The Impact of Covid On The Growth Of The Chess Industry: Part 1

Almost everyone above the age of 6 remembers COVID-19 and its impact on the world. We faced many troubles and hassles, including coronaphobia (the extreme fear of contracting COVID), a lack of healthcare, layoffs, shortages of basic necessities (most notably in the US, the infamous toilet paper shortage), and more. But in my opinion (and the opinion of possibly millions of others), the most detrimental effect of the pandemic was boredom. I mean, I could probably say without fail that every single adult globally had faced extreme boredom at least once in their day.

Every single kid, though? I'm even more sure. As a kid during the pandemic, half the day you had online school, and the rest of the day was probably spent fighting your older brother just for the fun of it. So obviously, parents needed a solution. Not just because they were afraid of their kids fighting, but also a whole host of other things. For example, I'm sure that lots of the slightly younger kids would bother their working parents.

So a lot of parents were super smart and realised that if they kept their children focused on something else, then they're less likely to make a fuss, in fact, the illustrious Hungarian author and psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi proposed an award-winning theory, the Flow State, that shows that when people (including children if you were concerened) are in the Flow State, they loose track of time and external stimuli causing a lot of people to stop being loud or atleast stop them from making a fuss. A key component of this theory is that the more competitive the activity is, the happier the person will become to enter the Flow State because of the adrenaline in return. So, when looking for a competitive activity, many looked to sports, but the problem with playing physical sports during the pandemic is kind of self-explanatory.

So many turned to chess. Why? It is not only mentally and competitively demanding but also increases spatial awareness, strategic thinking, and planning. 

Now you may be asking how all of this is related to economics, so let me explain. Well, since the chess scene was obviously getting more competitive, many parents wanted their children to get good coaching software and the sorts, drastically increasing demand for chess platforms like the one we're currently on, Chess.com. 

As this may be getting a little lengthy, I'll hold off for now as this looks like a good stopping point, but expect Part 2 very soon! Reviews are highly appreciated, and have a good day!