The name for one of the oldest opening moves in the history of chess.
It’s also the name of a novel written by Walter Tevis in 1983. The story is about an orphan named Beth Harmon who becomes a grandmaster level chess player at a very young age. But it also goes into her issues with drug abuse and alcoholism.
In October, the TV miniseries was released exclusively on Netflix.
Now here’s what’s interesting about the show, besides the fact that it was wildly popular. Over 60 million users have watched the show.
The popularity of chess spiked.
The online chess site, chess.com, rose in popularity five-fold.
Ebay saw a 215% increase in sales of chess sets and accessories since the show debuted.
The viewership on livestreaming platforms of chess games also skyrocketed.
And Walter Tevis’ novel became a New York Times Bestseller after 37 years.
This isn’t the first time a phenomenon like this happened.
In 1986, the movie Top Gun was released, which featured Tom Cruise, popularized the Ray-Ban Aviator Sunglasses. They saw a 40% sales increase.
So what’s the explanation behind this?
This, my friend, is the power of storytelling.
It made people realize the beauty of chess. It’s not just a game for old people or smart people. Anyone can play it. Easy to learn, hard to master.
Keep this in mind today (And throughout the weekend).
I also teach how you can use the power of storytelling in your emails to make you and your business some good sales.
You can read about that in How to Become an Email Titan.
Use the link below to get the free sample chapters.