Chess seeing surge in popularity among teens nationwide
BURLINGAME -- A new distraction is sweeping classrooms across the country, and it's not a social-media challenge or a new video game.
To Burlingame High schoolers Isaac van Voorhis and Joshua Ortiz, lunch time now means chess time.
"It's just a great game," van Voorhis said.
They aren't alone, either. The subtle knocks of strategic captures and friendly competition have become regular sounds to hear in the library at BHD during lunch period, as the game of chess has made a major comeback and is taking the high school by storm.
"I think it's great. I would argue that it's possibly the most intellectually stimulating game," van Voorhis said.
Librarian Maurine Seto has a front row seat to the spectacle every day.
"We have that big chess board over there and usually kids are running over to grab that - that's like, the most coveted table in the library," she said.
But van Voorhis says the phenomenon isn't unique to Burlingame High, and it's not just in-person chess, either.
The most widely-used app, "Chess.com," has experienced record high usership this year.
"It's everywhere," van Voorhis said. "It's becoming more widespread and it's showing that as a generation, we're embracing more intellectual games."
While it's tough to pin one reason why chess has made a major comeback. van Voorhis thinks it's because chess has gained popularity in the world of e-sports. Ortiz points to drama in the professional chess world, which involved an alleged cheating scandal.
"I think that really made it super popular because it was almost like a scandal," he said.
The online aspect of the high school chess obsession sometimes makes its way into the classrooms.
"Kids playing in class? Yeah, I've heard teachers complain about that," Seto said.
But overall, Seto believes the chess craze is a good thing for the students.
"It bridges different kids that you don't normally see together," she said. "It brings out a social aspect that you don't usually see among the kids. Usually they're just on their phones, they're not talking, they're texting, they're doing social media."
That's one of the things that Ortiz likes most about chess.
"I'm missing practices - swim practices - sometimes, because I'm playing chess at the library on Burlingame Ave.," he said. "I guess it's that social aspect of it that I really like."
van Voorhis encourages people who've never played before to give it a shot.
"It might seem really intimidating at first, but it's relatively easy to learn," he said. "It's very difficult to master, but you can get to a really high level with just a decently short amount of work."