#52. Peter Doggers Talks About The Chess Revolution!

Dec 27, 2024

Peter Doggers, a Dutch chess journalist and director at Chess.com, dives into the explosive growth of chess in the digital age. He discusses the impact of the pandemic and hits like 'The Queen's Gambit' on attracting new players. Doggers shares insights on Chess.com's rise, the evolution of chess media with platforms like Twitch, and the exciting future of chess as it integrates into esports. He emphasizes chess's accessibility, its cultural significance, and the vibrant communities formed around the game.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Evolving Chess Coverage

The 2023 World Championship match between Ding and Gukesh demonstrated a shift in chess coverage.
Multiple streamers provided diverse perspectives, including open support for players, unlike traditional neutral reporting.

ANECDOTE

Insights from Leko

Peter Doggers enjoyed the Chess.com broadcast, particularly Peter Leko and Anish Giri's in-depth analysis.
He appreciated Giri's questions about Leko's match with Kramnik and Leko's insightful responses.

INSIGHT

Passion Fuels Success

Top grandmasters' success stems from immense love for chess, driving them to dedicate countless hours.
This passion translates to insightful commentary, as seen with Leko and Giri.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Peter Doggers.

Peter is a chess journalist from The Netherlands and the director of News & Events for Chess.com. In his book, The Chess Revolution, Understanding the Power of an Ancient Game in the Digital Age, Peter writes about the historical and sociological importance of chess through the ages and, in the second part, about the incredible boom the game has seen in the past years thanks to the pandemic and the success of the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit. In the process he writes about the success story of Chess.com, including its early beginnings and how it managed to attract millions of new fans to the game.

Peter has followed the chess revolution, of which has himself been a part, firsthand, and he believes that the future looks bright. If you are interested in recent developments in chess or want to find out if The Chess Revolution is a book that will appeal to you, you should not miss this episode of the New In Chess Podcast!

"The Chess Revolution" can be purchased in full on the New In Chess website: https://www.newinchess.com/the-chess-revolution

0:00 – Intro

2:02 – The manifestation of the “chess revolution” in the Ding-Gukesh World Championship match

4:03 – Extensive media coverage of the World Championship, Peter Leko’s tremendous commentary

7:50 – The current “Indian era”

9:11 – Chess.com’s history and eventual dominance of the worldwide chess scene

16:30 – Peter’s personal history as a chess journalist and “chess vlogger”

20:14 – AD BREAK

20:54 – Peter’s successful short videos

24:20 – What inspired Peter’s book, “The Chess Revolution: Understanding the Power of an Ancient Game in the Digital Age”

29:21 – Chess’s assimilation into short video culture and pop culture in general

32:43 – Chessboxing and the “Ding Chilling” meme

36:53 – The Queen’s Gambit Netflix series

42:20 – AD BREAK

43:26 – Mainstream media attention for chess during the pandemic, the new wave of chess content creators on social media

49:18 – Peter’s hate-love relationship with chess

52:29 – The very earliest beginnings of chess.com and its fruitful cooperation with content creators and streamers

1:04:58 – What does Peter think the future of chess looks like?

1:10:48 – Outro