Is online gaming ruining chess? Players say it’s not quite as black and white as that

TAmong his rivals, Joseph Francis was considered a chess genius. He can’t count how many games he’s played, but he knows he’s won most of them.

He said: “I ended up playing a lot of chess and it was really ridiculous because I could play chess pretty well but I was considered a genius.”

However, these games were not held at the British World Championships. They were kept in prison.

Mr Francis learned to play chess at school and eventually became a teacher who would educate the next generation before going to prison in 2023.

The 58-year-old said: “When you’re incarcerated you feel a lot of pent-up anger, but as soon as you play chess that anger goes away because it’s a completely absorbing thing. You’re all about the board and that’s it.”

After his acquittal, he no longer needed a fellow prisoner to play with and soon began playing chess online, competing with people of all ages and backgrounds.

Chess.comThe world’s largest online chess platform reported that 14.9 million new accounts were opened in the first quarter of this year, with the site having 9.7 million daily users, an increase of another million since the end of 2025.

There were initially fears that the expansion of the online community would hinder traditional clubs, and we could see players accustomed to playing on physical boards retreating to their laptops and phones to compete.

However, the opposite is true.

Mr Francis, a member of the Hammersmith Chess Club, explains: “Some of them [online chess players] It is inevitable that they will join traditional clubs and that is why the number of people coming to such clubs is quite high.

“And the great thing about this club is that more women who play online are coming here to play. I think women are coming and playing because online chess is fundamentally blind and indifferent to gender.”

The English Chess Federation (ECF) has set a target for 15 percent of female chess players to have ECF membership by 2030.

This would be an increase of over five per cent as the ECF admits its biggest disappointment over the years has been the share of female members compared to men.

While the use of technology has increased interest, traditional clubs still emphasize the importance of playing face-to-face.

Mr Francis said: “If you’ve never played it in person then you’re really missing out.

“It’s quite interesting how addictive online chess is. Honestly, I think marriages are ruined because you can easily play three or four hours a day.”

The importance of joining chess clubs is also shared by Adam Cranston, 37, chairman of Hammersmith Chess Club: “Face-to-face coaching can be more specific, it is quite easy to spot gaps in people’s understanding.

“And there’s the social aspect of it, I don’t actually play much chess but we’ll go to a bar afterwards.

“For me, chess is more than just playing chess.”

Hammersmith Chess Club is the largest of its kind in the UK. Its membership has increased 12-fold in ten years, reaching nearly 300 members today.

Most members started by using sites like: Chess.com and Lichess, which has over 12,000 ECF players.

Mr Cranston added: “Technology is helping people get into chess. The world of online chess has certainly taken off much faster, but people are moving from online chess to clubs and we’ve seen it become more popular in our club.”

The growth of ChessFest, which hosts a series of free chess events across the country each July, shows just how popular the game has become. Earlier this month, thousands of people, many in fancy dress, flocked to Trafalgar Square to compete against each other.

ChessFest kicks off in 2021 following the success of the Netflix series Queen’s Gambitand the quarantine, which led to an increase in the number of people playing chess online.

Chess in Schools and Communities office assistant Joe Winlaw, 20, who founded ChessFest, said: “We founded ChessFest because it was so ambitious. Why couldn’t we have a big event to get everyone excited? It was set up during the time of a huge chess boom and that’s still going on.”

Chess in Schools and Communities has supported more than 3,000 state schools in the UK with lessons, clubs and equipment, and uses technology to develop children’s social and critical thinking skills.

Mr Winlaw said: “We partner in part with ChessKid, so we give ChessKid accounts to a certain number of our students that we teach in schools, so they can go and play safely online. “The sheer volume of games you play means you really get to put everything you’ve learned into practice and really improve.

“With technology you can improve much faster, and that’s why we see so many incredibly strong young people.”

But he added the importance of taking breaks: “It’s also really important to have some contact with the real world; playing in person is really important, whether you’re playing with family or friends.”

ECF’s live coverage of the British Chess Championship final round was watched by 10,000 people, and with Duolingo – a platform known for teaching foreign languages ​​- now adding a chess module, it’s no surprise that clubs like Hammersmith are seeing an increase in membership.

Mr Winlaw said: “I can say 100 per cent that technology is helping people transition into clubs.

“You might not be completely confident in yourself, so you start playing a little bit online, and when your rating gets better, you think now is the time to join a club.”