According to data from database.lichess.org/, chess games and chess variants games boosted greatly in mid-2020, probably due to the pandemic shutdown. Game count of almost all categories tripled from 2019.06 to 2021.06, and doubled in the first 6 monthes of 2020.
Since then, chess games on Lichess are keeping a stable level of 90~100M per month (PvP rated). Though we can say games are also reducing slightly recent months, they are still more than 85% of the peak value.
However, game counts of ALL chess variants EXCEPT FOR Chess960 shrinked greatly since their peak at mid 2021. Antichess (solved) shrinked from 535k way to 347k, Atomic from 574k to 247k, Horde from 115k to 73k, and Racing kings from 146k to 65k, etc. There are no signs of fluctuation, they just reduce all the way, losing around HALF of their active games.
Chess960 keeps thriving though, even shows better data than chess itself recently. But it is also essentially chess, not really a "chess vatiant".
The game count data isn't everything, but there are still such questions:
Are chess variants really shrinking here, considering games,active players and new players?
Should we promote them from distinguishing, or should we just delete those unpopular&boring ones?
And...how to?
Since then, chess games on Lichess are keeping a stable level of 90~100M per month (PvP rated). Though we can say games are also reducing slightly recent months, they are still more than 85% of the peak value.
However, game counts of ALL chess variants EXCEPT FOR Chess960 shrinked greatly since their peak at mid 2021. Antichess (solved) shrinked from 535k way to 347k, Atomic from 574k to 247k, Horde from 115k to 73k, and Racing kings from 146k to 65k, etc. There are no signs of fluctuation, they just reduce all the way, losing around HALF of their active games.
Chess960 keeps thriving though, even shows better data than chess itself recently. But it is also essentially chess, not really a "chess vatiant".
The game count data isn't everything, but there are still such questions:
Are chess variants really shrinking here, considering games,active players and new players?
Should we promote them from distinguishing, or should we just delete those unpopular&boring ones?
And...how to?