The chess world is booming and young people are leading the charge. Many new players and fans hopped on the chess band wagon after Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit in 2020. In the months that followed, more than 12.2 million players joined online playing sites like Chess.com. There’s been a massive uptake of chess online amongst Gen Z using TikTok and Twitch to stream and view matches around the world which is fueling a chess revolution.

The centuries-old strategy game is the hottest trend of the season amongst schools everywhere. Teens are holding raucous chess games during lunch breaks, in class, and at semi-formal dances and even inventing new strategies.

It’s not just regular folks that are picking it up either. Celebrities are getting in on the chess obsession too. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi broke the internet last year when they each posted a photo of the two of them squaring off in chess as part of an ad campaign for Louis Vuitton.

Tyler, the Creator is another name playing the game to keep his mind sharp too. Tyler has been photographed facing off against friends like Daniel Caesar and DJ Drama over Umbra’s Wobble Chess Board, the award-winning design has a concave board and spherically shaped chess piece bottoms which wiggle and rock bringing some movement to an otherwise static game board.

Tyler appears to have picked up the game more recently. Answering a Twitter follower's question about new hobbies in 2021, the artist revealed his love for the game in sharing, "[I'm] still learning, only played 13 games but [I'm] getting better. I keep a chess set with me now."

He’s been vocal about his love of the game in his songs, name dropping it in his lyrics for ‘STUNTMAN’-'I'm watchin' Queen Gambit, lookin' like an extra - Different color chess pieces hangin' from my necklace,” and in his visuals too- like the clip of him carry a chess board out of his private jet in ‘Where the Wind blows’ and playing an imaginary opponent in ‘Wharf Talk.’

While we don’t know Tyler’s ELO score, he’s certainly been boastful about his wins while using Umbra’s Wobble chess board. He broadcast his latest purported victory over Caesar to an Instagram Live audience.

https://www.umbra.com/products/wobble-chess

@feliciathegoat

@danielcaesar