How popular is chess?

Remote

Remote

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I was looking at Steam Charts and it surprised me to see that on Twitch, the game of Chess was the 33rd most-watched game last week.

More than Elden Ring or Destiny 2 and lots of other popular games.

Being 33rd might not be that impressive, but it's much higher than I would have guessed. It made me wonder, just how popular is chess, really?
Because it does not seem to ever come up as a topic of discussion anywhere. Not in social circles. Not at work. Yet it seems a lot of people watch it and play it.

Magnus Carlsen has a million Instagram followers.
Hikaru Nakamura has nearly half a million Twitter followers.

Are you a chess player?

I know how to play but I wouldn't consider myself good by any means.
:hubie:
 
hitmonlee

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Remote said:
I was looking at Steam Charts and it surprised me to see that on Twitch, the game of Chess was the 33rd most-watched game last week.

More than Elden Ring or Destiny 2 and lots of other popular games.

Being 33rd might not be that impressive, but it's much higher than I would have guessed. It made me wonder, just how popular is chess, really?
Because it does not seem to ever come up as a topic of discussion anywhere. Not in social circles. Not at work. Yet it seems a lot of people watch it and play it.

Magnus Carlsen has a million Instagram followers.
Hikaru Nakamura has nearly half a million Twitter followers.

Are you a chess player?

I know how to play but I wouldn't consider myself good by any means.
:hubie:
Click to expand...
Where is the list
 
Raw Lyrics

Raw Lyrics

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The movie Fresh got me into chess. I have no idea how popular it is compared to other things.

But I picked it up when I was around 11. Anyway, 25 years later I taught my son when he was about 6. Busted his ass from age 6-11.

Since he turned 12, I barely beat him. Maybe once or twice for every 10 games.
 
Remote

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Raw Lyrics said:
The movie Fresh got me into chess. I have no idea how popular it is compared to other things.

But I picked it up when I was around 11. Anyway, 25 years later I taught my son when he was about 6. Busted his ass from age 6-11.

Since he turned 12, I barely beat him. Maybe once or twice for every 10 games.
Click to expand...
That's a good movie.
Not sure how many people have seen it.

For the ones who haven't, it's the 1994 one with Samuel L Jackson
 
mbewane

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I think chess is one of those things that people who are into it just do either on their own (with apps) or in some clubs etc and never really mention it. I know various people who play chess and I had no idea for years. I think there are some hobbies like that that people don't really mention, for whatever reason.
 
nyknick

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It's few things with chess.

Magnus Carslen might end up being the GOAT, having a once in a generation player will always get attention no matter the sport/competition.

Queens Gambit gave chess a lot of juice. Show had crazy viewership numbers on Netflix, although it's been a while since the show came out.

And most importantly to your question about streaming numbers is that their biggest tournaments/competitions are all streamed on YouTube/twitch, not like you have an option to watch it network TV, so numbers will be high.
 
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