Chess has long had tradition hanging on its shoulders, but over the past couple of years, it’s become something different altogether—a meme generator, a TikTok sensation, and even home to a legendary cat bot. If you assumed chess was just about tranquil parks and cobweb-covered boards, think again. Culture and technology have bumped heads to make this game of centuries a pop culture phenomenon in the world.
Chess: From Classic Board to Digital Playground
Chess used to be a slow, considered game played in dimly lit clubs or city parks. Now, it’s a cyberwar zone. There are more than 120 million registered users on Chess.com, now one of the world’s 110 biggest websites. More than 10 million visit daily, and 55 million come each month. This is more than a revival—it’s a chess boom.
AI: The Ultimate Chess Coach (and Cat)
Artificial intelligence is the heart of today’s chess. AI engines don't merely play—they teach, analyze, and sometimes even entertain. Among others, one of the most fascinating is the Magnus Carlsen engine that gives you an opportunity to play with the world champion at any moment of his past, based on the real game data of him when he was seven years old. But mind you—after you meet 10-year-old Magnus, you’re done. He is almost unbeatable.
Moreover, there is a cat robot named Mittens that became popular all over the internet. At first, to ridicule the tech world, Will Whalen came up with Mittens. With its big eyes, it looks nice and does not seem to be dangerous, but there is a cruel, ironic enemy inside it. It does not kill straight away, but the process of death starts as a game of fun, and at the end, it destroys your last survival option while quoting Nietzsche. Due to its great popularity, Mittens even dethroned the winter headgear in Google searches for “Mittens.”
Blockchain and NFTs: Trophies Become Digital
The awards chess players used to be only shiny cups. In 2021, Magnus Carlsen was given a nonfungible token (NFT) as the winner of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. After that, a copy of it was made available on the Ethereum blockchain platform for sale, thus turning the fans into the owners of the piece. This move implied that chess competitions were becoming more like esports, whereas the merger of legacy and ownership in the digital realm was realized.
Smart Boards and the Metaverse: Chess in 3D and Beyond
The boards made of wood will always be beautiful, but the smart ones are getting popular. One of the companies that has come up with such boards is Chessnut. These are the boards that can record any move, and they can also be connected to other devices, such as your phone or a computer. Finally, players from any location in the world can access the same game. Besides all these, you can also have the AI coaching that is integrated straight into the system, so the board can be considered as both traditional and futuristic.
The metaverse is just getting started. Think of a situation where you would be in a completely three-dimensional chess arena, playing with avatars from any part of the world, and being rewarded through blockchain networks. It is such a beautiful concept. Just like virtual offices and conferences that are currently testing the waters with their businesses, the integration of this kind of technology for chess is just around the corner. It might be the perfect game to start with.
The Chess Renaissance: Why Everyone’s Playing Again
So why is chess everywhere all of a sudden? It’s the intersection of technology, media, and culture. Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit motivated tens of millions of new chess players, as platforms such as Chess.com and Chessable made education easier and more enjoyable. Chessable, for example, took traditional chess books and combined them with algorithms to assist prodigies like Abhimanyu Mishra in achieving grandmaster rank sooner than ever before.
What Businesses Can Learn from Chess’s Tech Revolution
Chess is more than a game right now—it’s a case study in digital reinvention. As chess.com’s CEO Erik Kuhnert points out, businesses of all kinds can take inspiration from how the game embraced technology without losing its core. The real risk isn’t trying new things—it’s standing still while the world moves on.
The moral is easy: no matter if you’re a player, creator, or CEO, the future is for those who tinker, evolve, and remain committed to what sets them apart. Chess has done all of that and then some.