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Queen's Gambit Causes Major Spike in Chess Board Sales Queen's Gambit Causes Major Spike in Chess Board Sales

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Chess Boards Are Sold Out and You Can Thank Netflix’s ‘The Queen’s Gambit’

THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT (L to R) ANYA TAYLOR-JOY as BETH HARMON in episode 107 of THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT Cr. PHIL BRAY/NETFLIX © 2020

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Queen’s Gambit is taking the chess world by storm.

In a case of art influences life, sales of chess boards have skyrocketed thanks to the Netflix limited series. 

The series, set in the 1950s, trails the rise of a young orphan, Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy), who finds chess to be an outlet, leading her to become a female prodigy. 

Spin Master, a Toronto-based toy merchant, said that chess sales have increased by “triple digits” since the show’s premiere on October 23. 

Goliath Games has also noted a surge of more than 1,000 percent, NPR notes. 

“Our October sales for chess were up 178% over the same period last year,” Mary Higbe, director of marketing at Goliath Games, said. “That’s a big increase. But something else unexpected happened at the end of the month. Now, she says, “our chess sales are up 1,048%.”

EBay has made similar findings, reporting a 215 percent spike in sales of chess sets. 

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The New York Times found that wooden sets have trumped plastic sets. 

Even before the series debuted, interest in chess sets was spiking due to COVID.

Will this make finding a Christmas present harder?

Toy analyst Gerrick Johnnson told NPR: “Good luck finding a chess set this holiday!”

The popularity also extends to groups such as the US Chess Federation, which revealed that membership also jumped for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. 

To sum it up… 2020 is the year where both chess sets and toilet paper are scarce. 

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Lizzy Buczak is the founder of CraveYouTV. What started off as a silly blog in her sophomore year at Columbia College Chicago turned her passion for watching TV into an opportunity! She has been in charge of CraveYou since 2011, writing reviews and news content for a wide variety of shows. Lizzy is a Music Business and Journalism major who has written for RADIO.COM, TV Fanatic, Time Out Chicago, Innerview, Pop’stache and Family Time.

Coffee Table News

‘Chicago PD’: Are Jesse Lee Soffer and Tracy Spiridakos Dating IRL?

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Chicago PD Season Finale Review he Other Side Season 8 Episode 16

The rumors have been circulating for quite some time now, but neither Jesse Lee Soffer nor Tracy Spiridakos ever acknowledged them—no confirmation or denial from either party…until now, it seems. 

If their Instagram posts are anything to go by, they may have just given fans a massive hint at the status of their relationship with an upload on August 29, 2024 that had the internet buzzing with thoughts. 

Both Soffer and Spiridakos—whose characters Jay Halstead and Hailey Upton were married on Chicago PD–shared shots from their European vacation together. And yeah, sure, former co-stars can remain friendly and vacation together, but it was Soffer’s caption, “Europe is is kinda cool ,” that made heads turn and jaws drop. 

The duo also looked smitten with each other in several of the selfie-style photos taken in the city streets and beaches of Lisbon, Portugal—and fans definitely took notice in the comments. 

“They are a real life couple. Yayyy…. That makes me smile ” someone wrote of the alleged confirmation, as another noted, “real ones know they’ve been dating for years.”

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by Jesse Lee Soffer (@jesseleesoffer)

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by Tracy Spiridakos (@spiridakos)

Someone else suggested this was the duo finally “hard launching” their romance. 

Back in January 2024, The Post confirmed that the duo was dating after appearing on the show together for six years. 

Soffer left the police procedural in 2022 after 10 seasons, while Spiridakos followed shortly after in season 11 after signing on as a series regular in season 5. 

While things didn’t turn out well for the on-screen couple as their characters broke up and filed for divorce, fans are hoping things work out better in real life. 

Soffer previously dated his Chicago PD co-star Sophia Bush for about a year. She departed the series in 2017 at the end of season 4.

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TV Preview

‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Fans, We’ve Got Some Bad News About Season 3

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The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2 Episode 7 Review Love Affair

Summer 2024 is going to be one without Belly, Conrad and Jeremiah. 

During Amazon’s Upfront event on Tuesday, which was attended by writer Jenny Han, Lola Tung, Gavin Casaelgno and Christopher Briney, it was revealed that the highly-anticipated third installment of the series is being delayed, with an expected release next year in 2025. 

While that isn’t ideal for everyone waiting to see how this love triangle pans out (you should probably just read the book, if you haven’t, at this point), there is some good news on the horizon. 

Minimal details about what to expect have been revealed, however, to make up for the long hiatus—season 2 aired its last episode in August 2023 making this a two-year gap—the third installment will come with an expanded episode count: 11 episodes instead of the previous 7 and 8 in season’s 1 and 2, respectively. 

And as an extra little something-something for fans, the official TSITP X account shared a video of the cast playing beach volleyball with the caption, “see you in Cousins in 2025.”

https://twitter.com/thesummeritp/status/1790393767330984091

And even better—the series has already begun filming, which means that while there’s a wait, there’s also momentum and excitement. 

As for those who have read the book series—avert your eyes if you haven’t—it’s unclear if the 11 episodes will span the entire third book, We’ll Always Have Summer, which finds Belly making a choice between the brothers—or if it will divert from what’s already been established to something more fitting for television (and maybe even appeases the fandoms a bit more?).

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see! 

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Tracker

When Is the Season 1 Finale of ‘Tracker’?

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When Is the Season Finale of 'Tracker' on CBS?

Tracker, CBS’ new hit series starring This Is Us actor Justin Hartley, was an instant hit amongst audiences after it premiered in February.

And now, 13 episodes later, the first season is coming to an end. 

Fans will have to say goodbye… for now… to Hartley’s Colter Shaw, a lone-wolf survivalist/reward seeker on May 19, 2024, when the series airs its season 1 finale. 

Titled “The Storm,” the 13th episode’s synopsis notes: “Colter investigates the disappearance of two amateur storm chasers that the local police have written off as an accidental drowning; Colter’s expert tracking skills lead him to uncover the seedy underbelly of a small town resort.”

Of course, fans are already looking forward to the episode’s guest star and Hartley’s former co-star Jennifer Morrison, who is just one of several recent A-list appearances on the thriller drama. Earlier episodes of this season saw Supernatural’s Jensen Ackles and Manifest’s Melissa Roxburgh guest star as Colter’s siblings, Russ and Dory Shaw, respectively. 

You can check out the season finale promo below, which finds Colter working against the clock to find his friend’s daughter alongside Morrison’s character. “She could still be alive,” he dramatically concludes as the teaser ends, reminding fans that he never gives up on those he’s helping. 

Many fans hoped for a romantic pairing between Hartley and Morrison, which never happened, but maybe this is their second shot at love. Even though he’s a nomad driven by wanderlust and the need to help citizens and police solve crimes, he still needs a romantic interest. For now, the chemistry has mostly been with Reenie (Fiona Rene), a firecracker lawyer who helps him get out of plenty of close calls, but there’s always a chance he’ll meet the “right one” during one of his many stops across the U.S. that will encourage him to settle down or join him. 

Check out the promo below and tune in next Sunday to see how the first season concludes:

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