alt Hacker NewsChess is kept afloat by a couple of billionaires like Sinquefield, MBS and the guy who sponsors freestyle (Fisher random) chess.
Carlsen is bored by studying engine lines.
The popularity is boosted by YouTubers because chess is very suitable for somewhat higher class content.
I'm not sure we'd want that world for math. Positions will be cut just like archaeologist positions are cut now.
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Chess is a fun game. That's why it's been around for 1000+ years.
There was a renaissance during Covid and due to 'The Queen's Gambit' where it gained much more mainstream popularity, but... Chess AI was already far far (like 1000+ Elo) ahead of human players at that point.
The thing is... chess is humans playing (communicating) with humans and that's what keeps it interesting. Check out the view counts of chess AI tourneys vs. human tourneys.
Chess is kept afloat by chess players, not by billionaires. If all the billionaire backers stopped sponsoring tournaments, people like me would still play, still pay for chess club memberships, still pay entry fees for tournaments, and still buy chess books, and so on.