Sometime during the last months of the year, Sweden's first e-sports league in chess will be launched.
Anyone can register for free and compete in several different divisions, there is no gender or age division.
The initiative is a collaboration between the Swedish Chess Federation and the company Fragbite.
Daniel Pereaux at E-sports Fragbite Group believes that the TV series The queen's gambit has done its part to make chess playing trendy.
- Sales of chessboards increased by 87 percent only in the first three weeks after the series was released, and now comes a second season, he says.
Disorganized players
The Swedish Chess Federation, like many others, has had to switch to a more digital existence during the pandemic.
In the younger target group, you can see that many have started playing on their mobile phones and tablets, but that few are part of any chess association.
Håkan Jalling at the Swedish Chess Federation hopes that the e-sports league can be a way in for more people to organize themselves in association life.
- Chess has experienced a boom during the pandemic and many play online.
The young people who play are a very interesting target group that we would like to capture, he says.
Young and gamers
Daniel Pereaux confirms that it is above all the younger players they are targeting.
The chess games will be streamed and the players and those who are interested will be able to follow other people's matches live.
- Yes, we want to elevate chess play into the fine rooms, so to speak, into the e-sports and gaming target group, he says.
Soon, those who want to be able to register for the league on the website schackligan.se.