Chess, which can be played online without any contact, is a hobby that is essentially perfect for lockdown. — dpa/Felix Koenig Chess is enjoying a moment. Between the pandemic keeping everyone at home and a popular new Netflix series, the nearly 1,500-year-old game is attracting players young and old. “The longer the pandemic lasts, the more people want to occupy themselves elsewhere, ” says Achim Schmitt, president of the Rhineland-Palatinate Chess Federation, in south-west Germany. And as luck would have it, chess, which can be played online without any contact, is a hobby that is essentially perfect for lockdown. “Online chess is definitely being played much more than a year ago, ” says Ullrich Krause, president of the German Chess Federation.