’s previously been given the reputation of a fairly calm game, an uprising in heated behavior has taken a hold of the teen crowd. Mr. Sheetz, a Language Arts Teacher at Washington HIgh School, tells us that he has noticed an increase in negative behavior surrounding the game. Students have become quite competitive about their matches, especially towards their peers. Butikofer expressed to us, “Yeah. I’m coming for you Landyn. Cam. Lucas. Cade. I’m here. I’m ready-I’m ready to fight. Whenever you want me. Not fight. Chess. I’m ready to chess whenever you want me. I don’t even care. What are you gonna do? You can’t stop me. Like bro, Graham beat me one time, I’m coming for him again. I’m coming for everybody–I’m coming for Sloma.” Parallel to Butikofer’s interview, Andrews accuses, “…Aaron is a fraud, uh his elo is a fraud, he’s elo trapping.” (Elo refers to a point system used on Chess.com)

Like all trends, will this wave of chess come to an end? Opinions are mixed, as some, like Andrews, will say “I don’t think it will be short lived because chess has been around for so long. I just think there will be a fall off but there will still be a core base for a while.” While others think that its popularity will soon plummet. Butikofer shares his final thoughts leaving one last dig at Andrews –“Definitely some people are gonna quit…like Cam–Cam’s gonna quit for sure.” Only time will tell whether or not the game’s popularity will subside back into being the game that only your grandparents play, but as far as we can tell chess will continue to roar with its newfound global resurgence in the near future.