Opening White’s move, Pawn to E4: In the 1960s, George Ingham, an apprentice electrician, visits West Vancouver’s Park Royal mall and sees in the food court people playing chess. He joins them.

He said he's seen the number of people showing up to the competitions rise drastically. "There was the show The Queen's Gambit, which got a lot of people playing chess," he said.

A long row of small two-person tables, often covered in fries and ketchup, are laid with chess boards and game pieces. People of all ages can come in and play or learn.

While hundreds of millions of people play chess in person or online, the world chess federation has bestowed the official grandmaster title on fewer than 2,000 players.