Chess has been played for centuries and has always been regarded as a game that requires strategic thinking, concentration, and patience. However, the ongoing chess boom is changing the game. We are seeing a move towards shorter time controls and chess content in the chase of more views.
I listened to an interview with Zach Weinersmith who writes the comic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, where he talked about how writing a book helped him to focus. He mentioned that all these short form internet media things conversely take up a lot of our time. People will be on twitter for hours without meaning to.
However I think one thing that chess has going for it is that, if you want to get good, and people do, you have to sit down and focus on a position for a long time. And you have to do that over and over again. Getting good at tactics means stopping and focusing for as long as it takes to get it right. There's a built in mechanism for taking your time.
Once you memorize things though it becomes fast again as you can see with Danya or Hikaru. But to learn an opening, or "get" rook and pawn endgames you have to study. And many people I play with want to play the best move and will take their time to get things right.
That's my hope anyway, that the drive to be great allows longer formats to thrive.
I loved the article, Martin. I don’t like the push towards ever-shorter forms of chess either but am much more concerned by Chess.com’s continual attempts at ‘esportsification’. It really does feel like a race to the bottom in an attempt to make more money. Small things like commentators being replaced by ‘casters’ and everything being pumped-up and hyper really grate.
Where does it go next? I know that FIDE is riddled with issues but I am genuinely concerned about a private company/monopoly such as Chess.com positioning themselves to replace FIDE. Would we really want Chess.com deciding the future of the game, not bothering (or needing?) to speak to chess federations or anyone outside their immediate, US-centric bubble about their decisions, so long as it broadens their reach and makes more profit?
Thank you! I definitely share your concerns. The saddest thing is that FIDE is in such a bad shape to promote classical chess due to the strong Russian influence on the organisation. It makes it hard to find sponsors for tournaments and creates no competition for the esport version of chess
Yeah I have to agree that a lot of this short-form content really just feels like a race to the bottom in terms of actual quality of content.
I'm not overly concerned about it though, since I feel that the type of people who are watching the shorts are relatively new to the game — and there will always be room for the more deep, longer-form content. I could of course be wrong though, who knows.
I see it as a sign or indication of where we are headed, so I’m a bit worried that we will end up selling out of the value of chess for short term profit/growth.. but as you say, it’s hard to know with certainty
I really like this passage "This transition could lead to a loss of tradition, a greater focus on entertainment rather than intellectual depth, and the erosion of values like sportsmanship and fair play", Martin.
I think chess is a mix between sport and art. And the artistic component is hard to realize when you have a minute to play. Yes, I am a fan of classical chess.
On the other hand, I want to believe that the short video content on TikTok and Shorts are popularizing chess and bringing in new players. And those players, if they stick with chess, will eventually get to the point that in order to get better (why else would they stick with chess if they just keep losing to better players?), they will have to consider slower playing tempi and classical chess (rather than bullet chess).
There isn't a move away from classical chess. The same people who were playing classical chess before are still playing classical chess now. The only thing that has actually happened is an influx of casual beginners to chess.com.
On the top level they are also playing more blitz/rapid and less classical, so it is not only beginners.. But it is always nice to see new players discovering the game
I listened to an interview with Zach Weinersmith who writes the comic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, where he talked about how writing a book helped him to focus. He mentioned that all these short form internet media things conversely take up a lot of our time. People will be on twitter for hours without meaning to.
However I think one thing that chess has going for it is that, if you want to get good, and people do, you have to sit down and focus on a position for a long time. And you have to do that over and over again. Getting good at tactics means stopping and focusing for as long as it takes to get it right. There's a built in mechanism for taking your time.
Once you memorize things though it becomes fast again as you can see with Danya or Hikaru. But to learn an opening, or "get" rook and pawn endgames you have to study. And many people I play with want to play the best move and will take their time to get things right.
That's my hope anyway, that the drive to be great allows longer formats to thrive.
That’s a good point! Actually made a book when I took a 30 day break from social media https://saychess.substack.com/p/what-did-i-learn-from-the-30-day
Maybe I should try again 😬
I loved the article, Martin. I don’t like the push towards ever-shorter forms of chess either but am much more concerned by Chess.com’s continual attempts at ‘esportsification’. It really does feel like a race to the bottom in an attempt to make more money. Small things like commentators being replaced by ‘casters’ and everything being pumped-up and hyper really grate.
Where does it go next? I know that FIDE is riddled with issues but I am genuinely concerned about a private company/monopoly such as Chess.com positioning themselves to replace FIDE. Would we really want Chess.com deciding the future of the game, not bothering (or needing?) to speak to chess federations or anyone outside their immediate, US-centric bubble about their decisions, so long as it broadens their reach and makes more profit?
Thank you! I definitely share your concerns. The saddest thing is that FIDE is in such a bad shape to promote classical chess due to the strong Russian influence on the organisation. It makes it hard to find sponsors for tournaments and creates no competition for the esport version of chess
Yeah I have to agree that a lot of this short-form content really just feels like a race to the bottom in terms of actual quality of content.
I'm not overly concerned about it though, since I feel that the type of people who are watching the shorts are relatively new to the game — and there will always be room for the more deep, longer-form content. I could of course be wrong though, who knows.
I see it as a sign or indication of where we are headed, so I’m a bit worried that we will end up selling out of the value of chess for short term profit/growth.. but as you say, it’s hard to know with certainty
I really like this passage "This transition could lead to a loss of tradition, a greater focus on entertainment rather than intellectual depth, and the erosion of values like sportsmanship and fair play", Martin.
I think chess is a mix between sport and art. And the artistic component is hard to realize when you have a minute to play. Yes, I am a fan of classical chess.
On the other hand, I want to believe that the short video content on TikTok and Shorts are popularizing chess and bringing in new players. And those players, if they stick with chess, will eventually get to the point that in order to get better (why else would they stick with chess if they just keep losing to better players?), they will have to consider slower playing tempi and classical chess (rather than bullet chess).
There isn't a move away from classical chess. The same people who were playing classical chess before are still playing classical chess now. The only thing that has actually happened is an influx of casual beginners to chess.com.
On the top level they are also playing more blitz/rapid and less classical, so it is not only beginners.. But it is always nice to see new players discovering the game