Diana Panuncial writes: “ In 2020, during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home orders, the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit put the spotlight back on the familiar black-and-ivory checkered board with a lustrous adaptation of the 1983 book of the same name. CNN reports that 3.2 million users joined the online platform chess.com after the show’s debut, as players either took up or revisited the game while stuck at home. Libraries have made the most of chess’s surging popularity by starting their own chess clubs and helping existing in-person clubs transition online.”