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Chess is booming among teens

polygon.com

151–160 of 227 posts

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chess is just more interesting to watch.

As somene who prefers playing Go a lot more than chess, this is true. Games are far too long for most people, I do enjoy having a Go game in the background while I work but patiently sitting for 16 hours for a game to finish is not a great sell even if I love the game.

Well, the Koreans seem to be aware of this, and they are pushing for changes. They play shorter games, and they've recently moved from byo-yomi to Fischer timing (part of the reasoning was that players are trained to play at the very end of their byo-yomi period, so that introduced a minimum of 30 seconds per move - even if the players had decided in the first 4 seconds).

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#152
post #149
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it odd that all my friends & coworkers in the tech industry have ended up on chess.com instead of lichess. Even beyond the fact it's totally free (and free of ads), the architecture itself is super interesting: https://lichess.org/@/thibault/blog/starting-from-scratch/NI... It must be one of the best examples of a very large scale implementation of features that are simple and easy to understand

What are the differences? I'm not familiar with lichess, but chess.com has tons of bots at various levels that you can play against, and you can have one game per day analysed by stockfish for free (more costs money). I think that's a pretty good deal.

You can analyze unlimited games for free on Lichess (both locally in browser and also serverside analysis that I think is donated server time). It lets you play against stockfish bits but they don't have "personalities" like the Chess.com ones do.

You also have unlimited free puzzles on lichess (paid on chesscom). Chess.com probably has a better library of learning content if you're into that (much of it paid though).

IMO if you're not paying I can't see why anyone would prefer chess.com over lichess: you get less and also get ass for the trouble. If you don't care about the monthly subscription cost, then maybe chess.com has fringe benefits over lichess.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#153

I visted my relatives recently, and i was shocked. At first I though it was a new clash of clans type of trendy game, but its actually chess! The teenagers have chess.com installed everyhere and are challenging each other nonstop, sometimes with real chess boards too! There's social pyramid starting to form, with one of the younger ones conquering the game with no clear challenger, its football but for people who don…

Is it just me, or is this comment AI generated? > and i was shocked. At first I though (...), but its actually (...)! > The (...) installed everywhere (...) each other nonstop, sometimes with real > There's social pyramid starting to form, with one of the younger ones conquering the game with no clear challenger, its football but for people who don't like football. The paragraph above specifically, it sounds coherent…

To me it really seems the opposite of an AI generated comment, unless they used GPT2?

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#154
post #64
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I kinda agree with Bobby on that front: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P349BdHUxlc&t=0s There's too much that's simply memorisation over skills, deep lines leading you down well traversed paths. Creativity and ingenuity suffer. The only real option* if you want interesting games is to make intentionally bad moves so that theory falls apart, and that's only an option against weaker players. You can play with the more…

There's too much that's simply memorisation over skills, deep lines leading you down well traversed paths. Creativity and ingenuity suffer. The only real option if you want interesting games is to make intentionally bad moves so that theory falls apart, and that's only an option against weaker players. Did you watch the world championship this year? It did not at all fit your narrative. The games were very exciting.…

Eh. I don’t care about the chess world champions. I’m not playing them. RTS games suffer a similar problem.

Until you become extremely proficient, you have basically no room to use novel strategies. You will lose to people with better execution on established strategies. And so you don’t do anything but grind execution and it’s pretty boring.

Chess isn’t quite this bad, but I find it pretty boring after a while.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#155
It may sound weird but playing a game of online chess works as a way for me to unwind.

I have been playing for several decades now. Never picked up a chess book/video/tutorial in my life (after the initial introduction by a relative). Always played with the flow. I would admit sometimes I do wish I should learn some openings but somehow deep down I couldn't see myself learning chess through a tut. May be some day someone would convince me otherwise, who knows...

and I am in no way a pro, hover around 1600 rapid on chess.com. It says I am ahead of 98.5% folks. Not sure how will this 1600 translate to ELO ratings.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#156
post #119
post #83

Andrew Tate is a chess player and promoted chess. Andrew Tate was the most internet famous person for a period of time with a huge following in the teen male demographic. Possible cause-effect.

> Andrew Tate was the most internet famous person for a period of time I think this may just be your recommendation bubble - most people only heard about him when he was arrested.

I don't use any social media (apart from this one, and visiting some subreddits without logging in) and Tate was indeed widely talked about for the 2-3 months before his arrest, at least in Britain.

You don't have to be on social media - the UK newspapers and other sources will pick up what ever people are talking about on there.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#157
post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the differences? I'm not familiar with lichess, but chess.com has tons of bots at various levels that you can play against, and you can have one game per day analysed by stockfish for free (more costs money). I think that's a pretty good deal.

You can analyze unlimited games for free on Lichess (both locally in browser and also serverside analysis that I think is donated server time). It lets you play against stockfish bits but they don't have "personalities" like the Chess.com ones do. You also have unlimited free puzzles on lichess (paid on chesscom). Chess.com probably has a better library of learning content if you're into that (much of it paid though)…

>>IMO if you're not paying I can't see why anyone would prefer chess.com over lichess<< For someone like me who has been playing for several decades now, it's the UI of chess.com/app.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#158

Chess is having its soccer moment now. Here is why: 1- The entry cost has fallen dramatically. Before at a minimum you'd need to afford a chess set and a couple of books. Now, all you need is a parents phone. This is similar to soccer, where the entry cost is any ball you can find. 2- its egalitarian. Your size, sex, height, and even age do not matter. This has always been true but now its more pronounced with apps b…

Must expand on

3: You really have to see the intro videos to strategy in youtube or chesskid. The production value and ability to engage has skyrocketed. Yes there was some content on YouTube then... But the material was NOT online 10 years ago. You can easily verify this looking at the ratio of views/years for the more recent videos vs old ones. Top comment was for Gothamchess channel. Check it out.

4: The social element coupled with the ability to "play now" is very important. Until the last 5 or so years, a teen could not put together a similar rated game on demand. Even if you lived near a chessclub. Mobile apps with ELOs have brought the chessclub to the living room.

And originally meant to add

5: As downposter said, parents will actively encourage chess, instead of restricting the amount of time on it. No parent will bat an eye if you play 3 hours straight. I wonder if thats because all parents have seen the queens gambit.(?)

In retrospect 6:

Algorithmic rating : the matching with a similar rated opponent is important since the satisfaction for winning (instead of continued losing) drives engagement.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#159
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it just me, or is this comment AI generated? > and i was shocked. At first I though (...), but its actually (...)! > The (...) installed everywhere (...) each other nonstop, sometimes with real > There's social pyramid starting to form, with one of the younger ones conquering the game with no clear challenger, its football but for people who don't like football. The paragraph above specifically, it sounds coherent…

To me it really seems the opposite of an AI generated comment, unless they used GPT2?

I don't know If I should take that as a compliment

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#160

I visted my relatives recently, and i was shocked. At first I though it was a new clash of clans type of trendy game, but its actually chess! The teenagers have chess.com installed everyhere and are challenging each other nonstop, sometimes with real chess boards too! There's social pyramid starting to form, with one of the younger ones conquering the game with no clear challenger, its football but for people who don…

Is that related to The Queen's Gambit tv show ? During the running and a bit after there was an uptick in players in public spaces.

Probably not, since they don't watch a lot of movies and English isn't their mother tongue.
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