Laurence Crumbie
THE Spanish woodworking company that supplied chessboards for hit Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit has since seen its sales skyrocket.
Rechapados Ferrer, which was founded in the 1950s in La Garriga, Catalunya, noted a slight rise in sales during the first lockdown.
However, it was the success of the Netflix miniseries which would do as much for his company as it has for the world of chess.
“When the Netflix series came out, it all just went crazy and drove sales of chessboards through the roof,” David Ferrer, founder of the eponymous company, told the Guardian.
“In the past two or three months, we’ve had orders in for 40,000 boards – twice the number we’d make over the entire course of a normal year.”
The Queen’s Gambit miniseries, based on the Walter Tevis novel of the same name, has been viewed by over 62 million people and was nominated for four categories at the 2020 IGN Awards, winning Best Drama TV Series of the Year.
The response from the public has been equally explosive, with Chess.com alone reporting millions of new users since the series was aired.
British chess champion, David Howell, lauded The Queen’s Gambit for being ‘well choreographed and realistic.’
Despite the resounding success, it was a long haul for writer Scott Frank and producer Allan Scott.
Scott purchased the screenplay rights for the story from Tevis’ widow in 1992, but for decades broadcasters rejected the idea, saying that no one would be interested in watching chess.
On October 28, 2020, just five days after it was aired, The Queen’s Gambit became the most viewed series of the day on Netflix.
