Netflix's The Queen's Gambit and Covid lockdowns spark surge in chessboard sales

ITV News Correspondent Rupert Evelyn explores the board game phenomenon

Words by ITV News Multimedia Producer Kavita Patel

Netflix's chess drama the Queen's Gambit as well as multiple Covid-19 lockdowns have sparked a surge in demand of the board game and chess pieces worldwide.

The Anya Taylor-Joy miniseries told the story of prodigy Beth Harmon and has made a lasting impression, after ending up as the third most-watched TV series of 2020, even beating Too Hot to Handle.

High-end supplier Regency Chess has no stock left of its expensive 1972 reproduction boards, explaining simply online 'Sold out due to The Queen's Gambit'.

Even their cheaper products, which are on sale for £113.99, are unavailable for the same reason. 

Owner of the company, Julian Deverell, said the show had prompted a two-fold rise in demand at this time of year compared to previous years.

Mr Deverell told ITV News: "It took us by surprise, the business has never seen a demand like it - and we've been established in chess since 2008."

He also explained how Christmas is one of the most popular times of the year for chess board purchases for presents and that coupled with the Netflix series sent demand soaring.

"It was very, very difficult to keep up with the demand last Christmas but we got through it but it was a real challenge and ultimately it's been fantastic for the business, as it has given us more exposure."

"The massive demand has been a brilliant problem for us to have."

He added: "The Queen's Gambit effect which is still happening now and lockdowns have given a huge effect to online shopping. Things are twice as busy compared to previous years at this time."

"We've been really grateful to Netflix for putting that series on, the gratitude is high," Mr Deverell added.

Mr Deverell explained how many of the chess parts are hand-made in countries like Spain and India which adds to supply issues.

"It's been challenging as we only sell heritage sets that are decent quality and hand made products - you can only make them so fast. The people who make them just cannot make them fast enough."

"It's just purely down to the nature of the products, you cannot hurry art," Mr Deverell added.

The chess boom is believed to have also been spurred on by the three national lockdowns the country has had over the past 18 months.

The founder of The London Chess Centre, Malcolm Pein, told ITV News that its sales of chess sets and boards increased so much that he has struggled to get supplies.

"It's been remarkable what has happened, an explosion of online games - you can see a massive number of players and people playing games online.

"The chess sets, I mean the sales have gone up two-and-a-half times and now the main difficulty is supply problems, and we're not the only ones experiencing it."

He added that the shortage of chess boards and pieces are being felt globally.

"I went to the Icelandic Chess Championship last week and even the head of that was saying he is experiencing such a high demand at the moment - globally we're all experiencing it," he said.

"I think also for us, it's down to two things - the first one is lockdown which seemed to generate an online boom and the second thing is the Queen's Gambit which gave women a huge boost because of the role model which was so great to see," he added.

Mr Pein praised the Netflix drama for its portrayal of chess, saying: "It was the first series that has really captured what chess is like, she looked like a chess player and played her moves like she meant them. She captured it so beautifully as did all the actors and real games."

Mr Pein, who is also a chief executive of the education charity Chess in Schools and Communities, was amazed to see the huge uptake in a chess festival this year.

In July, the chess festival in London’s Trafalgar Square saw more than 6,000 people turn up, despite the hot weather and restrictions that were in place at the time.

Mr Pein said he hopes chess gets more recognition, particularly from the government, so that it is more accessible to everyone in public spaces such as cafes and in parks.

Strict restrictions during the Covid lockdown advised people against leaving their homes, except for essential reasons.

This meant they were forced to look to more classic ways of entertaining themselves away from pubs and other venues, which also saw the boom of jigsaw puzzles.