A Newtownabbey man has turned a lockdown hobby into a new business venture after being inspired by a hit Netflix show.
Now Tamas Kosik hopes he can use his platform to encourage more people to take up the game of chess.
It's all thanks to The Queen's Gambit, which became a smash hit on the streaming service.
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Chess was thriving in lockdown Northern Ireland following the success of the Netflix miniseries.
The show, which follows the career of chess prodigy Beth Harmon (Anya-Taylor Joy) has been watched by millions since it landed in late October 2020.
The show's success has led to an increase in people playing the game throughout the world, with Northern Ireland being no exception.
Twelve years ago, love brought Tamas to Belfast from his native Hungary.
Like many during the pandemic, Tamas, 33, picked up a new hobby when he started to collect chess sets.
But for Tamas, who also manages Flame restaurant in Belfast city centre, collecting them was not enough and he learned different ways to create his own chess sets.
"I have always loved playing chess growing up and it was something I cherished but somehow it was forgotten and overtaken by other things in life," he told Belfast Live.
"During lockdown like many people I watched The Queen's Gambit. I wanted to own a chess set again and started to grow my collection through online auctions.
"I realised that I loved the different figurines and I just fell in love with it immediately. At the moment I have a room full of over 100 extremely rare and really unique chess sets from all over the world.
"Some of them are so rare that I am the only person in the world who have them Including a Peter Pan set, a Kama Sutra, a skull, Charlie Chaplin and many more.
"When that wasn't enough I started looking into how to make my own chess sets to pass the time through watching YouTube videos and doing lots of practice.
"It can take around two days to produce chess sets due to drying times for the paint and glue etc. I make them from resin, marble and stone powder and produce the boards in my own unique way.
"It went so far that I started to profit from it and created my own business, Chess Junction NI. I had been researching and couldn't find anyone else in Belfast in this line of work.
"I resell the chess sets I have bought at auction as well as selling those I have produced myself, which can cost anywhere between £40 to £400. Sales have really taken off especially at Christmas time when I sold dozens."
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