The best chess streamers on Twitch

Chess has enjoyed a massive popularity growth thanks to the combined effects of the pandemic and the worldwide hit that was Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit series. This has also fueled a massive growth of the timeless game’s audience on Twitch, with some of the top players in the world regularly broadcasting their games to the masses. If you’re also one of those new converts or are just getting into the world of live broadcasts, these are the streams and events you must not miss if you’re interested in what’s happening on the 64 squares.

Why does chess work so well on Twitch?

To some extent, everything works when there’s a big enough audience to watch, and the success of Netflix’s adaptation of The Queen’s Gambit, coupled with a massive shift in the entertainment landscape during COVID times, led to explosive growth in interest in chess. The game allows for tons of skill expression and offers the sort of complexity that a game like Dota 2 does, with an endless variety of potential approaches and outcomes.