Recent spike in chess creates obsession in students

Jacob Mascort Commentary Editor

Whetherit’s during class, in the hallways, at lunch, or while waiting to be picked up from school, it seems that students are eating, sleeping, and breathing chess.

What was once a niche strategy game has blown up seemingly overnight.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when everyone was stuck in their homes, students were looking for something to pass the time, and for some, chess was the activity that cured their boredom.

“When the pandemic started, many people either started learning chess or found their rekindled love for chess,” Mr. Jin, a math teacher and one of the coaches for the Maine South Chess Team, said.

As students found themselves with more free time, they turned to other forms of entertainment such as videos and live streams, especially on YouTube and Twitch.

“To my knowledge, more people started playing chess because it has been spread further on social media such as YouTube,” junior Athanasios Loutrianakis said.

Furthermore, famous streamers and gamers began jumping onto the chess bandwagon, playing chess and getting their viewers into the game.

“Chess streamers like grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura gained a huge following over the past few years, which has helped to popularize chess in a tremendous way,” said Mr. Jin.

However, after the pandemic when life began to become more normal, especially this year, students have started to become obsessed with chess, playing it everywhere they can.

“Recently, in all of my math classes, I have noticed many of my students playing chess on their phones or Chromebooks,” Mr. Jin said.

Meanwhile, outside of school, Loutrianakis has seen people playing the game in a number of random locations.

“I’ve see people play chess in a multitude of unorthodox places, such as at football games, restaurants, and more,” Loutrianakis said.

Although the chess team mostly plays for fun and to learn how to improve their skills, they also compete professionally in league matches and tournaments against other schools.

“The competition season runs from October to February, and I try to take our team to as many tournaments during the year as possible to help our players gain invaluable experience playing chess over the board and improve their gameplay,” Mr. Jin said.

Also, chess has many health benefits, including strengthening the brain.

According to Healthline, playing chess is proven to help with symptoms related to neurological disorders such as dementia, ADHD, and panic attacks from severe anxiety.

Chess also allows people to improve their cognitive abilities, such as improvements in intelligence, empathy, memory, planning and problem-solving skills, and creativity.

“The game helps people develop patience, focus, creativity, and confidence, and it teaches you how to win and lose,” Mr. Jin said. “There are very few games that can bring people together the way chess can—it truly is a global game that transcends boundaries.”

Chess is entirely about your own actions and accepting your successes and failures, making it a game that people can’t stop playing.

“Everything is your responsibility, including your achievements, and learning to be truly proud of your mistakes,” Loutrianakis said.