In May, discussed how chess was still growing as an esport. The Wall Street Journal followed the next month ( Toronto Star version here). In April 2020, Sporting News (founded 1886) was already onto the trend.
XQC TOTAL LOCKDOWN SERIES
Everything else about the series was equally well-done and chess had another boost to its popularity.īut you don't just have to take our word for it, or even the chess world's. With consulting input from GM Garry Kasparov and NM Bruce Pandolfini, the chess in the Emmy-nominated Netflix series was legit. While PogChamps featured entertainers who played chess to increase the chess audience, The Queen's Gambit did so the other way around in a sense. In the meantime, the next big thing for chess began on October 23, 2020. The third rendition started bringing in talent from outside the streaming world, including the rapper Bobby " Logic" Hall, Rainn Wilson of The Office, and poker star Daniel Negreanu. The success of the original PogChamps has now spawned three sequels to date: PogChamps 2 in August-September 2020, PogChamps 3 in February 2021, and PogChamps 4 in August-September 2021. Ludwig Ahgren, better known as simply Ludwig, was another breakout star.įor his part, Nakamura coached up other players and commentated on the games. League of Legends streamer Joedat "Voyboy" Esfahani emerged victoriously. What they may have lacked in chess experience they more than made up for with their enthusiasm, curiosity, and ability to entertain. On April 3, 2020, history was made, when GM Hikaru Nakamura became chess coach for a day for Felix Lengyel, the Twitch streamer better known as xQc (a combination of elements in his first name and home province in Canada, Feli x and Quebe c).īy June 2020, PogChamps was born, starring xQc and 15 other streamers.
![xqc total lockdown xqc total lockdown](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/UnitedOrganicAmericanrobin-mobile.jpg)
In the middle of March 2020, society as we knew it ground to a halt as governments worldwide began locking down their citizenries in reaction to the novel coronavirus. That was only the last of several phenomena that brought the world together over chess in 2020, and the ride has kept going into 2021.
XQC TOTAL LOCKDOWN TV
But nothing like the 2020 miniseries which, even though it did not come out until October, ended up the third most-watched TV series of 2020, beating out even Tiger King. The Walter Tevis novel The Queen's Gambit came out in 1983. Chess has always been popular, but has it ever been this popular?