Why it became such a big thing is up for interpretation -- the story changes if you ask different players -- but there is little argument that chess was an important part of the Cardinals' training camp this year.

The world first noticed when Kyler Murray -- who has long played the game -- tweeted out a picture of a match with Larry Fitzgerald. But it reached far beyond those two headliners.

"Everybody's got a lot of time to kill," Murray said. "Sitting around, kind of bored, after meetings or during lunch, something to bond (around)."

(For more on the chess craze, be sure to watch the upcoming episode of "Flight Plan," coming Sunday to a YouTube channel near you. I mean, there will be a ton more than just chess in the episode, but you knew that.)

Wide receiver Trent Sherfield sees it as a mental getaway from football and thinks it has brought the team closer together. Sherfield said he picked up the game after spending the summer with Fitzgerald, and more and more players saw games going on and wanted to get involved -- Zach Allen, Kenyan Drake, Chase Edmonds, Dan Arnold among them. Trash talking does rear up at times.

"You had guys coming up and saying 'I was the chess champion in elementary school,' " Sherfield said.

Murray is one of those guys, having played the game growing up. The quarterback probably would be considered the best on the team.

"I'm going to go on record and say he's won the most games," Sherfield said, "but don't tell him I said that."