General Discussion

The advances in streaming makes chess practically a video game experience and it isn't surprising that it's suddenly surging in popularity. The kids who grew up playing online are amazing.

Hikaru Nakamura is one of the biggest names. He is a great player and he's very personable and open about sharing his knowledge as he plays. He's skillful at interacting with a streaming audience and a whiz at chess. If you've never seen him play, he is featured regularly at chess.com, which is a fantastic resource for chess players or students at any level. Hikaru is the biggest star in chess right now and he often plays "bullet chess" where they are on a 1 minute timer - it's amazing to watch the speed at which he can analyze and play chess, but there are plenty of other young chess masters - women and men - who stream their games to online audiences - often hundreds, sometimes thousands of viewers.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiO0ojX8av-AhVhJkQIHSc4AP8QFnoECCkQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FHikaru_Nakamura&usg=AOvVaw2B2eyfP-O7x69TwQFVre4k

Chess popularity exploded during the pandemic and it was obvious that it was being embraced by kids - it's just like a really well designed and universally popular video game now.