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How The Queen’ s Gambit became a bestseller

Better late than never! In 1983, American author Walter Tevis published a novel called The Queen’ s Gambit about a young female chess player. After 37 years it’ s now one of New York Times’ bestsellers! It took the readers a Netflix show to find the book. The show was launched in late October and has by now been seen by around 65 million households, Netflix reports.

The title was not invented by Mr Tevis. The Queen’ s Gambit is one of the oldest chess opening that starts with the moves: 1. d4 d5: 2. c4.

Chess.com reports a fivefold of new players following the show’s success. eBay says inquiries for “chess set” is up 250 % and Google search for “how to play chess” has hit an all-time high in nine years.

The story is about a young woman who, by her teens, is winning national and international chess tournaments with ease.

Young and successful seems perhaps a bit too good but in chess it’s a fact. A study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences confirms that chess players tend to peak early in their careers, with little improvement after their 30s.

 

 

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