The Queen’s Gambit has sparked a global chess frenzy, but in Malta...

The pandemic and the release of the engrossing Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit have had an impact on online chess and the popularity of the intellectual sport elsewhere.

But Malta appears to be not necessarily following suit, at least where it comes to club membership.

Chess may have earned similar status to baking bread during lockdowns and the board game is now the protagonist of the hit drama, deemed responsible for a renewed interest in the game worldwide. But these phenomena cannot be translated into any significant effect on club membership, or more frequent playing, locally, according to the Malta Chess Federation.

While welcoming the series for casting the spotlight onto the sport, federation president, Geoffrey Borg, pins the bucking of the trend also onto COVID-19’s social-distancing measures.

The centuries-old game is among the few to witness a dramatic increase in online games played since the series was released in October.

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Overseas, online chess lessons have also experienced a record interest during the pandemic. Google searches for the term ‘chess’ are said to have doubled over last year and...