FIDE president Dvorkovich predicts that after Covid the ratio between OTB chess events and online play will be 70 percent to 30 percent.
“OTB will come back but it doesn’t mean that online will go away.”
From calendar 2015 through 2019 online games represented less than 3% of the games rated by US Chess. In 2020 that went up to 53.2%. So far in 2021 it has been 86%.
I think FIDE may be right that rated online chess won’t go away. I suspect 70/30 may be a reasonable settling point for adult chess, I think that rated scholastic chess may be more focused on OTB events, though it may take a year or longer for the numbers to settle down.
Agreed. I see no reason for US Chess to give up online championships when the OTB championships return. Like correspondence, it’s a different way to play.