and Twitch and Youtube generally making the hobby more inviting by providing a way to participate casually. Plus a lot of other streamers dip into chess occasionally
This remark comes up in every chess thread
Then this gets pointed out: online chess was already seeing a spike due to the pandemic. But yes
My be also the rise of lichess as an effortless and polished way get a match anywhere, anytime.
I think the spike in interest is limited to the western countries, in other (comunist/socialist..) chess is teached at the schools, played in parks, broadcasted by pubblic television weekly