After The Queen’s Gambit (2020): The Rise of chess.com and the Chess #MeToo Movement

Abstract

In 2020, the chess industry saw an unprecedented and exponential spike in player interest due to two key factors: the runaway success of The Queen’s Gambit (2020) limited series on Netflix and worldwide pandemic lockdowns. Lockdowns saw the rise of online chess popularized by chess.com, which after several key acquisitions, sponsor deals, and investments, now holds a near monopoly on the chess industry, surpassing 100 million users in December 2022 and becoming the most popular free gaming app on the Apple Store in twenty eight countries on February 2, 2023. Despite this newfound surge of interest in chess worldwide, women remain at best tokenized and more often, systematically excluded by the chess industry. This essay will act as a wide survey of the proliferation of deeply rooted sexism in multiple aspects of modern chess culture, beginning with gender imbalances inherent in the rules of chess, as well as the canonized ‘openings’, before moving to issues of male gaze in The Queen’s Gambit and online chess streaming celebrities. The tokenizing politics of Chess.com and FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs) will also be analyzed as attempts to cater to a perceived male demographic for capitalistic gain. Additional focus will be allotted to the smaller cash prizes and diminished advertising for women’s chess competitions. In light of this discrimination, the industry’s repetitive claim that chess is a true meritocracy will be refuted.