Yes, to an extent. The combination of popularity of "The Queens Gambit" and the fact that the pandemic pushed a lot of people to look for entertainment online, caused an enormous number of people to take up chess for the first time, or to give it another try. Chess isn't for everyone, so a lot of these new players aren't going to stick with the game long-term. But thousands of people have become converts to our beautiful game
Has the hype for chess died out?
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Laskersnephew wrote:
Yes, to an extent. The combination of popularity of "The Queens Gambit" and the fact that the pandemic pushed a lot of people to look for entertainment online, caused an enormous number of people to take up chess for the first time, or to give it another try. Chess isn't for everyone, so a lot of these new players aren't going to stick with the game long-term. But thousands of people have become converts to our beautiful game
I concur, sir. I am one of the converts!
The biggest hype was in 1972: Boris Spassky from the USSR against Bobby Fischer from the USA amid the cold war. All drama on and aside the chess board. Television and newspaper coverage for the masses all over the world.
Jan 15, 2022
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#6
It's like a mushroom growing and dying off then regrowing. So in effect thee is a mushroom ;-D
Jan 15, 2022
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#8
Not really, still a lot of newcomers everyday. It will probably take years to get back to the numbers pre pandemic.
Jan 15, 2022
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#9
'I don't believe in Dragons: The Bobby Fischer Story.' - That will bring the masses back!!
It hasn't completely died out. A lot of the players who got into chess cause of streamers or TQG or both are still playing chess regularly to this day, myself included. It just isn't the hot trend anymore, that's all.
NiceAndFlowy wrote:
Not really, still a lot of newcomers everyday. It will probably take years to get back to the numbers pre pandemic.
true, but im noticing im playing a lot of the same people now whereas before i never would play someone twice
Jan 15, 2022
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#12
Answer is; Yes, mostly.
People are like that.. It's not most of them were a big contribution or anything but still having some crowd was fun.. but this brought tons of trolls to the chess as well, who were more worse than a patzer yet were annoying as hell..
Things are pretty balanced up lately. Good riddance for god's sake 
dorthcaar wrote:
Answer is; Yes, mostly.
People are like that.. It's not most of them were a big contribution or anything but still having some crowd was fun.. but this brought tons of trolls to the chess as well, who were more worse than a patzer yet were annoying as hell..
Things are pretty balanced up lately. Good riddance for god's sake
Maybe I’m selfish, but I like it here way more with them all gone. Part of the reason I left for a bit was because chess became so toxic… came back and it’s back to normal, much more respectable play, draw offers in draw positions, and more resignations instead of just trying to flag. And facing scholars mate every other game became annoying, even as easy as it is to defend against
Yeah chess is rhymes with hay, let's play Fortnite and Halo infinite I stead
Some got into chess and stayed. But I guess, many realized that chess is a difficult game and that they won't become Beth Harmon over night...
Jan 15, 2022
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#16
I think many of you don't exactly remember what chess was before the pandemic. If you take a look at the numbers on twitch, youtube and on various chess sites, chess is still extremely mainstream.
Wait 4-6 years and then let's talk.
Jan 15, 2022
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#17
I definitely think that most of the hype for chess has died out, but as long as the pandemic is here and people want something to spend their time on at home, there will still be many new users coming in and out at all times. But I'm happy to see that most opponents are dedicated and sportsmanlike again.
Too bad, I haven't noticed change in the forums, they just seem to keep coming without anyone going. Unfortunately we seem to have created a culture around these forums that is bringing their quality down greatly. You would be amazed at how different they were in 2016 when I first joined. Not a single child, spam-thread, or off-topic comment to be seen .. except from the occasional troll, which even then at least made some witty remarks .. the trolling you see now is just mindless garbage, not even funny or entertaining anymore. Even when I closed in December 2020, there was very little low-quality content. Very sad .. this forum used to be such a nice place to relax and have a little casual discussion with individuals of at least average intelligence .. not anymore ..
Anyways .. old man rant over.
Jan 15, 2022
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#18
Many quit because they realised becoming a grandmaster was difficult.
Jan 15, 2022
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#19
TacticalPrecision wrote:
AunTheKnight wrote:
Many quit because they realised becoming a grandmaster was difficult.
Basically this. New users quickly realized that this isn't Call Of Duty and they won't be getting good any time soon and they just bounced. I'm sure a percentage of them will return at some point, and an even smaller percentage will eventually become regular students of the game.
I love the Call of Duty analogy. Lol.
Back when the Queen's Gambit came out, and every twitch stream was streaming chess 24/7, the hype for chess was UNREAL. All you saw across the boards and forums was sub-1000 newbs (I was one don't get me wrong). Now, it seems it's rare to see a newb or a memer like we saw last year when chess was in the mainstream.
Has the hype for chess died out? Don't get me wrong ... I think it's much more popular than it has been for a long time, but I wonder if all those newcomers decided chess wasn't there thing and left. I know I took a 4-5 month break and just recently came back.